And from the Melewskian comments…(Chris) “Davis has an Adrian Gonzalez skill set.”
“I think the value is great,” Duquette said. “I was surprised. I have called a couple of scouts in the industry checking on what they are hearing (about deadline deals) and it was three different scouts I spoke with and they too were amazed at the haul that the Orioles brought back.
“You are talking about an eighth-inning guy in Koji and I think the Rangers are counting on his option vesting for next year. But, to get, potentially two contributers on your 25-man roster for an eighth-inning guy is a pretty good haul.”
...“Davis has had a lot of strikeouts,” Duquette stated. “But he does have a lot of power and they get a starting pitcher in Tommy Hunter. He’s a back end of rotation starter, but a good one. To get those two pieces for an eighth-inning guy is tremendous.”
...He feels that Davis will now become the Orioles top first base prospect.
“I think the potential is there for him to be better,” Duquette said. “He does have some holes in his swing. He’s a guy that needs to play on a regular basis and get 250 at-bats and work with Jim Presley and work on some of the things that Mark Reynolds has done in keeping the bat path in the strike zone a little longer.
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
1. The District Attorney Posted: July 31, 2011 at 02:36 AM (#3889370)Hardball Talk speculated that Davis will play 3B, BTW. "Davis has also played plenty of first base, but he is the better defender at the hot corner." That explanation doesn't seem likely to me, but I still think the move would make sense... maximizing Davis' value is more likely to be important to the O's future than maximizing Reynolds'.
Davis Rules!
Nice haul for the O's but with Beltre, Napoli, Young and Moreland, the Rangers simply have no use for Davis. Surprised to see Hunter (useful if not spectacular) thrown in too. Heck, would have been interesting to see the Pirates trade one of their relief arms for this.
And small sample or not, Uehera has a career 9.4/1.4 K/BB -- jiminy christmas!
I think despite the notable handicaps of being 60 years old now, a catcher, and fictional, Crash Davis would be a better defender at third base than Reynolds.
Which isn't to say he's as bad as Edwin Encarnacion, but he's still pretty bad.
Yes, over the same time frame in just about as much playing time he's hit .248/.300/.454 And there's a big difference in the K rates between the minors and majors. Maybe he's the second coming of Mike Stenhouse (who's the only guy I can think of who didn't hit major league pitching as well as his minor league stats suggested in an extended trial. Brad Komminsk is different in that he hit on the way up, but never really hit again after washing out), but as an Oriole fan I'm thrilled that they're going to get a chance to find out.
You're an Orioles fan and you can't think of Matt Wieters?
Weiters had 413 excellent PAs split over 2 years at AA and AAA. (to be clear though, as best I can tell not having all that much to go on is almost always a positive. Generally speaking only very good players make the majors without giving us a pretty clear read on where they are as offensive players)
He hasn't washed out and then subsequently chewed up AAA (and then washed out again). Which is the point I thought I was making by bringing Komminsk. Now Weiters isn't a good comp for Komminsk in that he's been a perfectly serviceable player while Komminsk was just terrible (with a moderately similar initial minor league career).
Don't get me wrong though. He's disappointed so far. The only thing I can console myself with in that respect is that switch-hitters often have weird career arcs. They are way more likely to be late bloomers. They're also way more likely to suddenly flame out.
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main