Author Topic: BBA Top 20 Prospects  (Read 2468 times)

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Offline bkstyl

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Re: BBA Top 20 Prospects
« Topic Start: February 27, 2007, 04:14:41 PM »
he may be a nice guy with a very likable personality....but he's done nothing to warrant the lofty praise that he gets.

he can barely hit High A pitching.  He makes LOTS of errors (not "a few").

his fame is based on 2 outstanding defensive plays he made in Spring Training 2005.  I saw both of those plays, and they were VERY spectacular(he made a heads up play to throw a runner out at home on a high chopper, and he made a diving backhand stab of a liner and threw the runner out from his knees, if I recall correctly).  but he's done nothing since Spring Training 2005 to warrant being included on a top prospect list.

he's not a solid hitter.  he's not a solid fielder.  he just has those 2 plays that nobody can seem to get past.

the fact that 2 years later, people still keep those 2 plays in their head when they rate(or overrate in this case) him, instead of looking at his everyday play boggles me.

sure, he's only 21 and he's got some time to improve, but right now he's done absolutely nothing to warrant being a "top 10 prospect", and he is highly overrated based on 2 isolated plays in ST.

I can see you side of it and agree to a point.  I think the initial comparison to Jeter was to lofty.   

I have seen Ian make extremely difficult plays and boot really easy plays.  His arm strength is way above average and accurate.  He made a really nice throw to get out Pat Osborn at the plate last season.  He also started and turned some nice double plays too.  I still think he showed fielding promise from what I saw in his AA debut considering he was only 20 years old.     

I have seen him look really bad hitting.  To be brutily honest he looked WAY over matched at the plate.  He was way ahead on breaking pitches and was late on fastballs.  He just couldn?t catch a break.  It?s my opinion that his difficulties at the plate contrubited to his irratic play in the field.  Since the end of the season he opended his stance which should help him see the ball better.       

He played well the last month of the A season which leaves hope for a positive 2007 season in AA.

On him not being a top 10 prospect I will hold my judgement until after this season.  I personally think he should be given a fair shot at AA and if he doesn?t improve then his prospect days are gone.  He should not be faulted for the ?labels? others put on him.  He also shouldn?t be faulted because of an organization that rush him through the system.  He had no business being in AA last year.