Mallex Smith

[striker42]

Don't look now but Smith is heating up in AAA. He got off to a dreadful start but has steadily improved. He's hit .313 over 48 ABs in his last 12 games. He's stolen 8 bases in that time and only been caught once. He's posted 4 BBs and 6 strikeouts in the same span. If I've actually counted correctly, that should give him a .365 OBP over those 12 games.

I think he needs more time but he should be given plenty of ABs in ST and we should see him at some point next season.

[thethe]

All he does is continue to get on base and then steal some more. I'll take that at the big league level.

[sturg33]

I'm not convinced... think he strikes out too much to be a productive ML leaguer. But I'd be fine with giving him some ABs in September to see how he handles

[striker42]

He's improved his K rate this year and got it down to about 16% this season from over 18% last season. His BB% this year is a little under 9%. If he had a K% of 16% in the majors with a 9% BB rate, he'd be a little above average in those figures. If he has an 18% K rate he'd be right at average. It's not like he's striking out a quarter of his times to the plate.

He actually reminds me a lot of Dee Gordon.

[nsacpi]

This is a good way to look at it, keeping in mind the likelihood of some deterioration in the walk and strikeou rates when a hitter reaches the majors. The last part of the hitting equation is power and he would be below average there.

He's improved his K rate this year and got it down to about 16% this season from over 18% last season. His BB% this year is a little under 9%. If he had a K% of 16% in the majors with a 9% BB rate, he'd be a little above average in those figures. If he has an 18% K rate he'd be right at average. It's not like he's striking out a quarter of his times to the plate.

He actually reminds me a lot of Dee Gordon.

[gilesfan]

He actually reminds me a lot of Dee Gordon.

Is this considered a good thing or a bad thing? Granted, it would be nice to have the 2015 version of Gordon in the lineup and 2014 would be acceptable, but overall, he's been underwhelming. It will be interesting to see how Mallex translates to the majors; he's got less power than Gordon. If he can improve on his defense and put up .280/.340/.350, he can play.

[striker42]

Is this considered a good thing or a bad thing? Granted, it would be nice to have the 2015 version of Gordon in the lineup and 2014 would be acceptable, but overall, he's been underwhelming. It will be interesting to see how Mallex translates to the majors; he's got less power than Gordon. If he can improve on his defense and put up .280/.340/.350, he can play.

Probably a good thing. Mallex has walked more than Gordon did in the minors. Gordon never broke double digits in his BB% until his third year in AAA.

I do think Gordon is going to regress some. He's not going to maintain a .388 BAPIP. I think 2014 Gordon is more the real Gordon.

If Mallex can become 2014 Dee Gordon with more walks, I'll be very, very happy. I think a .280/.340/.350 line isn't out of the question. Mallex's hitting tool seems to be legit and he's always shown he's willing to take a walk (his recent time in AAA excepted and even that looks to be turning around).

Personally I don't care as much about his power. If he's getting on base at a .340-.350 clip and swiping 40+ bags a year at the top of the order, I'm fine.

[dak]

Curious if anyone has seen him defensively this year or has seen a recent scouting report on his defense. Coming into this year, many of the scouting reports suggested that he may not be able to stick in CF. He's obviously got the speed to cover a lot of ground, but there were concerns about his reads and routes. Similar to the situation we currently have w/ Maybin, his value to the team declines considerably if he can't play a consistently average CF.

[weso1]

I think his absolute ceiling is somewhere in between Bourn and Lofton. I know that's quite a range there between good player and Hall of Fame player (That's right I got Lofton in the Hall).

[Garmel]

Since moving to Gwinnett Mallex has gotten his K rate down to 14.4%. At AA it was at 17.1% and 18.4 at A+. Baby steps in the right direction.

[Garmel]

Curious if anyone has seen him defensively this year or has seen a recent scouting report on his defense. Coming into this year, many of the scouting reports suggested that he may not be able to stick in CF. He's obviously got the speed to cover a lot of ground, but there were concerns about his reads and routes. Similar to the situation we currently have w/ Maybin, his value to the team declines considerably if he can't play a consistently average CF.

His defensive range factor at CF at Gwinnett is 3.00. Pretty good but it is a SSS.

[GovClintonTyree]

Curious if anyone has seen him defensively this year or has seen a recent scouting report on his defense. Coming into this year, many of the scouting reports suggested that he may not be able to stick in CF. He's obviously got the speed to cover a lot of ground, but there were concerns about his reads and routes. Similar to the situation we currently have w/ Maybin, his value to the team declines considerably if he can't play a consistently average CF.

dak, you moron, you know better than to ask questions like this. Here on Chop Country, we assess players on the basis of metrics. There's no value in watching games. Who are you gonna believe? Zito or your lying eyes?

[weso1]

I'm not convinced... think he strikes out too much to be a productive ML leaguer. But I'd be fine with giving him some ABs in September to see how he handles

He k's a bit less than Michael Bourn did in the minors.