Results for May 1st

[Hungary Jack]

New Pagodi,

Can you comment on Allen Craig and Jarret Hoffpauir?

Thanks

HJ

[JCShutout]

It's little premature to talk about it, right?

No, I don't think so.

Ankiel is slowly demonstrating that he's not all hr. He has an .867 OPS at Memphis this season, which is right in line with his MiLB career #'s. He's clearly got a lot of power, with an astonishing .568 slug%. As he gains more experience playing the field and hitting, he'll start to hit more consistently, and you'll see that OBP and BA climb to more respectable levels.

He has more raw power than Duncan ever showed in the minors. Duncna never slugged over .500 in any season in the minors. Ankiel's career slug% in the MiLB is an amazing .529. We know he has a great arm, and from all indications he's developing into a decent defensive CF'er.

His minor league batting totals: .265 .338 .529 867

An 800+ OPS CF'er is immensely valuable in the big leagues.

I would say that Alphonso Soriano is the best big league model for him. A player with a low OBP and immense raw power. Ankiel doesn't have Soriano's speed and I wouldn't be expecting 40 hr seasons, but he fits the Soriano mold of high slug%, low OBP.

You're giving me hope Fat, and that worries me.

I want to believe that Rick can be a respectible CF with some power in the majors, but have a difficult time believing that he'll still hit in the majors, especially with a .261 ba and a .299 obp, and the fact that he's pretty old for the minors.

Do you really think his swing will hold up in the majors? If those numbers drop at all, we'll be in trouble.

[New Pagodi]

New Pagodi,

Can you comment on Allen Craig and Jarret Hoffpauir?

Thanks

HJ

Neither appeared on any top prospects lists before this year. Part of the problem with Hoffpauir is that he was promoted pretty aggressively through the system – he moved through two levels in each of 2004 and 2005 and so he never had a chance to get comfortable in a league before moving on to the next. He finally spent a full year in one league last year at Springfield. While his numbers were some of the lowest of his career, he did well enough in the second half that a promotion to Memphis wouldn’t have been unreasonable.

I don’t think his performance so far is just a hot streak – his levels are holdings steady and not far out of line with his career (except for last year). Unfortunately, and this is really complete speculation on my part, he may not get a promotion to Memphis any time soon. With Kennedy trudging along, the Cardinals will probably hang on to Edgar Gonzalez as insurance in case he never comes around, and that leaves nowhere for Hoffpauir to move to at AAA.

From what I’ve read, his defense is solid – certainly light years better than Gonzalez’s.

Here are his career stats.

I wrote a little bit about Allen Craig yesterday: Allen Craig had not been much of a standout until this year (outside of his final year in college). One thing I really wish I had is a scouting report about their defense. I know Craig has 6 errors already including a throwing error in last night that was responsible for 3 of Adam Daniels unearned runs. But that by itself doesn’t tell us much since he was primarily a shortstop before this season and is having to adapt to a new position this year.

He has been very consistent this year since the first game of the season, and if he can keep up the hitting a little longer, I would hope the Cardinals will move either Richardson or Hanson out of the way so he can advance.

Here are his career stats:
Allen Craig

[greenback44]

Hoffpauir's your classic polished college player. He's a bit undersized, so I don't expect any kind of power from him.

[Hungary Jack]

Hoffpauir's your classic polished college player. He's a bit undersized, so I don't expect any kind of power from him.

I am impressed with his K:BB ratio (<1.0 for MiLB career). He's not exactly raking, but it looks like he knows the K zone.

[New Pagodi]

By baseball standards, Hoffpauir is short (5'9"), but he's built like a bulldozer. Here are some photos from Kary Booher's blog:



And for no reason, here's an awesome photo of Bryan Anderson from the same place.

[cardfaninfla]

I have always liked Hoffpauir. He reminds me a bit of good a Tyson or Sizemore kind of guy. He won't many home runs but he has a good eye at the plate and would seem to be a good number 8 or number 2 hitter. Not enough speed for the lead off spot but can handle the bat and move guys up while playing good D up the middle.

[greenback44]

By baseball standards, Hoffpauir is short (5'9"), but he's built like a bulldozer.

I'd guess 5'9" is a bit generous though. He's probably a better version of Aaron Miles, which means it'd be nice if he moved to AAA some time in 2007.