How Does Aaron Hicks Rank?
It is always
strange to me when I hear Twins fans and some minor league baseball fans
talking about how disappointing Aaron Hicks has been in Beloit. I think part of
it is because many, myself included, thought he would end the 2010 season in
Ft. Myers. I realize everyone from fans to players to front office personnel
are eagerly awaiting his breakout year when his incredible tools become skills
and he puts up some terrific numbers. But I wanted to take a look at how his
numbers at Beloit compare to other Twins players and their numbers in the
Midwest League.
Let’s start by
reviewing the numbers that Aaron Hicks has put up the last two years in Beloit:
|
Player |
Age |
Year |
Team |
BA/OBP/SLG (OPS) |
2B/3B/HR/RBI |
BB/K |
|
Aaron Hicks |
19 |
2009 |
Beloit |
.251/.353/.382 (735) |
15/3/4/29 |
40/55 |
|
Aaron Hicks |
20 |
2010 |
Beloit |
.279/.401/.428 (829) |
27/6/8/49 |
88/112 |
Here are some
current and former Twins players and how they did in the Midwest League (Note –
Delmon Young’s A-ball numbers from the Sally League):
|
Player |
Age |
Year |
Team |
BA/OBP/SLG (OPS) |
2B/3B/HR/RBI |
BB/K |
|
Torii Hunter |
18 |
1994 |
Ft. Wayne |
.293/.358/.439 (797) |
17/1/10/50 |
25/80 |
|
Michael Cuddyer |
19 |
1998 |
Ft. Wayne |
.276/.364/.451 (815) |
37/7/12/81 |
61/107 |
|
Justin Morneau |
20 |
2001 |
Quad Cities |
.356/.420/.597 (1017) |
17/2/12/53 |
26/38 |
|
Joe Mauer |
19 |
2002 |
Quad Cities |
.302/.393/.392 (785) |
23/1/4/62 |
61/42 |
|
Jason Kubel |
20 |
2002 |
Quad Cities |
.321/.380/.521 (901) |
26/4/17/69 |
41/48 |
|
Denard Span |
20 |
2004 |
Quad Cities |
.267/.363/.308 (671) |
4/3/0/14 |
34/49 |
|
Delmon
Young |
18 |
2004 |
Charleston |
.320/.386/.536 (922) |
26/5/25/115 |
53/120 |
|
Alexi Casilla |
20 |
2005 |
Cedar Rapids |
.325/.392/.409 (801) |
11/3/3/17 |
29/31 |
Here are a few
notes:
·
Everyone talks about how Torii Hunter didn’t put up great
numbers in the Midwest League. Well, he did, and he did it at the age of 18. He
was already showing some of that power.
·
Michael Cuddyer put up some incredible
minor league numbers all the way up the ladder, and it started as a 19 year old
in 1998. Look at all those extra base hits.
·
Justin Morneau didn’t get to
the Midwest League until he was 20, and he only spent a half season there
because he completely dominated the level.
·
Joe Mauer’s OPS isn’t exciting,
but we did get a glimpse of the player he has become too. Many more walks than
strikeouts, a few doubles, and a good batting average.
·
How fun would it have been to see Quad Cities play in
2002 with Mauer and Jason Kubel?
You can see why so many people back then saw Kubel as
a mix between Morneau and Mauer.
·
Denard Span didn’t exactly put
up monster numbers, and he did miss quite a bit of time with injury. The
take-away from those numbers is that he had a very nice Isolated Discipline
already even though he was, like Hicks, very raw at the time.
·
Delmon Young was a beast after
being taken with the 1st overall pick in the 2003 draft. Ever wonder
why people still think he’ll develop a lot of power, check out those numbers!
·
Alexi Casilla was with the
Angels organization, but what he did for Cedar Rapids made him the guy they
wanted in a trade of JC Romero the next offseason.
·
I included international players and high school drafted
players in this group. Danny Valencia hit .302/.374/.500 (874) with 15 doubles
and 11 homers in a half-season with the Snappers, but he was 22 years old after
spending three years playing Division I baseball. Matt Tolbert played four years
at the University of Mississippi, so the Twins had him skip the Midwest League
and go right to Ft. Myers.
Can we take
anything away from these numbers? With Hicks, you have to love his Isolated
Discipline and On-Base skills from both years. The strikeouts increased some in
2010, but he has shown some extra base power. Delmon
Young, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel
put up really tremendous numbers in the Midwest League, and that has translated
to the big leagues eventually. Cuddyer was an extra
base machine as a 19 year old in Beloit, and yet his OPS was lower than Hicks’
was in 2010, as a 20 year old. Joe Mauer has always
had a terrific eye, and yet Hicks has produced significantly better IsoD while producing more extra base hits.
Of course, we
don’t know what will happen. We know that all players develop differently, but
I think that this quick, cursory glance at Hicks’ numbers compared to current
big leaguers gives us no reason to believe he won’t continue developing and become
a very good big league player.
Let’s also take
a look at the Midwest League numbers of some of the other Twins hitting
prospects to see how they compare:
|
Player |
Age |
Year |
Team |
BA/OBP/SLG (OPS) |
2B/3B/HR/RBI |
BB/K |
|
Trevor Plouffe |
19 |
2005 |
Beloit |
.223/.300/.345 (645) |
18/0/13/60 |
50/78 |
|
Chris Parmelee |
19 |
2007 |
Beloit |
.239/.313/.414 (727) |
23/5/15/70 |
46/137 |
|
Chris Parmelee |
20 |
2008 |
Beloit |
.239/.385/.496 (881) |
10/3/14/49 |
52/83 |
|
Joe Benson |
19 |
2007 |
Beloit |
.255/.347/.368 (715) |
18/8/5/38 |
49/124 |
|
Joe Benson |
20 |
2008 |
Beloit |
.248/.326/.382 (708) |
16/3/4/27 |
24/73 |
|
Ben Revere |
20 |
2008 |
Beloit |
.379/.433/.497 (930) |
17/10/1/43 |
27/31 |
|
Angel Morales |
19 |
2009 |
Beloit |
.266/.329/.455 (784) |
22/5/13/62 |
30/104 |
|
Angel Morales |
20 |
2010 |
Beloit |
.289/.381/.474 (855) |
13/7/4/36 |
24/65 |
|
James Beresford |
20 |
2009 |
Beloit |
.289/.342/.313 (655) |
11/0/0/38 |
34/70 |
|
James Beresford |
21 |
2010 |
Beloit |
.297/.349/.363 (712) |
19/5/1/59 |
34/56 |
|
Danny Rams |
20 |
2009 |
Beloit |
.229/.308/.429 (737) |
14/0/7/23 |
18/77 |
|
Danny Rams |
21 |
2010 |
Beloit |
.243/.310/.450 (760) |
28/4/16/68 |
31/145 |
|
Anderson Hidalgo |
21 |
2010 |
Beloit |
.316/.375/.443 (818) |
25/1/3/28 |
24/50 |
·
Trevor Plouffe put up those
numbers only because he played much better in the 2nd half of the
season. Good power numbers, but he could have used another year with the
Snappers.
·
Both Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee
struggled in their first seasons in the Midwest League. Then both got hurt
halfway through their second season with the team. However, in the second year,
you can see why people are excited about his patience and power potential.
·
Looking at Revere’s Beloit numbers, what a year he had.
Very much batting average based, of course. But if we were to only look at OPS,
his is right up there with anyone (except Morneau).
And he stole 44 bases that year too.
·
Angel Morales... how/why is he so overlooked in many
prospect rankings?
·
James Beresford showed good improvement from 2009 and
2010. Reports are that he has gained some weight this offseason. If he can add
any semblance of power to his game, he could jump up prospect rankings quickly!
·
Danny Rams has so much power potential, but he just needs
to put the ball in play more. His 77 strikeouts in 2009 came in just 175 at
bats. He struck out 145 times in 407 at bats in 2010. Yet, his power numbers
still make him intriguing.
·
Anderson Hidalgo may be the least known, or maybe
underrated, prospect in the organization. He had another solid year in 2010.
What is the
summary? There really isn’t one. There is no science to prospect rankings and
we don’t know how things will turn out, but if nothing else, I believe this
data shows that Twins fans should continue to be very excited about the future
of Aaron Hicks.
Any thoughts? Feel free to leave
your comments here. Also, for more links to Twins articles and thoughts
throughout the weekend, be sure to follow
me on Twitter where I like to retweet
Twins-related articles and post thoughts frequently. Have a great weekend!