He was the 6th rated prospect by BA and 10th by Sickels in a very weak system that was heavily depleted by the Diamondbacks top guys going to the parent club.

 

He was never projected to be anything more than a utility player at best.

 

Sickels rated him in 07 too. 13th when their org was stacked. BA voted him best infield defender and baserunner in 07 and 08.

He had a good minor league record (4 straight all star years, batted .300, stole bases).

He was regarded far better than simply an utility guy. The Nats and Marlins both envisioned him in their starting lineup as their leadoff hitter.

 

He was a legit prospect. That's certain. What isn't is prospects panning out.

 

Sickels rated him C+ in both years. For a player in AAA, that's basically a bench player/fringe starter.

It's rather amazing how quickly EB's critics are willing to dismiss his accomplishments. When in fact they show they're often ignorant of the simpliest things. Or have to lie.

When Sickels rated him in 2007, he was coming off an impressive .300 60 stolen base season in class A. When Sickels rated him in 2008, he hadn't had a single at bat in AAA (but was named MVP of the Carribean winter leagues).

Both the Nats and Marlins regarded as more than a bench player. Had he stayed in Arizona, he likely would ave been the favorite to start at 2B.

 

What I don't get is why even the effort to discredit his minor league performance? One would think his MLB performance would be enough to question his role. However, even before the season started, people (mind you MB.com posters) were writing him off as hopeless and useless. Is it merely a case of crazies convincing themselves of their own lies?

 

 

You keep bringing up overrated statistics.

 

We knew he would suck b/c he was a low .OBP (a guy who relied on batting average for his .OBP #'s...in other words, he did not draw many walks), & he K'd a lot. Combine that with the fact he has no power, and it was easy to see that he'd become garbage as the sample size grew, over the course of the season.

It's rather amazing how quickly EB's critics are willing to dismiss his accomplishments. When in fact they show they're often ignorant of the simpliest things. Or, in Spike's case, have to lie.

When Sickels rated him in 2007, he was coming off an impressive .300 60 stolen base season in class A. When Sickels rated him in 2008, he hadn't had a single at bat in AAA (but was named MVP of the Carribean winter leagues).

Both the Nats and Marlins regarded as more than a bench player. Had he stayed in Arizona, he likely would ave been the favorite to start at 2B.

 

 

That's my mistake and I apologize for posting wrong information, should have looked it up before posting. I really thought he repeated AAA from '07-08, and was stupid juxtaposing his ranking in a year to how he did that year, rather than the previous year (so his ranking in 07 based off his 07 year, rather than it really being based off his '06 year).

 

However, it doesn't change the fact that a C+ is what it is and far from anything to actually brag about. It's still for fringe starter/bench player. And I doubt he'd be starting in Arizona if he was still there but that's not really anything that can be backed up lol.