Mets Merized Online recently posted about Jim Callis' online chat, where a question about Wilmer Flores came up. My personal opinion is everyone was too high on the kid and is now beating him up.
Just out of curiosity, I looked up Flores’ numbers on Baseball Reference across ages 17-19:
Age 17 (A): .264/.305./.332, 3 HR, 36 RBI
Age 18 (A & A+): .289/.333/.424, 11 HR, 84 RBI
Age 19 (A+): .269/.309/.380, 9 HR, 81 RBI
For the sake of comparison, I took a look at two other guys:
Player A:
Age 17 (Rookie and Low-A): .259/.338/.347, 2 HR, 28 RBI
Age 18 (A): .268/.328/.382, 7 HR, 66 RBI
Age 19 (A+): .274/.333/.421, 9 HR, 75 RBI
Player B:
Age 17 (Rookie): .331/.433/.423, 0 HR, 27 RBI
Age 18(Low-A & A+): .350/.382/.436, 1 HR, 44 RBI
Age 19 (A+): .294/.366/.409, 11 HR, 86 RBI
Player A seems like he’s comparable to Wilmer Flores. Player B seems like he’s a better pure hitter than Player A and Flores. Player A is Miguel Cabrera. Player B is Edgardo Alfonzo. In other words, the jury is still out on Wilmer. We shouldn’t have put him on the pedestal yet so we shouldn’t quickly knock him down either because he hasn’t delivered. A lot can happen in the next few years, as the career paths of Cabrera and Alfonzo over the past decade or two shows us.
Flores’ talents (if they develop) won't be needed on the big league level until 2014 or so anyway. If he arrives sooner than that, it'll only be a bonus. In the meantime, cut him some slack and let him learn at his own pace.
Be patient with the kid Met fans and let him develop.
No comments:
Post a Comment