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Looks like talks are heating up with Arizona, and reports have them dispatching a platoon of scouts to St. Loo to discern among the Mets first base options. We have discernment to do also. "Anybody is better than Tejada" is not. Good. Enough!
Feel free to factor in your expected price and stuff like that.
Don't cop out.
| Chris Owings | Didi Gregorius | | Bats Righthanded | Bats Lefthanded | | Is 22 years old. | Is 24 years old. | | Measures 5'10" and 180. | Measures 6'1" and 185. | | Drafted in the first round (barely), 41st overall in 2009. | Signed as a foreign amateur free agent by Cincinnati in 2007. | | Has hit .291 / .361 / .382 // .742 in 61 big league plate appearances. | Has hit .255 / .330 / .369 // .699 in 425 big league plate appearances. | | Has hit .291 / .320 / .441 // .761 in 2091 minor league plate appearances. | Has hit .273 / .324 / .381 // .705 in 1,942 minor league plate appearances. | | Born in South Carolina and graduated from High School in South Carolina. | Born in Amsterdam, Netherlands and resides in Curaçao. | Rated the #81 prospect by Baseball Prospectus before the 2013 season.
Rated the #28 prospect by Baseball Prospectus before the 2014 season. | Rated the #80 prospect by Baseball Prospectus before the 2013 season.
Graduated from Baseball Prospectus rating system before the 2014 season. | | [fimg=260]http://mlb.mlb.com/images/players/525x330/572008.jpg[/fimg] | [fimg=260]http://wahoosnation.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/gregorius-reds.jpg[/fimg] | Baseball Prospectus Scouting Report: Owings is a good bet to stick at shortstop long term as he displays the necessary chops to make it work on the left side. He has very good instincts and first-step quickness, allowing him to get good jumps on balls to both sides. He charges and throws well on the run. Owings’ hands are sound and he has the plus arm necessary to make all the throws from shortstop. With polish at the highest level, Owings could be an above-average defender overall.
On the other side of the ball, Owings offers plenty of skill and a strong overall profile from a premium position. He is an intelligent hitter who can match his approach to the game situation. He likes to swing the bat and will never be known for working counts and drawing walks, but given his natural hitting ability and power, he can still be an asset. Owings swings through quality breaking balls but he can barrel velocity and shows a keen ability to stay back on changeups and drive them to all fields. His offensive approach is likely to get him in trouble during his initial big league trials in 2013 and 2014, but once he settles in he’ll have the natural feel for hitting to post a .270-.275 average, and the pop to pound 25 doubles and 15 home runs. Combined with above-average speed and decent instincts that could lead to 20 steals annually, and Owings has an enticing offensive package for a quality defender up the middle.
Even as an intelligent player with good instincts, Owings’ adjustment period to the big leagues could be lengthy and there will likely be some bumps in the road. In the end, his overall offensive profile and projection for minimal on-base ability pegs him to hit in the bottom third of the order, but he should be a valuable everyday player over the long haul.Scouting Report: Owings is a good bet to stick at shortstop long term as he displays the necessary chops to make it work on the left side. He has very good instincts and first-step quickness, allowing him to get good jumps on balls to both sides. He charges and throws well on the run. Owings’ hands are sound and he has the plus arm necessary to make all the throws from shortstop. With polish at the highest level, Owings could be an above-average defender overall.
On the other side of the ball, Owings offers plenty of skill and a strong overall profile from a premium position. He is an intelligent hitter who can match his approach to the game situation. He likes to swing the bat and will never be known for working counts and drawing walks, but given his natural hitting ability and power, he can still be an asset. Owings swings through quality breaking balls but he can barrel velocity and shows a keen ability to stay back on changeups and drive them to all fields. His offensive approach is likely to get him in trouble during his initial big league trials in 2013 and 2014, but once he settles in he’ll have the natural feel for hitting to post a .270-.275 average, and the pop to pound 25 doubles and 15 home runs. Combined with above-average speed and decent instincts that could lead to 20 steals annually, and Owings has an enticing offensive package for a quality defender up the middle.
Even as an intelligent player with good instincts, Owings’ adjustment period to the big leagues could be lengthy and there will likely be some bumps in the road. In the end, his overall offensive profile and projection for minimal on-base ability pegs him to hit in the bottom third of the order, but he should be a valuable everyday player over the long haul. | FanGraphs Scouting Report: In February, Marc Hulet ranked Gregorius fourth overall among D-Backs prospects. Known for his fielding, Hulet called him “a gifted fielder, [with] outstanding range, a plus arm and excellent actions.” On his hitting, Hulet added that “he gets pull happy but has some surprising pop from the left side”. But until his time at Triple-A, both with the Reds in 2012 and over a tiny sample in 2013 with the D-Backs farm club, this surprising pop failed to materialize in statistical form.
Previous to the two aforementioned Triple-A stints, Gregorius’ career best ISO was just .154, as he hit five home runs in 188 at-bats at High-A in 2011. Something may have clicked though upon his promotion to Triple-A last season. His ISO jumped to .184, and that was carried over to his first 31 at-bats at the level to open this year as he posted a .258 mark with two homers in that small sample.
Now in Arizona, he has already homered twice. Hmmm, we always hear that power is the last skill to develop. Might we be witnessing that skill developing right before our eyes? Perhaps. His two home runs thus far, while relatively unimpressive from a distance standpoint, were still categorized as “plenty” at ESPN Home Run Tracker. I would bet that he handily beats his RoS ISO projections from both ZiPS and Steamer, which comes in at .125 and .118, respectively.
Aside from the potential for surprising power, he makes pretty good contact, but unfortunately doesn’t have a history of strong BABIP marks in the minors. Without an above average BABIP, he probably won’t contribute positive value in batting average, but a decent contact rate should ensure he doesn’t hurt you there.
Typically middle infielders will bring some speed to the table, which Gregorius does, but not a whole lot of it. He stole just five bases in 2012, and was caught seven times. At best, a full season might lead to 5-10 steals, and that’s about it. With Gerardo Parra and Martin Prado fixtures at the top of the order, Gregorius really has no potential to move up to a better lineup slot, which is going to hurt his RBI and run totals.
At the moment, Gregorius isn’t guaranteed to start every game since Prado can play, like, every position, which gives the team the flexibility to move people around and not necessarily need Gregorius. But if he continues to hit, he could conceivably take over the starting gig from Cliff Pennington and remain up even when Hill returns. That said, even though I think he will surprise in the power department, the upside simply isn’t there for him to be worth anything in shallow mixed leagues. |
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