What do people make of this Jake Fox situation?
Here you have a borderline non-prospect because of age (approaching 27) that is absolutely brutalizing Pacific Coast League pitching to the point where even in a hitter-friendly league, he's looking like Mike Schmidt. Of course, it's further complicated by his absolutely atrocious defense.
Here you have a guy, that probably the only place he won't terrorize your DER is by keeping him at first. However, he's still blocked by the aging (and bat-speed-deteriorating) Derrek Lee as well as another non-prospect that kept hitting in AAA: Micah Hoffpauir.
But more to the point.
His line:
.429
17 HR
50 RBI
.513 OBP / .968 SLG / 1.481 OPS
His K% is fair (18.1%)
And according to a little Fan Graph blurb on him today, his wOBA is a ridiculous .600. That's 130 points higher than the 2nd place guy, which they say is the same margin between No. 2 and No. 70 in the PCL.
Other than his defense, I'm not seeing much to criticize.
This season, even as a righty, he's hitting right-handed pitching better than left-handers. In 2008 the difference was negligible. For that matter, with stops at AA and AAA last season, he combined on a .921 OPS (31 HR 105 RBI in 134 games).
The guy hit 4 homers in spring training to boot. I would think, at this point, the Cubs have got to bring him up and get him some time in the order. At what point does a guy have to prove himself to swing the bat?