To paraphrase from young guns a bit, catchers must regulate any stealin' of their property. They're dame good, too, but you can't be any geek of the street, you've gotta be handy w/ the leather, if you know what I mean. Earn your keep. As mentioned earlier, its never been my intent to make a team of the best 3 & 4 hole hitters over the next decade, but rather to put a team together molding them into how I like to see a team operate. When it comes to catchers, you've got to handle the defense fist, then any bat will be a bonus.
LesBush a former end of the 1st round draft pick following Syracuse's title run. When you consider that the weakness in his defense is an arm accuracy that should land in the 75 range, its hard not to fall in love with his glove. However, even better is his left handed projections on his bat. True enough, he'll never have more than average power, however his contact, splits & eye should all land in the 65+ range, with his vR & eye approaching 80. And if that wasn't good enough, his conditioning is strong enough to put him behind the plate for 140+ games a season. If teams haven't already regretted passing on him in the draft, it won't take too many all star appearances to have them realize their mistakes.
VincentParra If I'm going to hold defense as a priority here, than how can I pass on the top defensive catcher currently in the show. He's got the 2nd best arm, 4th best arm accuracy & 2nd best pitch calling in the show, all at the ripe age of 25 and coming off a gold glove season to prove he knows how to put his skills into effect on the diamond. He'll never be confused with Johny Bench at the plate, but his .690 OPS is repectable enough given his superior defensive gifts.
While on a defensive parade, we'll jump across the diamond and look at SS & 2b next.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
The "next 10" series, part 2: The Outfield.
Ok, so we've got 12 pitchers, 5 starters, 7 relievers. Now we need 13 bats to compliment them. the pitching part was pretty straight forward, breaking it down to starters, long men, and short men. The bats become a little tougher. Like I mentioned early on, my goal isn't to just list the 13 best #3 hole hitters (not that we're going to be lacking for a prototypical #3 bat), but to blend a team to compliment both defense and offense. Defense up the middle, power at the corners. Perhaps a defensive specialist if he's going to be lights out, or an elite DH w/ no position to man but the bench. I'm going to go with 2 catchers, 6 infielders, & 5 outfielders for the next 13, but for sure, several of these guys would play adequate defense at several spots. So away we go with our selections in the outfield.
Did I mention defense? Every elite team needs an elite outfielder, and DelinoRodriquez more than fills that role. Elite range, plus a solid glove and arm, it won't be long before Delino brings home a gold glove for his work out there. Oh, and if you think that means he leaves the stick on the bench when he heads to the plate, you'd be wrong. Thru nearly 3 seasons worth of playing time, he's put up an .878 ops. Last season's 35 homer, 140 rbi effort brought home his first silver slugger. Despite the move to the pitching friendly Burlington, expect several more silver sluggers go come his way.
Now that we've got the middle manned, we're going to need some thunder. Welcome to the team ClydeValent and his 99 rated power. Clyde may be just "average" in LF, but his 197 homers at the age of 25 leaves little doubt that should he stay healthy, he's going to bust thru the home run record one day.
AlexBaker is the next OF to join the team. An elite left handed outfield who's already made 3 all star teams as well as picking up last seasons Gold glove in RF. At 25, Baker is embarking on perhaps his finest season yet, taking 17 homers and 71 rbi into the all star break, a .332 average and a .600+ slugging average.
One quick look at Baker's skills tells you he's going to need some help vs lefties, at least as far as an all next decade team goes. The outfield is getting a little "too left handed", so when looking for a righty, we came up with an even better switch hitter to add to this all star collection. RicardoEstrada, season 7's top draft pick knocked out 26 homers with 96 rbi in his rookie campaign last year. Not one to rest on his success, Ricardo is aiming to top his numbers this season, having all ready knocked out 24 long balls and 59 rbi as we approach the all star break. At 23, Ricardo has 15 strong seasons sitting in his tank expected to end in a HOF election.
Finally, we turn to KenBorchard for our final OF spot. Season's 9's rookie of the year, Ken has crossed the plate 100+ teams in each of his two full seasons, and is well on his way to matching last seasons total of 140 by scoring 84 runs as we approach the all star break. Every team needs a table setter, and Ken's 98 batting eye and 83 contact to go with his 85 speed means he's going to get on base at an exceptionally high clip thruout his career.
Next we'll take a look at the middle of the infield, Catchers, shortstops & 2nd basemen.
Did I mention defense? Every elite team needs an elite outfielder, and DelinoRodriquez more than fills that role. Elite range, plus a solid glove and arm, it won't be long before Delino brings home a gold glove for his work out there. Oh, and if you think that means he leaves the stick on the bench when he heads to the plate, you'd be wrong. Thru nearly 3 seasons worth of playing time, he's put up an .878 ops. Last season's 35 homer, 140 rbi effort brought home his first silver slugger. Despite the move to the pitching friendly Burlington, expect several more silver sluggers go come his way.
Now that we've got the middle manned, we're going to need some thunder. Welcome to the team ClydeValent and his 99 rated power. Clyde may be just "average" in LF, but his 197 homers at the age of 25 leaves little doubt that should he stay healthy, he's going to bust thru the home run record one day.
AlexBaker is the next OF to join the team. An elite left handed outfield who's already made 3 all star teams as well as picking up last seasons Gold glove in RF. At 25, Baker is embarking on perhaps his finest season yet, taking 17 homers and 71 rbi into the all star break, a .332 average and a .600+ slugging average.
One quick look at Baker's skills tells you he's going to need some help vs lefties, at least as far as an all next decade team goes. The outfield is getting a little "too left handed", so when looking for a righty, we came up with an even better switch hitter to add to this all star collection. RicardoEstrada, season 7's top draft pick knocked out 26 homers with 96 rbi in his rookie campaign last year. Not one to rest on his success, Ricardo is aiming to top his numbers this season, having all ready knocked out 24 long balls and 59 rbi as we approach the all star break. At 23, Ricardo has 15 strong seasons sitting in his tank expected to end in a HOF election.
Finally, we turn to KenBorchard for our final OF spot. Season's 9's rookie of the year, Ken has crossed the plate 100+ teams in each of his two full seasons, and is well on his way to matching last seasons total of 140 by scoring 84 runs as we approach the all star break. Every team needs a table setter, and Ken's 98 batting eye and 83 contact to go with his 85 speed means he's going to get on base at an exceptionally high clip thruout his career.
Next we'll take a look at the middle of the infield, Catchers, shortstops & 2nd basemen.
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