Minor League Discussion & Boxes 9-3-2008: Mulligan

[craig]

Rundle got a double today, apparently he leads the NWL in extra base hits. He's really recovered his prospect status at Boise.

 

I hadn't noticed how extreme that is, he's got 33 XBH out of 56 hits total for Boise. 33 XBH to 23 singles, that's not your normal ratio! .955 OPS is better than Flaherty or Vitters, and while it seems he's been bumbling forever, he's still only 20. So theoretically you could keep some interest.

 

http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/pl.cgi suggests he's been much park and luck benefited. For what it's worth, it projects him as a .259 hitter with a .872 OPS.

 

I'm guessing he'll probably be Harvey-ized when he goes back to A-ball, and I still have a pretty hard time taking him very seriously.

 

What guys are at 20 doesn't prove what they'll be at 25 or 30, of course. Some guys do improve a lot (Theriot, Soto, and Samardz are recent examples). So maybe Rundle will blossom in ways I can't anticipate down the road, I hope so.

 

But it's hard to anticipate a tall guy who's whiffing a full 1/3 of his AB's against the mostly trashy pitching in short-season is going to make enough solid contact against the sharply improving pitching at higher levels. Rundle's Boise K-rate is even higher than Harvey's was as a 19-year-old. when your holes are so big that even Boise-level guys are whiffing you 1/3 of your AB, you've got an awful lot of hole-closing to do.

[Guest]

Yeah, the guys I really wanted went just ahead of Cashner (Hicks, Martin and Lawrie). I'm also not a fan of drafting a reliever in the first round, but that'd be great if he could stick in the rotation. I think I'd have preferred Collier or one of the the top HS arms (thankfully the Cubs didn't draft Gerrit Cole).

[Guest]

Rundle got a double today, apparently he leads the NWL in extra base hits. He's really recovered his prospect status at Boise.

 

I hadn't noticed how extreme that is, he's got 33 XBH out of 56 hits total for Boise. 33 XBH to 23 singles, that's not your normal ratio! .955 OPS is better than Flaherty or Vitters, and while it seems he's been bumbling forever, he's still only 20. So theoretically you could keep some interest.

 

http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/pl.cgi suggests he's been much park and luck benefited. For what it's worth, it projects him as a .259 hitter with a .872 OPS.

 

I'm guessing he'll probably be Harvey-ized when he goes back to A-ball, and I still have a pretty hard time taking him very seriously.

 

What guys are at 20 doesn't prove what they'll be at 25 or 30, of course. Some guys do improve a lot (Theriot, Soto, and Samardz are recent examples). So maybe Rundle will blossom in ways I can't anticipate down the road, I hope so.

 

But it's hard to anticipate a tall guy who's whiffing a full 1/3 of his AB's against the mostly trashy pitching in short-season is going to make enough solid contact against the sharply improving pitching at higher levels. Rundle's Boise K-rate is even higher than Harvey's was as a 19-year-old. when your holes are so big that even Boise-level guys are whiffing you 1/3 of your AB, you've got an awful lot of hole-closing to do.

 

Agreed that the strikeouts are a major major concern. I know others have cited the walk rate as a counter balance and while the IsoD is a good sign, he's striking out far too much at such a low level. It's going to be a major detriment as he tries to advance.