It's been awhile...
Monday, May 12, 2008

Just haven't had a whole lot to complain, er, write about lately. I've also started trying to play poker a little more often, so that cuts into some of the time I used to use for writing. I do have a number of ideas that I want to write about now so hopefully there will be a few more posts in the upcoming weeks.

One thing I have been studying a lot more lately is pitching mechanics. I'm still a long ways away from having enough knowledge to do any kind of analysis myself, but I find it really interesting and I think being able to tell which pitchers have "safe" mechanics and which don't might be something a lot of teams aren't very good at. Or maybe they just don't care enough.

Anyway, I've added one really good blog dedicated to studying and breaking down pitchers' mechanics to the link list over on the left.


Another thing I've found my self doing a lot more this season is following the performance of minor league players. Last season around this time (and for the next couple of months) everyone was talking about Matt Tolbert, the 25 year old non-prospect who was tearing up AAA while playing 2B. After not sniffing AG's 2007 top prospects list Tolbert snuck into the top 40 (#40 exactly) in 2008. Surprisingly he also won a spot on the Twins roster in spring training and in my opinion looks like a solid candidate to take over at Gardy's favorite position (utility infielder, ldo) after Punto's contract ends this year. Why did I just type all this?

I give you Luke Hughes, first annual winner of the Matt Tolbert award:


Last year Hughes had a bit of a breakout year in his first shot at AA batting a solid .283/.358/.438. But at 22 and after seriously struggling for two years in A ball, that wasn't enough to turn many heads. Well that has changed this season as Hughes is off to an absolutely blistering start. Through 143 PA's Hughes' batting line is a ridiculous .388/.448/.682. That is an OPS of 1130 from a 2nd basemen. Of coarse Hughes has gotten really lucky so far with a clearly unsustainable .427 BABIP, but even still, he is showing other signs of having learned how to hit:

Year Age PA AB ISOP BB% K% BABIP GB% LD% wOBA

2006 22 368 333 .081 6.3% 19.6% .284 51% 11% .265

2007 23 362 315 .155 9.9% 18.8% .336 45% 9% .340

2008 24 146 129 .294 10.3% 16.4% .427 35% 22% .472


There are a number of different very important areas in which he has obviously improved the last 3 seasons. The first and most obvious one in is his isolated power numbers. His IsoP has basically doubled two years in a row. .081 says slap hitter. .294 says David Ortiz, post Twins.

Next, both his walk and strikeout rates are trending in the right direction. In 2006 both were pretty weak, so far this season both are pretty strong. Finally, his batted ball numbers are looking much better, with an excellent 22% LD% this year, something he has obviously struggled with in the past.

Finally, not shown above, is the fact that he already has 9 home runs this season. That is more than anyone else in the Twins organization has this season... from a guy listed at 6-0, 190 who plays 2nd base.

Now, 31 games is a very small sample size, but hitting like that is a good way to get noticed, especially in an organization that seriously lacks power. Hughes might be worth keeping an eye on... although he left game on Wednesday with a strained hamstring so it might be a little while before he plays again. Hopefully he doesn't cool off.

And a video today, since I couldn't just find the track, The Dodos - Fools:

Posted bySL__72 at 10:48 PM 2 comments  

Labels: , , , ,

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)