You know the .289 was in 49 games, right?
Not ever young player profiles as a good hitter.
Simmons is defensive wiz, anything with the bat is nice. Him and Bethancourt can occupy 7/8 spots unless Eric Young is written on the lineup card.
Nice to see ole Eury in there. Gives me hope that maybe it's still a competition after all.
He profiled as a pretty good hitter in the minors and flashed it in the majors. Which is exactly what I said. 49 games is a flash... To think a guy who has had hitting success cannot improve at age 25 is short sighted. And to call a kid who hit 17 homers in a year a singles hitter is a bit giles over the top as well.
Prado as a 23 year old in the International League: .316/.374/.421 with a 9.3% strikeout rate.
Peterson as a 24 year old in the PCL: .306/.406/.464 with a 16.7% strikeout rate.
As a rough rule applying a 15% haircut to PCL slash hitting stats gives you the equivalent for the International League.
I think the differential in their strikeout rates is of some significance.
One more comp:
La Stella last year as a 25 year old in AAA: .293/.384/.359 with a 7.1% strikeout rate.
Simmons had a .617 OPS last year.
I don't think it's unreasonable at all for him to put up a .675 season. That alone would be a big step up for his value.
He's not ever going to be a high average, 15 homer guy. That would make him an elite player. But he could definitely improve a good bit from last year.
(and might prove good defensively most anywhere like Prado too, including OF).
Simmons had a .617 OPS last year.
I don't think it's unreasonable at all for him to put up a .675 season. That alone would be a big step up for his value.
He's not ever going to be a high average, 15 homer guy. That would make him an elite player. But he could definitely improve a good bit from last year.
Or third base.
Simmons is an elite athlete with great baseball IQ. He got into some really bad habits last year. He is still very young. The power he showed at 23 was much earlier than power that often comes at 25-28. It wouldn't surprise me if he showed significant improvement offensively this year. I honestly expect a .730 or better OPS and would be more suprised by a sub .700 than .750 plus.
If I am wrong, Gilesfan can rub my nose in it, since I'll already be bummed, and it won't make it any worse.
Truly? I don’t think that a .270+/15 impossible. Not likely, granted, but not impossible. I expect improvement pretty much everywhere but walks. There, I admit, I’ve pretty much given up.
Nice to see ole Eury in there. Gives me hope that maybe it's still a competition after all.