March 19, 2008
Drawing Blanco
Gondeee of Talking
Chop donated $50 or more and dedicates this post to Mike Hampton
-- may he suddenly find an entire baseball season free of injuries.
David O'Brien notes that Gregor Blanco showed maturity this spring and may make the Braves:
Every once in a while comes a player like Gregor Blanco, who has plenty of physical tools, puts up good numbers annually in competitive Latin American winter leagues, but has something that's keeping him stuck in the minor league system, something vague or unspoken by team officials.
Only when the player is shipped out, or brought up to the majors, do we find out more about what it was that had kept him down.
...
Twice in a week, Cox peeled back a layer and revealed his thinking on Blanco, going so far as to say he used to genuinely dislike watching the undisciplined kid play. The second time Cox talked about him, I made sure to write it down.
This was Sunday at Jupiter, when I asked about Blanco:
"He's improved a lot from the first year," Cox said. "He used to swing from the end of the bat and strike out way too much for a speed guy.
"Now he's choked up. He used to swing from his ass. He's leveled that baby [his swing] out so good. I like him."
And this, "For me, he's really grown up."
Blanco doesn't generate much power outside of the triples. He does however, draw a lot of walks for a .371 career OBA in the minor leagues. He'd be a nice complement to Jeff Francoeur. The Braves may want to hold him back a little on the base stealing, however. He's successful just 68% of the time, right on the edge of break even. If someone can teach him to be as selective stealing as he is at the plate, he would be a very good table setter for Atlanta.
Posted by David Pinto at
09:28 PM
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