2009 Dbacks Drafee Review - Corner infielders

Round 1, Pick 16 - Bobby Borchering

Born: October 25, 1990 in Alva, Florida School: Bishop Verot HS Height: 6’4’’ Weight: 200 Position: Third Base Bats: Switch Throws: Right
Rookie-level Missoula - ABs: 87 BA/OBP/SLG: .241/.290/.425 XBH: 8 2Bs/1 3B/2 HRs ISO: .184 K:BB: 27:5 SB:CS: 0:0 BABIP: .328 Errors: 5

Zephon: Borchering is a switch hitting third basemen that is often compared to Chipper Jones. Borchering’s bat is going to have to carry him through the minors, and if he’s going to stick at third, he’s going to have to put in a lot of work on his defense. It’s possible that he may end up moving to the outfield or first base.  Borchering signed late, so we don’t have a lot of at-bats to look at, but we can still try to make some kind of objective analysis. 87 at-bats is a pretty small sample size, so we can’t put a lot of stock in this year’s stats. While not the most impressive debut for a first round pick, you have to remember that Borchering was 18 during most of the season and just turned 19.  Another thing to take into consideration is that most draftees have to deal with adjusting from aluminum bats to wooden bats for the first time. This can greatly affect performance during their transition. If you compare Borchering’s age against the average age of the Pioneer league (20 years old), you can give him a little more slack. We’ll have to see how he does with a full season’s worth of at bats. Borchering will most likely get assigned to South Bend and get the first stab at third, but it’ll be interesting to see how the playing time breaks down. I’ve also heard rumors that he may get a look in left field next season. Grade: C- (short term: C-, Long term: B)

IHSB:  The regular season numbers are worrisome, as a .290 OBP isn’t going to cut it from anybody who wants to be a top prospect and is playing in rookie-ball, regardless of your tools or age.  But the ISO of .184 that he’s got the power that drew scouts to love him and he really turned it on in the postseason, putting up some great numbers (.321 average, 2 HR, 10 RBI in 6 games) that offer some much-needed optimism.  With those playoff numbers, it’s hard to imagine Borchering starting next year anywhere but Mid-A South Bend (as one would hope that a prospect of Borchering’s status would rise faster than his fellow Rookie-level teammates going to Low-A Yakima).  As expected from the position he was drafted, he’s a guy who is instantly a top-ten prospect, but unfortunately it’s not as if he instantly proved he was a man amongst boys as the organization had hoped for given the competition.  The low number of ABs doesn’t make it devastating to his prospect ranking, but he didn’t shoot himself up anybody’s rankings either.  Grade: B- (Short-term: C+, Long-term: B)