Less Than Small Sample Size
Posted by ubelmann on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
But I thought I'd throw it out there:
.309/.397/.436 -- Aaron Hicks, 18, GCL (13 games)
For reference:
.400/.488/.491 -- Joe Mauer, 18, APP
.322/.385/.538 -- Delmon Young, 18, SAL
.325/.388/.461 -- Ben Revere, 19, GCL
.276/.355/.451 -- Michael Cuddyer, 19, MWL
.293/.342/.439 -- Torii Hunter, 18, MWL
.281/.303/.407 -- Carlos Gomez, 18, APP/GCL
.302/.327/.396 -- Justin Morneau, 18, GCL
.282/.364/.372 -- Jason Kubel, 18, GCL
.249/.313/.301 -- Craig Monroe, 18, GCL (Holy Badness, Batman!)
It's early, it's early, it's early, it's early. But I do like that the Twins have been able to already sign Hicks and have him learning out on the field already. That he's done reasonably well so far is also very nice.
And again, it's early, it's early, it's early, but Ben Revere has put on his four-fingered ring and is totally pimp-slapping the Midwest League. After 51 games for Revere (which is where Baseball Reference has updated so far, but it's not quite completely up-to-date), he's leading the league in OPS, while posting a .407/.459/.560 line.
The .560 slugging is a bit misleading, because it's "just" a .153 ISO. So, it's not like he was showing the same kind of power that Delmon Young showed in the minors, but for instance, Joe Mauer's best ISO in the minors was .120 as a 21-year-old. Also, Denard Span's best ISO up until this year was .088, and when Span was 20, his ISO was an almost mind-bogglingly low .047.
And it's not really just that Revere is leading the MWL in OPS, he's crushing everyone even close to his age. After Revere, the next four guys on the list are 22 or 23. The next guy on the list is Chris Parmelee, whose .239/.385/.496 is crazy in its own right. That's a couple tons of power (.257 ISO is probably the best in the entire system--certainly higher than Morneau and Kubel's current sub-.200 ISO), and another ton and a half of walks (52 walks is the most in the system, better even than Mauer's 47), but the batting average has to be a concern. Even Adam Dunn, career .247 hitter, hit .304 in the minors. I suspect that Parmelee's name is going to be mispelled about eleventy bajillion times if he ever makes the bigs, but it might just be easier to spell his name R-O-B D-E-E-R.
Anyway, back to Revere. Parmelee is second to Revere in the MWL in OPS for players 21 and under. But the gap between the two players is relatively huge, with Revere at 1.019 and Parmelee at .881. Then we get to third place in the 21-and-under category, and we have Andrew Lambo at .810--more than 200 points below Revere. In batting average for the 21-and-unders, Revere is hitting .407 and the next best player (Adrian Ortiz) is hitting .311. No one knows how long any of this will last, but righ tnow, relative to his age group, Revere is just crushing the competition.


I saw Hicks' numbers and was quite pleased. Hopefully he can continue to do it as pitching improves as he moves up the chain.
I also saw that Shooter Hunt started his first game for Elizabethton. 3 IP 0 hits 0 walks 6 Ks! 0 runs
Not sure why he only went 3 innings. Don't see anything about an injury or anything. But 2 Ks per inning. Wow.
maybe, since it was his first start he was on a pitch limit
I've always admired the Twins' push to get the contracts done quickly for the young signees and getting them plugged in right away. And it's great to see Revere doing well; although there was a lot of teeth-gnashing over how high the Twins selected him, it's nice he's proving that he was at least a good pick to make. Any idea how his glove work has been?
I think he's had a lot of errors and there seems to be a consensus that he has a total noodle for an arm. I'd guess that his defense is probably a big reason the Twins have yet to promote him. If he can hit .400, though, he can be a corner OF for all I care.
The Twins haven't ALWAYS gotten their signing done early. Yep, it's nice that Revere is hitting. Now, let's get him in the weight room and put some muscle on him.
No, agreed, but of late (last 3-4 years for sure) that seems to have changed. I think I heard in yesterday's game that Detroit just signed their #1.
Ubes, you've been bringing the funny at a major league (type) level. Content with mirth--I approve.
(I might also have to fit my screen for a splash-guard.)
I blame the summer sun here in Seattle. It's more difficult to project doom and gloom when it's not gray and drizzly outside.
Anyone see the results of Liriano's outing tonight? 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K. That's 20 scoreless frames in his past three starts, with 24 K, 3 BB, 10 H. Looks ready.
That's exciting!
Careful with that speculation, Nick. Lives are in the balance.
Yeah I have a lot of trouble believing he'd come up and be worse than Livan. He'd have some rough outings (like he had 4 and 5 starts ago) but probably not as many as livan, and he'd acutally stike some guys out! Trade Livan for a Drew Buteraish prospect and lets move on.
Look at those stats for that Mauer guy. I bet he'll be good.