We've already taken a closer look at Brett Jackson so let's now take a closer look at Josh Vitters. He had about the worst imaginable start to his big league career in 2012. Vitters hit .121/.193/.202 over 109 plate appearances. His wRC+ late in the year had dipped to something like -12 and after a hot stretch Vitters managed to end the season at 4.
Thanks to everybody's attention being on Brett Jackson's strikeouts, people have overlooked the problems Josh Vitters had with making contact. He struckout in 30.3% of his PA and unlike Jackson who had a very high walk rate, Vitters walked only 6.4% of the time. Vitters had 4 extra base hits and an ISO of .081.
Last week when Myles wrote about young minor leaguers in the Cubs system I looked at how Vitters OPS+ of 9 compared to other players in the early part of their career. I limited it to players with at least 75 plate appearances over the player's first three seasons between the years of 1901 and 2012. Josh Vitters ranks as the 76th worst in OPS+.
There are a few interesting names on that list, but the overwhelming majority of those players had forgettable careers.
Among players with 100 or more PA in a season, his 4 wRC+ last year ranks as the 28th worst since 1950. He ranks 45th worst if we go all the way back to 1901. I haven't been very high on Vitters for a long time and even these numbers surprised me. Josh Vitters had one of the worst seasons in MLB history last year.
If you can't say anything nice about Josh Vitters, don't say anything at all
Josh Vitters reportedly has a pretty swing. I'm not really sure what that means, but enough scouts have said it that I'll trust that he does in fact have a pretty swing. He's relatively young. He turned 23 in August so he just completed his age 22 season. There's still plenty of time for him to figure things out.
I've long thought that age isn't necessarily the only factor. We often talk about a player being young and there's certainly something to it. However, I also think there's something to the length of time a player has spent in professional baseball.
Vitters hasn't flown through the minor leagues. It's basically been one stop at a time and in a few of those stops he struggled. Pretty swing or not, baseball hasn't come easily to him.
He has 2118 minor league plate appearances and that will increase in 2013. That's not an especially high total, but it also shows that he's been around a long time now. He's spent 6+ years working with professional coaches.
It's important to highlight at this point something I think people were and perhaps still are eagerly overlooking: .283/.327/.455. That's what Josh Vitters has hit over 6 years in the minor leagues. Last year in AAA was undoubtedly his best. He hit .304/.356/.513. There's no doubt that's a good batting line, but it was in the PCL, which is known for being a hitter's paradise.
If Vitters can somehow maintain this level of hitting, he can be a productive player. He'll have to hit the ball because his other skills are lacking. He's known as a poor defender. Some scouts think he'll end up at 1st base. He's not very good on the bases either.
Brett Jackson's road to success is a hell of a lot easier than it is for Josh Vitters. That doesn't mean we should count Vitters out, but he has a huge hill to climb.
Comments
Heyward + the Upton brothers is not too shabby of an outfield.
BerseliusQuote Reply
From what I remember, Thoyer’s comments at the end of the season indicated that BJax would be back in AAA next year, but also left the door open for him to earn the job back. If BJax manages to convince the team that he’s relatively worked out his strikeout issues, none of the other OFs on the roster are going to block him.
BerseliusQuote Reply
Hairston’s 2012:
.263/.299/.504
Ick.
BerseliusQuote Reply
I guess this means Rusin and Raley are on their way off the roster soon
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
Have they even officially added Villanueva yet?
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Nope
BerseliusQuote Reply
Yeah, if they are hellbent on keeping Clevenger, I’d have to think it’s Rusin and Raley, with considerations to Castillo and Rondon, and maybe Campana. In fact, Campana’s days seem to be numbered for sure, with the number of signed OF that are appreciably more talented than he is.
MylesQuote Reply
Josh Vitters swing is pretty because scouts see a rainbow coming out of it, like when Rainbow Dash flies.
SVBQuote Reply
Upton to ATL
JonKneeVQuote Reply
If Scott Hairston’s wife isn’t as hot as Kim deJesus, this signing is an epic FAIL.
SVBQuote Reply
How the hell is the ATL package better than Baez +?
JonKneeVQuote Reply
@ JonKneeV:
The DBacks were asking for Castro, IIRC
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
That’s what they supposedly asked for. I don’t know much about the package the Dbacks got, but from what others have said here it doesn’t sound like a good one. My guess is that the front office just didn’t want to part with Baez. I would have for Upton without hesitation.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ JonKneeV:
I think AZ was just hellbent on getting rid of Upton for something more than pure crap. It’s a puzzling trade.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
New aside: http://obstructedview.net/aside/spring-training-broadcast-schedule-announced.html
BerseliusQuote Reply
To go from a package of what Mariners offered to what they just got, I don’t understand. I would have told the Braves Teheran has to be included. They only got one of the Braves Top 10 prospects according to Fangraphs. Seems like a pretty shitty trade for the DBacks.
MuckerQuote Reply
I wonder if the Dbacks painted themselves into a corner with Upton. It seems like whenever a team declares that they Must trade a player, it kills their negotiating power. I don’t know for sure if that was the case though. If the package the Diamondbacks were getting offered was that low for Upton, they should have just kept him.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin wrote:
fixed
dmick89Quote Reply
@ Edwin:
Agreed. He was under team control for another 3 years. I guess they felt he had the most value now. He probably traded him out of spite after he rejected the Mariner’s trade. (dying laughing)
MuckerQuote Reply
Berselius wrote:
Laziest outfield ever assembled.
/Mainstream media’d
GBTSQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
Being on the no-trade list probably made the Cubs a non-player, unfortunately. Even if they had included Castro or Baez Upton could’ve just said “no”.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
MLBTR bullets suggest the D’Backs are going to extend Prado and try to flip some of the specs they got for Rick Porcello.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ Rice Cube:
The Dbacks are stupid. I’m glad the Cubs passed on Porcello.
dmick89Quote Reply
who did the dbacks get? did they get the guy that was supposed to be involved in the dempster trade last summer? i forget his name…
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo wrote:
Yes – Delgado
WaLiQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
If so, I expect he was blindsided by the deal
BerseliusQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
I actually kind of wanted the Cubs to try to get Drew Smyly rather than Porcello.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
@ EnricoPallazzo:
Randall Delgado was the big catch. Braves apparently felt they could also give Martin Prado away.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/cubs-sign-scott-hairston/
BerseliusQuote Reply
how disappointing must this be for dbacks fans? Instead of watching Upton and Bauer this year, they get Prado, Cody Ross, and Delgado.
GWQuote Reply
@ Berselius:
WaLiQuote Reply
http://twitter.com/#!/RandallDelgado/status/228333629393231872
@RandallDelgado They don’t did a trade
JonKneeVQuote Reply
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/01/24/why-did-the-dbacks-trade-justin-upton-anyway/
D’Backs lose?
Rice CubeQuote Reply
BerseliusQuote Reply
BerseliusQuote Reply
Saw a rumor on another board of talks to send Sori to the Indians and he would accept the trade. Grain of salt needed.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
@ JonKneeV:
Are the Indians going to be any good this year? I’d be surprised if he would go to any team that doesn’t have a really good shot of reaching the postseason.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Ya I don’t get it either. Soriano has said he wants to go to the east coast and I don’t understand why he would want to go to Cleveland.
Not sure why Cleveland would be interested.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
@ dmick89:
they might be ok. they got rid of a really good player in shin-soo choo, and replaced him with drew stubbs in center (pretty good d, some pop, but overall not a good hitter) and nick swisher, who is good. kipnis, asdrubal, are santana good hitters at tough positions. they have absolutely nothing at 3b and DH, reynolds is less a bat than you would want at first, and brantley in left would look better if he was platooning with stubbs in center. the rotation is a mess; the bullpen is pretty good. they could definitely use a big bat or two, but even with soriano I would say that they are no better than a .500 team, true talent-wise.
GWQuote Reply
JonKneeV wrote:
Not sure why anybody would go to Cleveland other than to ask directions on how to get out of Cleveland.
WenningtonsGorillaCockQuote Reply
@ GW:
It doesn’t hurt that the AL Central kind of sucks too
BerseliusQuote Reply
Tango just published an article Blog Beta Testers Needed. I’m looking forward to the new blog, but it’s just a blog. Not really sure testers are needed.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89 wrote:
It’ll be nice when OV gets out of Beta and finally releases v.1.0
WenningtonsGorillaCockQuote Reply
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
We’re getting close to that. We’re currently running version 0.6.08ac. We’ll get there.
dmick89Quote Reply
@ dmick89:
Will our subscriptions carry over?
WaLiQuote Reply
WaLi wrote:
Nope, you’ll have to purchase them again.
MylesQuote Reply
Are the Cubs still a thing?
AndCountingQuote Reply
new shit
GWQuote Reply
I don’t know much about the package the Dbacks got, but from what others have said here it doesn’t sound like a good one. I’m looking forward to the new blog. Thanks for sharing this informative article.
Jones ZoeQuote Reply