BA - Prospects Poised to Deliver in 2015

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http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/baseballist-prospects-poised-deliver-power-2015/

 

 

The Baseballist: Prospects Poised To Deliver More Power In 2015
April 23, 2015 by Matt Eddy

The typical minor league player hit about half his home runs at home in 2014—49 percent of his output, in fact—but the ratio of home to road blasts can vary wildly from player to player based on home ballpark. Among those who reached the seats at least 10 times last year, short-season Williamsport outfielder Jiandido Tromp (Phillies) hit the highest percentage of his home runs at home (14 of 15, 93 percent), while Double-A Arkansas outfielder Mike Bianucci (Angels) hit the lowest (1 of 12, eight percent).

 

While Tromp and Bianucci represent the most extreme examples from 2014, their situations do illustrate the point that evaluating anything in baseball requires context. Furthermore, we may not have a complete picture of a batter’s true ability if he plays half his games in an extreme pitcher’s park.

 

So let’s look back to 2014 in order to look forward to 2015. Here are 10 prospects with unfavorable home/road longball splits a year ago who are capable of more offensive fireworks this season if they land in a more advantageous hitting environment. The PF column throughout refers to the 2014 park factor for home runs, which you can explore in more depth here.

 

Performing this exercise a year ago revealed that Giants catcher Andrew Susac (zero home runs at home/12 road in 2013), Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop (zero/nine) and Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk (six/16) were due for an uptick in power in 2014, which they all realized.

 

1 Twin in the Top 10, but Major hurdles ahead

click above link to see Top 10 List