John Sickels on Drew Stubbs and Chris Valaika

[camisadelgolf]

Now yeah, it was just one little HR in AAA, but he is certainly capable of hitting those types of HR's with some more frequency as he gets more in tune with his new swing.

I don't know, Doug . . . I think Luis Castillo could've blasted that pitch 430+ feet. That was a terrible pitch.

Player's power numbers go up once they're in the Major Leagues all the time. I've been looking through players with builds similar to Drew Stubbs' (tall, lanky), and almost all of them saw nearly a 50% increase or more in their homerun production.

Through 2+ seasons in the minors, Stubbs averages a homerun every 54 plate appearances or so. Shannon Stewart has put together a heck of a career doing that in the Major Leagues. The thing is, if Stubbs becomes a regular in MLB, he will play better defense, steal more bases, get on base just as much, and almost definitely have more power than Shannon Stewart.

[RedsManRick]

Rick, I recalled this post you made about Chris Dickerson late in the season

Now you note that with Dickerson its clear that he has power because of that 430 foot HR that wasn't quite in L/C as it went into the Reds pen, just off of dead center. Still, I will submit this video of Drew Stubbs hitting a 438 foot HR in Louisville late last year.

Now yeah, it was just one little HR in AAA, but he is certainly capable of hitting those types of HR's with some more frequency as he gets more in tune with his new swing.

Thanks for posting that video. However, perhaps you missed the point of my post. My Dickerson comment was about pointing out a raw ability. I don't doubt that Stubbs has power. Given the right circumstance and the right swing, Stubbs can hit the ball far.

I do doubt that given his apparent need to alter his swing significantly in order to make enough contact that he'll be able to utilize that power with any regularity. As you said, maybe he'll grow in to it as he gets more "in tune" with the new swing. Maybe those doubles will turn in to homers. I certainly hope so. I'm just not going to hold my breath.

[OnBaseMachine]

Joe Sheehan on Chris Valaika:

Chris Valaika looked good enough on a few plays to make me think he can stay at shortstop.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/ar...articleid=8294

[RedlegJake]

I've been hearing more and more that observers are changing their mind about Valaika at short. Apparently he has improved enough that many are now saying they think he can stick at SS. THAT would be a huge boost for the Reds - and up Chris' stock dramatically.