Thoughts on Arismendy Alcantara?

[BeerHere]

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=SS&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=570489

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statistics/players/cards/82785

 

20 and will turn 21 in October, doing well in Daytona. Some power but I'd like to see some more patience. Looks to have good speed. OPS is .777 this year, .655 last year in Peoria in 370AB. Anyone have some idea of his defense at SS? Arm strength? This is really the first year I've been watching the kid and there isn't much talk of him anywhere.

 

Signed by the Chicago Cubs as non-drafted free agent, Nov. 3, 2008. ... Alcantara spent the 2010 season with Boise and he led the Northwest League with six triples. ... He also stole seven bases while hitting .283 with 29 runs scored. ... Alcantara hit .304 against right-handed pitchers with five triples, 20 RBIs and all three of his home runs. ... Alcantara had a season high four hits on July 17 against Salem-Keizer, and repeated the feat on Aug. 14 against Everett. ... He also reached his season-high in RBIs in multiple games against Spokane, two days apart on Aug. 30 and Sept. 1. ... Alcantara hit .307 at home in 2010, with a .351 on-base percentage. ... He was also clutch, hitting .440 in his 25 ninth-inning at-bats, including four RBIs and a .517 on-base percentage. ... In the field, he has experience at second base, shortstop, and third base. ... In 2009, Alcantara started his professional career in the Dominican Summer League going 5-for-10 in his first three games, while recording a hit in 14 of his first 17 games.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I've definitely been following him, and if you follow Kevin Goldstein on Twitter, he seems to have replaced Junior Lake when it comes to the Cubs prospect that he's getting bombarded by inquiries on. Between Lake, Alcantara, Amaya, Hernandez, Torreyes, and Baez, we certainly have no shortage of high ceiling latin middle infielders.

[toonsterwu]

Defensively, he has the tools to be a good shortstop. A lot of errors right now, but raw tools are there, with good arm strength, good athletic ability.

 

He had a stretch there in May where he was red hot and the discipline looked significantly improved, but the BB and K rates are, for May, settling closer to what he's done in the past.

 

Any legitimate improvement in discipline will make him an intriguing asset to watch because of his raw tools (assuming he becomes more consistent defensively). Bat speed's fairly good, to the best of my understanding. He could be like Marwin Gonzalez ... mediocre for awhile before putting it together, if he does.

[videographer]

Has anyone noticed that Alcantara's errors went down when his batting avg. started to rise? Now, rare is the occasion when he has an error and hit in the same game. I remember when he was the only talent to follow his last year in the DSL. He showed extra base hit power with avg. Hopefully, we are seeing the blossoming of his talent, but I am not sure of his ceiling with the bat.

 

I think I will wait out the year before I rank the Latin middle infielders. To many variables right now and 3 months to go with the draft coming up.

[toonsterwu]

His line has gone down ... but to be honest, I don't care about that (it had to go down ... ). Seeing that his K rate is staying down is a big plus to me. When you add in that his power has stayed steady for much of the year, he's been a very nice story in our system this year, and seems to be showing some legitimate development. Granted, the errors still suck the wind out of things, but baby steps.