Quote:
Originally Posted by redsfandan
Well, I'm not picking on you Scrap but I think some baseball/Reds fans have been blinded by his speed into delevoping one heck of a man crush.
Brutus posted that Doug has been going out of his way to downplay anyone's excitement. I think Doug has just been trying to bring people back to earth a little bit as far as expectations for Hamilton go. He's still a prospect which means that he's pretty much all potential until he proves in the majors otherwise.
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With all due respect, doug's been just about as wrong on Hamilton as is humanly possible so far.
And if a kid with a ceiling of .300+/.400+/.425 with plus SS defense isn't something to get excited about, I don't know what is.
I see very few posters on Redszone that think Hamilton's going to be an All-Star next season or something like that. Many have (rightly, IMO) pointed to his superior BB rate, BB:K ratio, BA, obp, speed, and improving glove as proof positive of a true difference-maker in the one spot the Reds are lacking: leadoff. Major league equivalent hitters include Rafael Furcal, Juan Pierre, Brett Butler, Dave Collins, Otis Nixon, and Willie Wilson-- there's not a Hall of Famer in that group and very few All-Star nods.
Finally, I disagree that doug should "bring people back down to earth" on anyone. He should give his opinion without bias. IMO, doug tends to downgrade speed guys because he sees very little value in it. Others have disagreed with him on that for the five years he's been on the board and writing about prospects. In Hamilton's case, you have a guy who's got an 80 tool-- a true top of the line tool. It's one many national writers and prospect pundits have noted-- why shouldn't fans be excited about that?