Sure it has. He is hitting better now, at a higher level, than he did last year at a lower level. If he were hitting worse than he did last year, then you could say 'wow, he has shown no improvement at all', but that isnt the case at all as he has improved in a more difficult league.Originally Posted by Kc61
When you hold the 8 pick in the draft, your offensive wet dream a couple years later is basically these guys:
Nick Swisher (16th overall- 2002)
Travis Buck (36th overall- 2005)
Both in the Show at age 23. Stubbs? Might be ready to be a middling offensive CF at 25 or 26. Of course, neither Buck or Swisher are good defensive Center Fielders, but I'm not convinced that Stubbs can be more than adequate at that position in the majors either. Maybe that's neither here nor there but then nor are the decisions of the 7 teams drafting in front of the Reds in 2006. The naked truth is that if you pass on a Tim Lincecum-level talent in order to grab a Drew Stubbs-level talent, you're tweaked in just about every way.
BTW, here's Redszone's mock draft for last season:
1. Royals-TRF (Tim Lincecum)
2. Rockies-jmcclain19 (Andrew Miller)
3. Devil Rays-2844 (Evan Longoria)
4. Pirates-dougdirt (Luke Hochevar)
5. Mariners-TradeRumor (Brad Lincoln)
6. Tigers-DocScott (Drew Stubbs)
7. Dodgers-lollipopcurve (Max Scherzer)
8. Reds-OnBaseMachine (Brandon Morrow)
9. Orioles-Gallen5862 (Greg Reynolds)
10. Giants-cincinnati chili (Matt Sulentic)
11. Diamondbacks-Topcat (Daniel Bard)
12. Rangers-Reds Fanatic (Joba Chamberlain)
13. Cubs-KronoRed (Bill Rowell)
14. Blue Jays-SteelSD (Clayton Kershaw)
15. Nationals-Caveat Emperor (Kyle Drabek)
16. Brewers-flyer85 (Brooks Brown)
17. Padres-rdiersin (Brett Sinkbeil)
18. Phillies-Stewie (Brett Anderson)
19. Marlins-ramp101 (Hank Conger)
20. Twins-Betterread (Travis Snider)
21. Yankees-Puffy (Ian Kennedy)
22. Nationals-Caveat Emperor (Josh Butler)
23. Astros-SandyD (Kyle McCulloch)
24. Braves-NC Reds (Kyler Burke)
25. Angels-Austin Kearns (David Huff)
26. Dodgers-lollipopcurve (Matt Antonelli)
27. Red Sox-M2 (Colton Willems)
28. Red Sox -M2 (Pedro Beato)
29. White Sox-reds44 (Jeremy Jeffress)
30. Cardinals-MattyMo4Life (Kasey Kiker)
Seems that TRF's crystal ball was working quite well last year. But really, I'd have done the same thing in his place. And I'd have done it every other time with Lincecum on the board through pick whatever.
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
I didn't say Lincoln was doing better. I said he was "on hold" due to his injury. I don't want to say Stubbs is doing better either, because TJ is pretty much a routine thing now.
Stubbs now at .264. I hope they do better tomorrow.
2 things,
1.have a little bit of faith.
2. Draft is Thursday and Friday
My friends just call me Lord High Exalted King Richard.
0 Value Over Replacement Poster
"Sit over here next to Johnathan (Bench)...sit right here, he's smart."--Sparky Anderson
Update:
Drew is still in Dayton. Current line (going into tonight) is .253/.347/.373.
Pretty disappointing.
His OBP still offers some slight glimmer of hope.
However, for a guy who allegedly had monster power, to be slugging 373 is just awful. That's slap hitting Juan Pierre-esq.
I'll be a little lenient because the Midwest tends to bend pretty hard towards the pitcher, but still, come on now. We're talking about a five tool player who seemingly lost three tools in the woodshed somewhere.
Well not really. Of the tools he was said to have (speed, fielding, arm, patience, power), the only one not there right now is power. The others have been as advertised. He was never 'supposed' to be a good contact hitter and that has remained.
The power was supposed to be slow to come along, but it's kind of scary that it's not there at all. The raw power is still there, but he does need to start showing it in some fashion.
I mean, let's be honest here. Hate to say it, but this guy is looking like a total bust at this point. He's 23 years old, and not hitting in the least at the Low A level. That is absolutely horrendous for a first round pick, let alone a top 10 guy. Until Drew Stubbs can post an OPS over .850 at this level, I'm writing him off. Call me quick to dismiss or whatever, but I'm not reserving a spot in the Reds OF for this guy.
Go BLUE!!!
Stubbs is 22 years old, not 23.
He is playing with an injury that is likely going to require surgery after the season. Im giving him a little bit of a pass for the season.
Maybe I have too much faith sometimes. Maybe others don't have enough. Not really sure.
He'll be 23 in October, so he's really closer right now to 23 than 22, though his playing age would generally be understood as 22 because he'll still be officially 22 at season's end. Still, he can only be described as a massive disappointment and one more serious indication of Krivsky's incompetence. He's in his second year of professional baseball after being in a major college program, he's hitting .253 at low A ball, is making no progress at the plate whatsovever, and has been consistently plagued by exactly what scouts said was his weakness--inability to make contact. Krivsky had a very accurate scouting reading of this guy and chose to go ahead and make him the 8th pick overall anyway. Other people get fired for those kinds of decisions.
His inability to make consistent contact has not been the problem this year. He has gotten on base at a decent rate. It's the power. Unless that starts to develop he will continue to struggle.
A guy who strikes out one in every 3.5 times to the plate has trouble making contact.
Ya, but he still walks and manages to get on base. If he didn't walk, the contact would be more of a problem. As is, the K's seem to be more of a result of going deep into counts.
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