System Depth: Middle Infield

[nsacpi]

Honestly I cannot think of a direct comparison for La Stella. Watching him I see Prado. Though a left handed version of him with more patience. Statwise who knows. I think the closest comp I can think of of a guy who doesn't have a ton of power, didn't make it to the majors until he was a bit older, and walked nearly as much as he K'd and all I can think of right now is Jacoby Ellsbury. Though Ellsbury had worse power in the minors than La Stella did. Maybe Alberto Callaspo.

I don't really know who to compare him to because you have to consider tons of factors. The facts we're dealing with are for the negative he is a bit old for his level, his glove is questionable, and health. Health is the only real concern of mine. You can improve the glove and age is just a number, sure it means we'll have less productive major league seasons out of him, but the positive is we can Jason Bay him and get all of his positive offensive seasons then let him leave via FA to be overpaid by someone. The positives for him is that he hits. He has never even remotely faltered on that category. Seems to me he has good line drive skills and has more of a Freeman swing where he can put the ball from gap to gap and not have to deal with extreme shifts as much.

Well it's good to know that only successful major league players come to mind.

In the interests of fairness and balance, I'll throw out another name that Braves historians might remember: Ed Giovanola. Check out Ed's age 24 season in AA in particular. Deja voodoo all over again.

[Teheran_49]

Sure I would take Matt Carpenter. And my question for you is, what are the odds La Stella turns into a Matt Carpenter?

Check out Matt Carpenter's minor league stats they are eerily similar to La Stella's. Let's take Carpenter's AA season and compare them to La Stella's. Carpenter was 24 in 2010 where he at AA in the Texas league(which if I'm not mistaken is known as a better hitters league than the Southern. Though not 100%) and La Stella is also 24 in AA.

Carpenter's stats that year:
AB-396
BA-.316
2b-26
HR-12
RBI-53
BB-64
SO-88
OBP-.412
OPS-.900

La Stella:
AB-278
BA-.338
2b-21
HR-4
RBI-40
BB-37
SO-33
OBP-.420
OPS-.891

Now Carpenter had about 120 more AB's and tends to walk a bit more but also strike out. As you can see La Stella has almost as many doubles as Carpenter has in less AB's but Carp does have more power numbers but I think La Stella could hit 10-15 HR's in the majors. I could also see a left handed Prado or the Callaspo comps. Callaspo had very good seasons in 2009 and 2011 but I'm wondering where his BA has went the past two seasons? Still, La Stella's bat compares to guys who are good-very good starting 2B which bodes well for the guy. I can see the health concerns Zito wrote about but there is no doubt the guy can hit and since he's been healthy the guy has lit it up in the batters box. His skills should translate well at the ML level.

[nsacpi]

Check out Matt Carpenter's minor league stats they are eerily similar to La Stella's. Let's take Carpenter's AA season and compare them to La Stella's. Carpenter was 24 in 2010 where he at AA in the Texas league(which if I'm not mistaken is known as a better hitters league than the Southern. Though not 100%) and La Stella is also 24 in AA.

Carpenter's stats that year:
AB-396
BA-.316
2b-26
HR-12
RBI-53
BB-64
SO-88
OBP-.412
OPS-.900

La Stella:
AB-278
BA-.338
2b-21
HR-4
RBI-40
BB-37
SO-33
OBP-.420
OPS-.891

Now Carpenter had about 120 more AB's and tends to walk a bit more but also strike out. As you can see La Stella has almost as many doubles as Carpenter has in less AB's but Carp does have more power numbers but I think La Stella could hit 10-15 HR's in the majors. I could also see a left handed Prado or the Callaspo comps. Callaspo had very good seasons in 2009 and 2011 but I'm wondering where his BA has went the past two seasons? Still, La Stella's bat compares to guys who are good-very good starting 2B which bodes well for the guy. I can see the health concerns Zito wrote about but there is no doubt the guy can hit and since he's been healthy the guy has lit it up in the batters box. His skills should translate well at the ML level.

So what do you think the odds are that La Stella will become another Matt Carpenter.

[thethe]

So what do you think the odds are that La Stella will become another Matt Carpenter.

I don't know what the odds are but if he does we are winning a world series in the next three years.

[Teheran_49]

So what do you think the odds are that La Stella will become another Matt Carpenter.

You never know until the guy gets his shot. I think he could be close just because he has done it since day 1 of being drafted. Look at Matin's minor league numbers. High average and struck out as much as he walked but he never had the numbers La Stella has and didn't get on base at the absurd rate La Stella does. I just have a really good feeling this kid could be a great player for us and if he's anything close to what he's shown in the minors than he's exactly what we need. I hear people question his fielding but his fielding% is at 98% and we always heard how Gattis was a butcher at catcher and I never really saw it.

If he tears up the AFL then FW has to get rid of Dan and let La Stella get his shot. What I've seen from La Stella in the limited tape I've seen is the kid has pretty good power and hits the ball to all fields. Also, his opposite field power is dang good and he stays on top of the ball. There's just too much that I've seen to not say this guy won't be successful.

Here's some clips of La Stella: http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.j...nt_id=30055479

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.j...nt_id=30223933

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.j...nt_id=29875637