Adam Brett Walker II - 2015

[Shane Wahl]

Adam Brett Walker II

DOB: 10-18-91 in Milwaukee, WI

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 225+

Position: RF

Bats: Right

Throws: Right

Acquired: Selected by Twins in third round in 2012 draft out of Jacksonville University

 

2014 Statistics:

 

FTM: 554 PA, .246/.307/..436 (.743), 19 doubles, one triple, 25 homers, 44 walks, 156 strikeouts, 9 steals, 5 times caught stealing

 

Walker is an athletic and powerful right fielder, who is a solid defender. He is a very disputed prospect at Twins Daily due to both the promise of tremendous power and the terrible strikeout rate. His OPS dropped 101 points from 2013, but came with the move to Fort Myers. Now he moves to the Southern League, playing for Chattanooga. It will be very interesting to watch Walker navigate AA pitching. Often guys like him never succeed at that level because the strikeouts continue to climb. He might be able to adjust and at least control his contact rate and become a viable option for the Twins down the road. The power is there and he just needs to improve with his plate discipline. If he does, the Twins have a great asset who would move from the 13-20 range to the top 10 on Twins prospect lists.

 

2015 prediction: I believe Walker will get a little bit better at making contact, and thus will produce even more runs. .255/.318/.454 (.772) with 20 doubles and 24 homers.

[Shane Wahl]

2015 has started out much as expected:

 

25 PA, .304/.320/.609 with two homers and a double. He has also struck out 11 times and only has one walk.

[GMinTraining]

2015 has started out much as expected:

Is that good or bad IYO?

[GMinTraining]

Isn't he ABW II and not the III?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Do you have more information about his fielding? It's looking more and more unrealistic to expect he'll ever hit major league pitching, but if he fields a position well he might be worth a look some September.

[Seth Stohs]

Two more home runs in Game 1 tonight for the Lookouts. He now has four homers in the Lookouts' 8 games. 

[GMinTraining]

2 more HRs today in first game of doubleheader. As usual he's leading league in HRs and Ks, but he's hitting .323 thus far. I still believe in his high upside. Maybe that's just who he is. Seems like same discussion at every level he plays. Will he be able to ______ at the next level?

[MinnFan4Life]

    I believe, unlike many on this site, that ABW will be an asset to the Twins - based mostly on his power potential.  And I question the frequent criticism of his contact rate.

    Now granted, that is an area that definitely needs to improve.   No question.  I think every position player in the organization would like to improve in that area.  But I would also argue that his biggest asset is his ability to hit with power.  And most power hitters strike out at an alarming rate.  Yes, without question, his contact rate should continue to be an aspect of his game that he (and everyone in the organization that works with him) should look to work to improve on.  But those are always going to be numbers that cause concern.  His game is carrying a big, thumping home run stick to the plate.  And with that big stick comes a lot of strikeouts.

     As I look at the major league team, I also see an alarming number of strikeouts.  The Twins OFTEN finish a game with double digit strike outs, many times vs pitchers that are less than dominate K machines.  Doesn't seem to deter Terry Ryan from running that roster up the flag pole the past 4 seasons.  And yet, I would argue that we are not carrying anyone on the active 25 with Walker's home run potential.  If we are going to continue to field a team that strikes out as often as the Twins' lineups do, you might as well have a couple of players that bring more of a home run threat to the plate than we have now.

     Walker is a quality prospect.  Definitely not saying that he should be in the majors yet.  Without question, he needs more time and experience.  At the same time, I would argue with those who say he has no chance to advance to Target Field.  He plays solid (not great) defense.  I would say he is a better defensive corner outfielder than Arcia currently is.  His throwing arm is above average.  And for a big man his size, he is surprisingly, sneaky quick.  He could swipe a dozen bases a year - if he was run in the right situations.  He has work to do.  I'll give you that.  But I fully expect to see him in a Twins uniform in the future

    

[2wins87]

Hitting in the majors is hard.  Most of the players on the Twins roster who are striking out all the time didn't strike out nearly as often in their minor league careers as Walker has in his.  That said, he certainly can be successful in the majors while striking out a lot.  Look what Chris Davis did a couple years ago when his bat suddenly started running into pitches a little more often.  Walker has that potential too.  However, I am a little more concerned about his walk rate.  Even Chris Davis managed to post a 10% walk rate a couple times in the minors.  He doesn't need to make contact all that often to be valuable, but he does need to be more selective and take more walks.

[lightfoot789]

Encouraging part of his game is that 2 of 4 HRs were to Opposite field. And deep. The more he can do that the more they will be forced to expand that outside corner. Now more walks should take place. Hopefully

[Shane Wahl]

 

Isn't he ABW II and not the III?

 

Good point! I can't change it at the moment, for some reason (can't edit the original post).

[ExpectMorePayLess]

Walker bats 7th in the Chattanooga lineup.  You know you have a stacked team when that happens.  The downfall is that by the end of the season, he will probably have 100+ less ABs than the guys at the top of the order.  He actually played in the game Saturday and had 2 ABs in a game.  Crazy.   If he has a chance to be a player at the next level, I think he needs to move up in the order and get those needed ABs.  My personal opinion.

[ashbury]

 

Good point! I can't change it at the moment, for some reason (can't edit the original post).

I wanted to wait to see your take on this. I'll do it now.

[Shane Wahl]

 

I wanted to wait to see your take on this. I'll do it now.

 

Thanks! I followed the "Brett" traditional around here, but forgot to then change III to II.

[Shane Wahl]

 

Is that good or bad IYO?

 

An interesting mix of both, you know!

[Monkeypaws]

How is his fielding?

[Shane Wahl]

An update, since a lot has happened in 10 more plate appearances.

 

35 PA, .303/.314/.697, one double, four homers, one walk, and 15 strikeouts.

 

 

[GMinTraining]

Walkers 4 homers in 10 games (1st week 1/2) place him first in all of AA as of today.

Those 4 homers would have placed him 7th on New Britain by the end of last year and 10th on the Twins by the end of last year.  Not bad considering he has 130 more games to play.  

 

All that being said:  He's on pace for  56 HRs, 14 Walks and 210 K's (haha).   Somethings Gotta Give -  Or does it?

[Shane Wahl]

 

How is his fielding?

 

By all accounts, good enough. He certainly is not Arcia-like. It would be fair, I think, to say average. He's pretty athletic and can move out there, but he also isn't going to be making spectacular plays. It is hard to have any accurate description of his route-taking and whatnot. I would think that he is certainly *not* going to be relegated to a DH-only role going forward. 

[lightfoot789]

I'd be willing to bet his vertical is better than any outfielder in the Twins organization (with maybe the exception of Buxton / and that's a maybe).  I watched him jump for balls as a 1st baseman in college that no other 1st baseman in baseball would have caught.  I've watched him score from 1st base on balls in the gap that not many 6'4  230 lb men would have scored on.  He use to do the splits (completely) as a first baseman as well.  He's athletic to be serviceable to better in the outfield.

 

That being said:  He has the athleticism, but does need to continue to work on routes as does every minor league prospect.  He's more inclined to be moved back to 1st base before he ended up being a DH.  He was a second team All American as a first baseman in college in 4 periodaicals behind CJ Cron of the Angels.  That would be the Twins back up plan IMO.

[Shane Wahl]

60 PA, .246/.267/.544 (.811), two doubles, five homers, two walks, and 25 strikeouts. The power and strikeouts aren't going anywhere. He tends to slowly creep along with that OBP until about midseason where he gets it over .300. Hopefully that happens again this year, because the power numbers might continue to be this impressive.

[Shane Wahl]

In the last week:

 

20 PA, .250/.250/.500, two doubles, one homer, no walks, and seven strikeouts.

 

.814 OPS overall. He has six homers and 36 strikeouts!

[Seth Stohs]

Today, he reclaimed the Southern League Home Run Lead by hitting his 8th home run. Had a double too.

[Shane Wahl]

Three more homers and only four strikeouts this week.

 

He has an .874 OPS with nine homers right now. The strikeout rate is getting back to his career norms.

[jimbo92107]

AB Walker is batting 7th?? Nutty for a power hitter to be starved of so many at-bats. Even with frequent K's, Walker should be hitting 3 or 4. How else will we learn his RBI potential?

 

I'm a fan of ABW since this spring, when I saw his batting stance (see Chili Davis) and saw him uncork a couple monster home runs. Good to hear that he's now starting to take the ball to right field. His evolution as a hitter will determine if and when Ryan calls him up. That, and a bit more work on his defense.

[GMinTraining]

I was nice listening to the Lookouts manager speak about his players and especially Adam Brett Walker being the most improved player in his clubhouse this year.  He had a lot of points as to what several of the players are working on, as prospects in AA.  Great Listen

 

http://www.1500espn.com/shows/reusse

 

May 22nd Show (Hour 2) - Doug Mientkiewicz comes on about mid way through the hour

 

Walker is among the league leaders in several categories:

1st   HRs

1st   RBI

1st   SO

2nd  TB

2nd  SLG

4th   Runs

9th   OPS

 

Mientkiewicz stated that Walker hasn't even clicked yet.  Interesting

[lightfoot789]

I would have thought Kepler as most improved.  Or maybe Chad Allen if he is having such an affect on these hitters.  I still love Walker doing Walker.  And from the 7th spot in order.

[Shane Wahl]

Season stats are now:

 

176 PA, .256/.301/.537, 11 doubles, one triple, 11 homers, 11 walks and 61 strikeouts.

 

He has been pretty consistent in April and May (.832 and .842 OPS, respectively). The K rate is starting to slowly get better. Slowly. And not surely, yet.

[awinter]

I like Walker's power potential, but would it be tough to fit him into a major league lineup with all the other fixtures and highly touted prospects that fit the same mold- big power/high strikeout guys like Arcia, Vargas, Sano? How many of this type of hitter is ideal to have in the starting 9? I understand that none of the other 3 guys I mentioned are guaranteed to be long term fixtures, but for arguments' sake let's suppose they are.

[Shane Wahl]

 

I like Walker's power potential, but would it be tough to fit him into a major league lineup with all the other fixtures and highly touted prospects that fit the same mold- big power/high strikeout guys like Arcia, Vargas, Sano? How many of this type of hitter is ideal to have in the starting 9? I understand that none of the other 3 guys I mentioned are guaranteed to be long term fixtures, but for arguments' sake let's suppose they are.

 

There is no place for him if all three of those guys stay with the Twins. I really see no way around that. I mean he could fit very temporarily at some point next year, but with 12 or 13 (!!!!) man pitching staffs, no way.