How does Chris Heisey's stats compare to Chris Denorfia's?

[TC81190]

I see a lot of Denorfia in Heisey. Slightly older player for his level, extremely high BA, solid all around player with no great skill, but also no true weaknesses.

I would like Heisey to become more than what Denorfia was, and if he can't, I'd like to see him traded while his value is high.

But how do their Minor league stats compare? Heisey seems to have a high SLG, something I don't remember Denorfia ever having, but I have a feeling his could be driven by BA. How do their LD% and BABIP and other similar stats compare?

[Homer Bailey]

2005 between AA and AAA:

.317/ .391/ .526/ .917

Chris Heisey at same age between AA and AAA:

.339/ .407/ .553/ .960

Pretty close.

[GIDP]

Thinks like LD% probably arent avaiable for Deno.

[corkedbat]

the hype is certainly reaching Denovian proportions

[mace]

Heisey strikes me as much more of an athlete. More speed, more arm, more power; more upside. He's a thicker guy. I think.

[Benihana]

I never believed in Denorfia. I also didn't believe in the Broussard hype (which was significant.) Until this Summer, I didn't really believe in Heisey.

I'm starting to come around.

[LincolnparkRed]

2005 between AA and AAA:

.317/ .391/ .526/ .917

Chris Heisey at same age between AA and AAA:

.339/ .407/ .553/ .960

Pretty close.

Just had to rain on our parade

Now I need a new scrappy saviour to get behind.

Any suggestions?

[RED VAN HOT]

Heisey strikes me as much more of an athlete. More speed, more arm, more power; more upside. He's a thicker guy. I think.

That says it for me as well. I think prior to this year the comparison was valid. Heisey continues to add to his game.

[RedsManRick]

I think it's a fair comp, but we shouldn't undersell Denorfia. Nobody thought he was going to be an all-star, just a solid contributor. And when he played, he was. In his brief career, playing sporadically, Denorfia hit .279/.356/.380. Unfortunately he didn't get regular playing time in the majors because he was blocked and then injured in Cincinnati and Oakland.

Get a .750 OPS from a good fielding CF and you've got a bargain for a few years. I think Heisey can do that. But I don't think he'll get the opportunity to do so in Cincinnati. More likely he'll get pushed to LF, won't hit enough to justify it, will get shuttled back and forth to AAA, and will get traded or leave via FA in his late 20's.

[Superdude]

Heisey strikes me as much more of an athlete. More speed, more arm, more power; more upside. He's a thicker guy. I think.

Denorfia just looked gangly and awkward when he came up. I never understood how he put up those '05 numbers. I watched Heisey play on mlb network and he came off as a much more athletic player with a more powerful swing.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Denorfia just looked gangly and awkward when he came up.

Agree. Kind of like Rosales.

[Superdude]

Agree. Kind of like Rosales.

I was actually gonna use the word "Rosalesey"

[Cyclone792]

Denorfia was probably the most misunderstood player on RZ I've seen in awhile. What Denorifa supporters - myself included - saw was:

1) A plus glove in center field
2) An adequate ability to get on base

Those are the types of players you can milk for some ok production during their league minimum salary years up through possibly year one of arbitration. Then when they start making some money, ship them off to another club before their salary outweighs their production level. It's essentially called "preventing a weakness with a cheap player that barely causes a ripple in the budget." That's what Beane saw in Denorfia and why he traded for him, but the injury likely derailed that plan.

Good teams can usually sniff out those types of players out whereas bad teams repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot with other types of stupidity (i.e. Patterson, Taveras, etc.).

[Redhook]

Denorfia just looked gangly and awkward when he came up. I never understood how he put up those '05 numbers.

I agree big-time. I was very disappointed when I saw him at the plate for the first time. After seeing his batting stance and watching his swing I lost all hope in him being a good major league player. It's amazing how bad his batting stance is.

I'm looking forward to seeing Heisey play. I just hope I don't feel the same way about him as I did towards Deno.

[TheNext44]

If Chris Heisey's ceiling is Chris Denorfria, then trade him now and keep Stubbs.
Because that's close to Stubbs floor, and he is a much, much better fielder than Heisey or Denorfia, and if Stubbs does get any power, he could be much more than that offensively too.

Also, I agree that Denorfia could have been solid 4th outfielder, maybe a cheap, league average CF a la Mark Kotsay, had he not gotten injured, although we will never know, as he currently is healthy and definitely not that now. And I believe Cyclone and RedsManRick when they say that is all they ever projected him to be. However, that was not what he was projected to be by most Reds fans.

The problem Denorfia had was that he was Kearns replacement after the trade. These were Kearns numbers at the time of the trade: .274 .351 .492 .843.

So Denorfia was playing RF, not CF, and supposed to replace a guy with an .843 OPS. No way he could do it. He needed to be playing CF to justify his offense, and even then, it would not be enough to justify the image that he had been built into, of being the next Kearns. He was destined to fail to live up to expectations.

And to the Reds fairness, they were able to get two decent prospects for him, and around $2M in cash, a pretty nice haul for a potential 4th outfielder.

One more thing, Heisey does look bigger than Denorfia, but they are listed at exactly the same size. 6 foot even, 185 pounds.