Keith Law on Vitters and Donaldson

[JGalt73]

From Keith Law's Spring Training Notes:

 

Donaldson:

The Cubs' Josh Donaldson (the 76th-best prospect in baseball heading into 2008) has an excellent approach at the plate, with a near-perfect load that lets him generate power but still gets his bat to the ball quickly. He squares the ball up and drives through everything, whether he's pulling the ball or going to the opposite field. He rotates his hips as he makes contact, and his weight transfer is just a fraction of a second early, but it still lets him get his lower half involved in the swing.

 

Vitters:

Josh Vitters (the 17th-best prospect in baseball) may have been working on something, but his BP wasn't as impressive as what I saw from him in high school. He's flicking the bat at the ball, not using his lower half, and has a tendency to lunge at balls anywhere on the outer half. Every ball he hit in BP came off the end of the bat. I was also surprised at how slight he was; he lost a lot of weight last spring after a bout with mono, but it doesn't look like he's gained all the weight back.

[jersey cubs fan]

From Keith Law's Spring Training Notes:

 

Donaldson:

The Cubs' Josh Donaldson (the 76th-best prospect in baseball heading into 2008) has an excellent approach at the plate, with a near-perfect load that lets him generate power but still gets his bat to the ball quickly. He squares the ball up and drives through everything, whether he's pulling the ball or going to the opposite field. He rotates his hips as he makes contact, and his weight transfer is just a fraction of a second early, but it still lets him get his lower half involved in the swing.

 

Vitters:

Josh Vitters (the 17th-best prospect in baseball) may have been working on something, but his BP wasn't as impressive as what I saw from him in high school. He's flicking the bat at the ball, not using his lower half, and has a tendency to lunge at balls anywhere on the outer half. Every ball he hit in BP came off the end of the bat. I was also surprised at how slight he was; he lost a lot of weight last spring after a bout with mono, but it doesn't look like he's gained all the weight back.

 

I have to be a little skeptical about somebody being able to make such a claim as a weight transfer being a fraction of a second early.

 

And that's an incredibly disappointing report on Vitters.

[Tracer Bullet]

From Keith Law's Spring Training Notes:

 

Donaldson:

The Cubs' Josh Donaldson (the 76th-best prospect in baseball heading into 2008) has an excellent approach at the plate, with a near-perfect load that lets him generate power but still gets his bat to the ball quickly. He squares the ball up and drives through everything, whether he's pulling the ball or going to the opposite field. He rotates his hips as he makes contact, and his weight transfer is just a fraction of a second early, but it still lets him get his lower half involved in the swing.

 

Vitters:

Josh Vitters (the 17th-best prospect in baseball) may have been working on something, but his BP wasn't as impressive as what I saw from him in high school. He's flicking the bat at the ball, not using his lower half, and has a tendency to lunge at balls anywhere on the outer half. Every ball he hit in BP came off the end of the bat. I was also surprised at how slight he was; he lost a lot of weight last spring after a bout with mono, but it doesn't look like he's gained all the weight back.

 

I have to be a little skeptical about somebody being able to make such a claim as a weight transfer being a fraction of a second early.

 

And that's an incredibly disappointing report on Vitters.

 

Doesn't seem that odd that Law would be able to tell if a hitter transfers their weight less than a full second before what he perceives to be the optimal time.

[Guest]

I never trust a word Keith Law says.

[TruffleShuffle]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

[RedFlash]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

 

Can we atleast give the KID a yr before we throw the B word out there?

[Vanilla Ice]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

 

Can we atleast give the KID a yr before we throw the B word out there?

 

blasphemy

[TruffleShuffle]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

 

Can we atleast give the KID a yr before we throw the B word out there?

 

i didn't even give him 5 minutes.

[RedFlash]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

 

Can we atleast give the KID a yr before we throw the B word out there?

 

i didn't even give him 5 minutes.

 

You prolly wouldn't even give KGJ, ARod or Pujols the benefit of the doubt. I for one, will not group current youngs with the past failures, until they proven they are failures.

[TruffleShuffle]

haha, vitters is going to be such a bust

 

Can we atleast give the KID a yr before we throw the B word out there?

 

i didn't even give him 5 minutes.

 

You prolly wouldn't even give KGJ, ARod or Pujols the benefit of the doubt. I for one, will not group current youngs with the past failures, until they proven they are failures.

 

the cubs probably would've turned those guys into busts

[Tracer Bullet]

I never trust a word Keith Law says.

 

why?

[javy knows my name]

I never trust a word Keith Law says.

 

why?

My reaction as well. I was led to believe he was one of the good ones.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Law is hit or miss. He tries to be out on the edge with his opinions and often times he makes himself look dumb stretching things to be controversial. He's like the Jim Rome of SABR-friendly writers.

 

As far as his scouting reports go, I'll take the word of all the other people who watched Vitters over Law's lone contrarian opinion, considering what I said above and the fact that Law doesn't really have an extensive scouting background.

[javy knows my name]

Law is hit or miss. He tries to be out on the edge with his opinions and often times he makes himself look dumb stretching things to be controversial. He's like the Jim Rome of SABR-friendly writers.

 

As far as his scouting reports go, I'll take the word of all the other people who watched Vitters over Law's lone contrarian opinion, considering what I said above and the fact that Law doesn't really have an extensive scouting background.

Am I to understand that everyone else except Law is pretty high on Vitters?

[imb]

Law is hit or miss. He tries to be out on the edge with his opinions and often times he makes himself look dumb stretching things to be controversial. He's like the Jim Rome of SABR-friendly writers.

 

As far as his scouting reports go, I'll take the word of all the other people who watched Vitters over Law's lone contrarian opinion, considering what I said above and the fact that Law doesn't really have an extensive scouting background.

Am I to understand that everyone else except Law is pretty high on Vitters?

 

Josh Vitters (the 17th-best prospect in baseball)

 

I'd say so.

[CubinNY]

From Keith Law's Spring Training Notes:

 

Donaldson:

The Cubs' Josh Donaldson (the 76th-best prospect in baseball heading into 2008) has an excellent approach at the plate, with a near-perfect load that lets him generate power but still gets his bat to the ball quickly. He squares the ball up and drives through everything, whether he's pulling the ball or going to the opposite field. He rotates his hips as he makes contact, and his weight transfer is just a fraction of a second early, but it still lets him get his lower half involved in the swing.

 

Vitters:

Josh Vitters (the 17th-best prospect in baseball) may have been working on something, but his BP wasn't as impressive as what I saw from him in high school. He's flicking the bat at the ball, not using his lower half, and has a tendency to lunge at balls anywhere on the outer half. Every ball he hit in BP came off the end of the bat. I was also surprised at how slight he was; he lost a lot of weight last spring after a bout with mono, but it doesn't look like he's gained all the weight back.

 

Those are useless words. The guy is talking about a session of batting practice.

 

We talkin' 'bout practice?

 

The report reads like a cheap romance novel.