Memorial Day Update

Written by Sean P | 31 May 2010

A few notes on a beautiful memorial day.

Kevin Goldstein over at Baseball Prospectus has some notes on Brandon Laird and Corban Joseph. Both have been on fire recently and their seasons to date look like this:

Laird- .314/.360/.546 .232 ISO, .386 wOBA

Joseph- .316/.366/.466 .399 BABIP, .358 wOBA

Neither Laird nor Joseph walk very much (7.1 and 6.9 BB% respectively) but Joseph has subsisted on a much higher BABIP while Laird's is a more familiar .330. Goldstein calls Joseph a sleeper in the Yankee system which I suppose he probably is. Less heralded but also having a nice year is Luke Murton, the Yankees 19th round selection from Georgia Tech. While he also plays first base, no one will confuse him with Mark Teixeira but he's put up good numbers so far.

luke_murton

Murton is old for the SAL but it's not his fault he went to college. He's a big boy, (6'4", 220 lbs) so it's not surprising to see the power numbers. It's a nice start to the year, certainly worth noting.

Wayne Coffey at the Daily News has an article about Jesus Montero's struggles this year. It's an interesting read with quotes from Mark Newman and Montero. Look there is no question Jesus Montero has struggled at this level. And really, it's not all that surprising. He's 20 in AAA, one of the youngest players in the International league and catching every day. As Coffey notes, Montero has never really had a pronounced struggle before but the Yankees among others view it as a learning experience, comparing it to how Derek Jeter had to work through prolific throwing errors for a season. Neither Montero or the Yankees seem very concerned with his struggles so far and I think rightly so. You shouldn't be either.

The numbers just haven't been there so far for Montero.

jesus_montero

You can see what sort of season it's been for Montero so far. The article notes that he's hit some balls extremely hard but they just haven't fallen in. The BABIP certainly is reflective of that. One positive I think about Montero so far is the increase in the BB%. Sometimes in a prolonged slump the BB% dips because the player tries to swing his way out of the hole. That Montero is walking more than normal I think is a good sign he's staying patient which is certainly reflected by his quotes in the article as well. Hopefully he'll start to pick it up soon and return to the mashing we're more familiar with. This article also mentions the improvements Montero has made as a catcher and the Yankees seem really pleased at his defensive progress.

As for the state of the blog, we're in full crisis mode. Josh has done more than his fair share, but Greg and I have been horrible. We apologize. Greg has a crazy school schedule right now and is also working full time. As for me, my work schedule has been overwhelming as well but I've managed to wrestle away a week for myself, coming back home for a little while here. Instead of blogging or doing something useful, this is what I've been doing:

santa_monica