{"id":393,"date":"2010-06-06T16:15:47","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T21:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=393"},"modified":"2010-06-06T19:14:49","modified_gmt":"2010-06-07T00:14:49","slug":"wittels-a-prospect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/393","title":{"rendered":"Wittels a Prospect?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yesterday the Florida International Panthers<\/a> fell to Ivy League Champs, Dartmouth College,<\/a> for their second, and eliminating, loss at the Miami regional.\u00a0 Three-hole hitter and infielder Garrett Wittels<\/a> had a 3 for 5 day with a double to end the season hitting .413\/.463\/.541.\u00a0 Wittels closed the season with a 56-game hitting streak intact, ready to continue it in 2011.\u00a0 Luckily for baseball fans, Wittels is only a sophomore this season, so the only threat to this streak outside the game between the lines is injury.\u00a0 Were he a junior, he surely would be drafted early and sign, right?\u00a0 With a 56-gamer?\u00a0 The all-time record holder for longest hitting streak is Robin Ventura<\/a> with 58, and he went 10th<\/sup> overall in 1988.\u00a0 I\u2019m not so sure about Wittels.\u00a0 With the draft set to begin tomorrow and to continue through Wednesday, let\u2019s use Wittels as an example of some important things to keep in mind as we scratch our heads as guys like Chevez Clarke<\/a>, a Georgian outfielder with tools to drool over but with mediocre high school statistics, are taken ahead of proven collegiate hitters like Wittels, who will be lucky to be taken inside the first 20 rounds next year.<\/p>\n

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The source of Wittel\u2019s unusual ability to get hits is his utter refusal to strike out.\u00a0 In 242 AB\u2019s (274 PA\u2019s) this season, Wittels collected just 19 K\u2019s for a contact percentage of 92.1%.\u00a0 Considering how comically massive the collegiate zone is, this young man\u2019s plate coverage can only be properly regarded as freakish.\u00a0 This is perhaps the most important component of evaluating the \u201chitting for average\u201d tool, and Wittels clearly is a guy who would be regarded as at least plus in this category.\u00a0 However, Wittels value as a prospect likely ends here.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why.\u00a0 In those 242 AB\u2019s, Wittels amassed just two homers.\u00a0 While he collected a more-than-respectable 25 XBH\u2019s, these were nearly entirely doubles.\u00a0 Doubles with metal bats are a difficult measure of projectability because even top-spun balls can get in the gap with metal.\u00a0 In viewing Wittel\u2019s mechanics as a hitter, I certainly would not call his mechanics \u201cmetal bat mechanics\u201d, a term used to describe hitters who traditionally have contact points deeper than those hitters with \u201cwood bat mechanics\u201d.\u00a0 The result of the former is a greater percentage of top spun balls with very little carry, especially to the pull side.\u00a0 Because the metal bat hits the ball so much harder than wood, however, these less than ideal mechanics typically still allow athletic hitters to compete.\u00a0 Wittel\u2019s problems are simply that he lacks the bat speed to go long, even with metal.\u00a0 At least for right now.<\/p>\n

Other obvious problems arise when evaluating Wittels.\u00a0 For instance, he only stole four bases despite reaching base safely a total of 126 times.\u00a0 This leads any logical fan to wonder whether it was just a product of FIU\u2019s strategies on the bases.\u00a0 Unfortunately for Wittels, other players on his squad accumulated upwards of twenty swipes.\u00a0 As an infielder, this lack of speed likely predisposes him to a career at a corner spot, but with his lack of power, he cannot be a big league regular without developing at least average power, no matter how slick his glove may be (it\u2019s not that slick).<\/p>\n

Does he at least walk?\u00a0 With only an 8% walk rate, Wittels provides questionable pitch judgment.\u00a0 While his contact rate naturally supports a quality eye, his ability to discern balls and strikes raises some concerns about how generous he will be to professional arms, even when accounting for the humongous collegiate zone.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to give the idea that I think Wittels is somehow an average or below player.\u00a0 The guy is awesome.\u00a0 A surefire 1st<\/sup>-team All-American sounds about right to me, and if he breaks Ventura\u2019s record he belongs in the College Baseball Hall of Fame.\u00a0 He may already deserve to be somewhere in there.\u00a0 His career has a chance to be the brightest in the history of his school, and I think guys like him that strikeout with such extreme rarity have a chance to stick around the Bigs forever, even if devoid of any other discernible tool.\u00a0 Just look at Jeff Keppinger<\/a> for proof.\u00a0 He is hitting in the top of his order without a single longball this season.<\/p>\n

The point I am trying to make is that guys like Wittels, who simply know how to play baseball and how to get the most out of their talent, tend to fall in the draft.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame, but Major League Baseball has a degree of minimum talents for inclusion, and whether justified or not, they are real.
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Yesterday the Florida International Panthers fell to Ivy League Champs, Dartmouth College, for their second, and eliminating, loss at the Miami regional.\u00a0 Three-hole hitter and infielder Garrett Wittels had a 3 for 5 day with a double to end the season hitting .413\/.463\/.541.\u00a0 Wittels closed the season with a 56-game hitting streak intact, ready to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,15,6,9],"tags":[474,471,470,472,475,473],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}