Archive for Gregor Blanco

Over the last week, we’ve been looking at sophomore players in the Major Leagues. Today’s post is looking at the National League East division, which was fairly barren in terms of rookies in 2008 although the Braves organization had its fair share of newbies.

In the past few days, we have looked at the: AL Central, AL West, AL East and NL Central.

Perhaps buoyed by the mass of ever-present media, fielder Daniel Murphy entered 2009 with quite a bit of hype after just 188 at-bats during the ’08 season. Last year, he hit .313/.397/.473 with rates of 12.1 BB% and 21.4 K%. Murphy hit just two homers (.160 ISO) and did not successfully steal a base in two attempts. Perhaps the biggest negative with the left-handed hitter is his lack of position. Originally an infielder, Murphy’s penchant for errors led to a move to the outfield, where he spent all of 2008 while in the Majors. This season, he’s split his time between left field and first base. His 2009 line of .250/.324/.362 is below average for both positions, as is his ISO at .112.

Martin Prado bounced between the Majors and triple-A during both the 2006 and 2007 seasons. He spent the majority of the 2008 season with Atlanta and had an above-average offensive season for a utility player by hitting .320/.377/.461 with 18 doubles and three steals in 228 at-bats. His rates were also pretty good at 8.4 BB% and 12.7 K%. This season, the infielder is hitting .277/.344/.445 with 11 doubles and no steals in 119 at-bats. Both his plate rates have improved by a percent or two. The downside, much like with Murphy above, is that Prado has been used mostly at a position that traditionally produces power (third base and first base). If he spent more time at second base – or shortstop – he would have greater value to the Braves, assuming he can play at least average defense at those positions.

Desperate for some outfield help in 2008, the Braves organization ran through a number of outfielders with “fourth outfielder” labels hovering over them and not one of the three players has done much to dispute that impending title. Josh Anderson, Gregor Blanco and Brandon Jones have all seen their playing time with the Braves decrease, even though the club still needs outfield depth. In fact, Anderson was traded out of the organization to Detroit earlier this year. Blanco showed the ability to get on base last season but he did it with almost no power. The 25-year-old outfielder hit .251/.366/.309 with 19 extra base hits and 13 steals in 430 at-bats. This season, he’s spent the majority of the year in triple-A. Jones hit .267/.312/.397 with one homer and a single steal in 116 at-bats. His rates of 5.7 BB% and 24.1 K% suggested more work needed to be done. Like Blanco, Jones has spent most of 2009 in triple-A.

Stolen from the Tigers in a trade after the 2007 season, right-hander Jair Jurrjens has been a very good pitcher for the Braves. Jurrjens posted a 3.68 ERA (3.59 FIP) in 2008 with 188 hits allowed in 188.1 innings of work. He also had a walk rate of 3.35 BB/9 and a strikeout rate of 6.64 K/9. His ground-ball rate was 51.2%. This season, Jurrjens has allowed 81 hits in 87.1 innings of work, along with an ERA of 2.89 (3.52 FIP). His rates are very similar, although his ground-ball percentage has dropped to just 39.5%.

Reliever Manny Acosta allowed 48 hits in 53.0 IP but posted disappointing rates of 4.42 BB/9 and 5.26 K/9. He’s pitching in just nine MLB games in 2009 with eight hits allowed in 11.2 innings. He’s also shown similar rates, which is disappointing considering his fastball averages out at 93 mph.

Emilio Bonifacio had a very nice first month of the 2009 season, but that has been sandwiched by about six months worth of below-average play. Based on his offensive skill set, the 24-year-old infielder is best suited to play second base, but he’s spent the majority of the 2009 season at third base, where he has hit .241/.288/.292, which is well-below-average for a third base (and even for a second baseman). He’s also stolen just 12 bases in 17 attempts and has a walk rate of 6.5 BB%. Last year, Bonifacio hit .243/.296/.337 with seven steals in 11 attempts. Sadly, he’s not even a stellar defensive player.

John Baker, 28, toiled in the minors for seven seasons before earning his shot in 2008 and he hit .299/.392/.447 with five homers in 197 at-bats. The catcher also showed OK patience at the plate with a walk rate of 13.2 BB%. This season, Baker has struggled to hit for average with a line of .245/.335/.411 and six homers in 163 at-bats. His ground-ball rate is probably a little high at 56.3% for a plodding catcher.

The ground-ball pitcher that is Chris Volstad had a very nice debut season in 2008. The right-hander quieted the critics who said he was not ready by posting a 2.88 ERA (3.82 FIP) with 76 hits in 84.1 innings of work. He posted a walk rate of 3.84 BB/9 and a strikeout rate of 5.55 K/9 but allowed just three homers (0.32 HR/9). It’s the missing quality sinker that has hurt Volstad in 2009. He’s given up 88 hits in 89.1 innings, including 14 long balls (1.41 HR/9).

Southpaw John Lannan, 24, doesn’t get a lot of love even though he keeps putting up the results – and for a bad team. He had a 3.91 ERA (4.79 FIP) while allowing 172 hits in 182 innings in 2008. The left-hander also had rates of 3.56 BB/9 and 5.79, so he puts the ball in play a lot. In 2009, Lannan has a 3.38 ERA (5.09 FIP) with 82 hits allowed in 85.1 innings. His walk rate is very similar, but the strikeout has dropped to 4.43 BB/9.

Collin Balester, 23, has to be pretty disappointed. The right-hander made 15 starts in 2008 and allowed 92 hits in 80 innings of work. He also posted rates of 3.15 BB/9 and 5.63 K/9. Like Lannan, Balester also struggled with home runs and he allowed 12 homers (1.35 HR/9). This season, he’s made all 14 of his starts in triple-A, where he has a 4.00 ERA.

Steven Shell and Charlie Manning both pitched a good chunk of innings for the club in 2008, but neither player has seen much MLB playing time in 2008. The better of the two pitchers, Shell is a former Angels prospect, posted a 2.16 ERA in exactly 50 innings. He also had a 7.38 K/9 rate. In 2009, though, the right-hander fell apart. He appeared in four games for the Nationals before moving on to the Seattle organization, where he has a 7.90 ERA in 12 games. Manning appeared in 57 games in 2008 with an ERA of 5.17. He has yet to pitch in the Majors in ’09.

The Philadelphia Phillies organization did not distribute significant playing time to any rookies in 2008.

The Graduate: Gregor Blanco | Born: December 1983 | Outfielder

Gregor Blanco was hardly a heralded prospected coming into the 2008 season; he did not even make Baseball America’s Top 30 Braves prospect list. The Venezuelan, who signed at age 16, paid his dues in the minors and did not make his debut until this past season when he appeared in 144 games for the Braves. Blanco is going to have to use his legs more – he slugged just .309 with an ISO of .058 – if he is going to continue to play regularly. He needs to steal more than the 13 bases he swiped in 2008. One of the most promising things about Blanco is that, as a player with zero power, he understands the importance of getting on base and he walked 74 times (14.7%).

The Riser: Tyler Flowers | Born: January 1986 | Catcher

The Braves liked Tyler Flowers so much that the organization drafted him twice – in the 27th round of the 2004 draft and in the 33rd round of the 2005 draft. He finally relented and became a Brave in 2006 as a draft-and-follow. He has a ton of potential with the bat with a three-year career line of .291/.400/.488. He posted a .206 ISO in High-A ball this year and has tremendous power potential. Like Blanco, Flowers also understands the importance of getting on base and walked 98 times (19.2%) this season. Defensively, the 6’4” backstop is a good receiver but is still learning to call a game. He threw out 43 of 155 base stealers (28%).

The Tumbler: Jordan Schafer | Born: September 1986 | Outfielder

By now, we likely all know that Jordan Schafer made some bad choices and paid for it by making a late start to his 2008 season. He struggled through the rest of the season and never truly looked comfortable at the plate and was inconsistent. He hit .269/.378/.471 in 297 Double-A at-bats, but showed some power potential with an ISO of .202. Schafer is attempting to make up for lost time this winter by playing in the Mexican winter league, where he is currently hitting .343/.395/.400 in 35 at-bats.

The ’08 Draft Pick: Zeke Spruill | Born: September 1989 | Right-Handed Pitcher

There have been five players in Major League history named Zeke, and Ezekiel Spruill is looking to become the six. Drafted 70th overall in 2008, Spruill went 7-0 in his debut in the Rookie League. He pitched 40 innings and allowed 42 hits with rates of 4.00 BB/9 and 7.20 K/9. He did a nice job of keeping the ball in the park and allowed just one home run.

The ’09 Sleeper: Erik Cordier | Born: February 1986 | Right-Handed Pitcher

Erik Cordier was one of the Royals’ brightest, young pitching prospects before being derailed by Tommy John surgery. The Royals sold low on Cordier and shipped him to the Braves for Tony Pena Jr., who became the starting shortstop for the club in 2007 but was brutal in 2008. Cordier missed all of 2007 (and 2005 due to a knee injury) but returned to the mound this season for 11 starts. He was not overly sharp, but his fastball was around 92-93 mph (He was touching 98 mph before the injury) and his secondary pitches were not sharp (He showed a plus change-up before the injury). With another year separating him from the surgery, Cordier could be poised for a breakout 2009 season.

Up Next: The Kansas City Royals

Anybody who has seen the Adam Sandler film Happy Gilmore will remember that his character generated power and distance on his drives thanks to a running start. Well, in watching the replay of last night’s Phillies-Braves game I saw rookie outfielder Gregor Blanco do something similar in an at-bat of his. Check it out:

Whatever he did worked as he singled on that pitch but Chris Wheeler said it best, “..that is different!” The Braves, in the Schuerholz era, have been known for their propensity to develop young players and Blanco is no different. He has not posted superstar-caliber numbers but has filled in nicely. In 49 games he has a .269/.379/.343 slash line. His hits have mostly been singles but he does have 5 2B, 1 3B, and 1 HR.

His .354 BABIP looks quite high but actually comes in a bit low when stacked up next to his gaudy 27.2% LD rate. He has been in a slump lately, going just 5 for his last 34, but he has hit a ton of line drives this year. His K% suggests he might not be able to sustain his current performance level but his LD rate argues it should be a bit better. Only time will tell what lies in store for “Blankman” (his nickname, not the Damon Wayans film) but at least he won’t have to deal with the evil Shooter McGavin, no matter how ridiculous that swing looked.