(Photo: Atlanta Braves with David O’Brien)
Much like the last “Now Batting For…” post, this will feature three prospects who were called up in the last few days.
* I almost dropped the ball entirely on Freddie Freeman. The big (6’5″, 225 lbs), 20-year-old first baseman had his contract purchased from Gwinnett a week ago and has since appeared in four games, starting one. He began his career 0-6 with two strikeouts before singling off Clay Hensley on Sunday for his first hit.
My favorite thing about Freeman is the remarkable similarity between his 2008 numbers at Single-A Rome and his 2010 numbers at Triple-A Gwinnett. Lookie here:
| Year | G | R | H | 2B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 2008 | 130 | 70 | 155 | 33 | 18 | 95 | 5 | 46 | 84 | .316 | .378 | .521 | .899 |
| 2010 | 124 | 73 | 147 | 35 | 18 | 87 | 6 | 43 | 84 | .319 | .378 | .521 | .898 |
And he just turns 21 next weekend.
* I remember during last year’s Lozoball draft, there was some discussion about Boston’s Lars Anderson and his potential ceiling. I think five forty-homer seasons was the general consensus.
That was before Anderson’s difficult 2009 season, when he hit just .233 with nine homers and 51 RBI for Double-A Portland. For whatever reason, injury or difficulty adjusting to a higher level, he just couldn’t make consistently solid contact. The Red Sox sent him back to Portland to start this season, and he immediately turned it around, hitting .355 with five homeruns and 16 RBI in 17 games to earn a promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket. After 10 homeruns and 53 RBI there, the Red Sox decided he was ready for a taste of the big leagues, purchasing his contract and adding him to the major league roster.
* The Twins don’t have a whole lot to be happy about in the upper levels of their minor league system, with both Rochester and New Britain experiencing disappointing seasons in 2010. One of the bright spots, however, was Ben Revere, the 22-year-old outfielder who hit .305 with 36 stolen bases in Double-A.
Revere is just finishing up his fourth season in the minor leagues, with a career average of .328, on-base percentage of .389, and 146 stolen bases. He has also been caught 52 times, for a success rate of 73%, a number that has remained consistent across four different minor league levels. I’m not sure he’s remarkably different from someone like Jacoby Ellsbury, although Ellsbury had slightly more success on the basepaths (107 steals, caught 27 times) and demonstrated a little more power (.412 slugging for Revere, .427 for Ellsbury).
