Micah Hoffpauir

[Smith Cub Fan]

Wherever they have to put someone to give them another chance is a good thing. Hope Matt Craig comes through! Great kid, too!

 

Go Cubs!!!

[craig]

One note on Micah Hoffpauir: Being assigned to AA is probably a good thing for him career-wise. Iowa has four outfielders who will play (Strong, Restovich are career-productive minor leaguers; Pie and Coats are Cub prospects). Hoffpauir wasn't going to get a lot of AB's from those four. Nor from Sing at 1B. (A concern here is that sing won't get enough OF time for my liking....)

 

But at AA, there are only 3 outfielders listed on the roster, Greenberg, Walker, and Montanez. Greenberg can always switch and play some center, so basically it looks to me as if Hoffpauir could be the 4th outfielder there. (Plus get plenty of DH time.)

 

For his big-league futures, I think as tim has alluded to, if Hoffpauir played a bunch of OF and showed he was a quality corner outfielder, that would greatly diversify his game and give him an increased chance to make the major leagues as a flexible utility guy. I could easily imagine a guy like that catching Dusty's eye with his 1B defense. And as a pretty good contact hitter, if he happened to catch fire and be grooved in during a spring training, it's possible his contact hitting could also catch a Dusty's eye.

 

As a 1B-only guy, no chance. But if he can establish his ability to play LF and RF competently (if indeed he can do so), that would open things up for him.

[Chris]

For the record, I had the opportunity to get to visit with Micah this afternoon in Jackson. I told Micah that he has several on the site that have been asking about him. He extends his appreciation. Hopefully I can get the interviews from today up pretty soon.

[putmeincoach]

I noticed Texascub made the comment, "At only 25 he's still got plenty of time to develop." I was wondering when age started to become a factor in the minor leagues. Also, are certain positions more likely to hang on to players giving them more time to develop?

[Guest]

I noticed Texascub made the comment, "At only 25 he's still got plenty of time to develop." I was wondering when age started to become a factor in the minor leagues. Also, are certain positions more likely to hang on to players giving them more time to develop?

A player really should be hitting the majors by 25 if he's going to establish a long career as a regular. The positions where players get more chances are catcher and lefty relief. Ultimately, it's all about performance, though. If a player sticks with it and has a breakthrough at an older age, they'll get their shot. Torii Hunter and Podsednik are the more obvious recent examples, but there are a lot of guys who break into the majors at an older age without much fanfare and play a role on a major league team.

[texascub]

I noticed Texascub made the comment, "At only 25 he's still got plenty of time to develop." I was wondering when age started to become a factor in the minor leagues. Also, are certain positions more likely to hang on to players giving them more time to develop?

 

The comment was made in reference to Sing, who at 25 and at the AAA level still has time to tweak his game and make an impact at the major-league level. He's already shown that he can hit for power and be about average at 2 positions in the field. If he can work on his eye at the plate, and get his average up, I think he'd be a very solid ML player.

[Smith Cub Fan]

Hey! How about Hoffpauir in Tennessee!!!! He has finished the Braves series with 10 for 19. 3homeruns, 9RBIs!!! Wow! Maybe that power is coming around. His stats for the Southern League:

 

HR - 1st (5)

RBI- 1st (16)

Avg.-7th (.324)

SLG. 1st (.712)

OPS- 3rd (1.062)

 

Show them, Micah!!!