Reusse article on Adam Brett Walker

[BoomBoom]

 

And it seems his midseason BB/K "improvement" in 2015 corresponded with his performance tanking otherwise.  .201/.288/.368, .656 OPS from July through September last season.  He clearly has things he can continue to work on in AA.

Let him work on it in AAA and repeat AAA next year if needed.  Putting him in AA doesn't do anything but force him to repeat AAA next year anyway.  Why not let him learn at the next highest level?  If he does well at AA and fails upon promotion to AAA, the responses on here would not be kind.  AA is a lose lose situation for him (with any failure).

[Vanimal46]

 

One other thought on Walker, it would be interesting to start him at AA and see if he can improve his bb/k ratios. Twins have been pretty aggressive with him, bumping him a level each year, wonder if it might be of some benefit to give him some consolidation time.

 

He has been inching up his bb rate the last couple of years with a corresponding larger jump in k rate. Would be interesting to see if another half year at AA would keep inching up the bb rate (maybe to 11ish%) and also drop back down the k rate (say, to 27ish% from the 34% last year).

 

As a 24 yo in AA, a 11/27 split is not great, but you can squint and see a guy who can survive in the bigs, and hope for some improvement as he gets more pa.

Agree with you 100%. While I'm more aggressive with our other elite prospects like Buxton and Berrios with wanting to see them in the MLB ASAP, Walker seems like he needs to take more time in AA to improve on the peripherals before they toss him to the wolves in AAA or MLB. I don't see the harm in him repeating AA for April/May. If he's hitting the snot out of the ball while decreasing his k rate, that's a win win and should be able to transition to AAA better.

[Thrylos]

 

Actually his number are very good.  Just because other guys have Superior numbers don't make his number shabby.  If someone sells 50 million records and you sell 5 million - You still have a Gold record.  That's pretty damn good. 

 

"Pretty Damn Good" is a bid different than "Dominant".

 

The Dominant is what I am arguing.  He is good.  Pretty darn good. But dominant, he is not...

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Let him work on it in AAA and repeat AAA next year if needed.  Putting him in AA doesn't do anything but force him to repeat AAA next year anyway.  Why not let him learn at the next highest level?  If he does well at AA and fails upon promotion to AAA, the responses on here would not be kind.  AA is a lose lose situation for him (with any failure).

Others have said it, but Walker doesn't seem like the type you should be pushing aggressively.  If he failed to effectively adjust at AA as his second half stats suggest, he probably needs to focus on completing that adjustment rather than moving up a level.

 

And I doubt people here would be upset if he performed well at AA (meaning maintained good production while improving K/BB rates) and struggled upon his first promotion to AAA (meaning more adjustments would be necessary to reach MLB).  That sounds standard/expected, not sure why you'd call that a "lose lose" situation or use that as a factor in determining his current level.

[BoomBoom]

 

"Pretty Damn Good" is a bid different than "Dominant".

 

The Dominant is what I am arguing.  He is good.  Pretty darn good. But dominant, he is not...

You saying Walker and "Pretty damn good" in same sentence  -  I'll take that.  Why do all 9 players have to be dominant in order to play for the Twins?   "Pretty damn good"  should be able to get you to the playoffs and beyond IMO.   Especially when you sprinkle in those other Dominant teammates.

 

I love this other article and its alternate perception of Walkers worth (w/OBA): 

Great Read

http://www.twinkietown.com/2016/2/15/10999444/adam-brett-walkers-unreal-power

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

You saying Walker and "Pretty damn good" in same sentence  -  I'll take that.  Why do all 9 players have to be dominant in order to play for the Twins?   "Pretty damn good"  should be able to get you to the playoffs and beyond IMO.   Especially when you sprinkle in those other Dominant teammates.

 

I love this other article and its alternate perception of Walkers worth (w/OBA): 

Great Read

http://www.twinkietown.com/2016/2/15/10999444/adam-brett-walkers-unreal-power

 

This has nothing to do with being dominant or even "pretty damn good".  It has everything to do with what is best for ABW (and conversely, what is best for the Twins).  Neither of those rather subjective terms have can adequately shed light on what Walker needs to learn in order to become a successful major leaguer.  Yeah, he hits a lot of home runs.  We all get that, and we all like it.  But I don't think it's unreasonable say that he might need to work on other areas of his game to be a successful major leaguer, and what determines what this is has very little to do with the numbers he put up in AA last year. 

 

Why is this so difficult to understand? Results are not the be all/end all of player development.  Far more goes into it than 30ish home runs, championships that involve more than 2 dozen other guys, and a decent OPS.  The kid has moved up a level each year.  He was added to the 40 man.  We all clearly see his value. We also see the causes for concern.  There's nothing wrong with that.

[BoomBoom]

 

This has nothing to do with being dominant or even "pretty damn good".  It has everything to do with what is best for ABW (and conversely, what is best for the Twins).  Neither of those rather subjective terms have can adequately shed light on what Walker needs to learn in order to become a successful major leaguer.  Yeah, he hits a lot of home runs.  We all get that, and we all like it.  But I don't think it's unreasonable say that he might need to work on other areas of his game to be a successful major leaguer, and what determines what this is has very little to do with the numbers he put up in AA last year. 

 

Why is this so difficult to understand? Results are not the be all/end all of player development.  Far more goes into it than 30ish home runs, championships that involve more than 2 dozen other guys, and a decent OPS.  The kid has moved up a level each year.  He was added to the 40 man.  We all clearly see his value. We also see the causes for concern.  There's nothing wrong with that.

What are you talking about?  I'm not arguing dominant or pretty damn good.  Hell yeah Walker has stuff to work on.  NO one argues that!  I'm actually agreeing that he is Pretty Damn Good and not dominant.  He has stuff to work on.  As does Sano, Buxton, Kepler, every prospect.  I'm saying he plays with some dominant teammates and his pretty damn good skill set is often negated by the strikeouts.   

 

My definition of success has more to do with the article and how it equates w/OBA and Walkers progression through the minors (not just AA).  You brought up HRs.  I'm bringing up the high amounts of doubles and league leading extra base hits (not just HRs) and league leading total bases (not just HRs).  I'm bringing up the 50+ walks (BB) that would have been fourth on the Twins last year.  I'm bringing up, that I like how the article equates his worth in regards to w/OBA.  This has been my argument for Walker.  You can disagree with me and the article.  Why is that so hard to understand?  I never said Dominant by the way.  I said he was pretty damn good.  And I drew my pretty damn good from something I thought substantial in thought.  [w/OBA] -  You obviously drew your conclusion from a different perspective.  I'm sure Walker wants what all prospects want.  To be the best that they can be.  Never settle.  A forever learning curve.  Forever...............................

 

[Thrylos]

 

 

 

My definition of success has more to do with the article and how it equates w/OBA and Walkers progression through the minors (not just AA).  You brought up HRs.  I'm bringing up the high amounts of doubles and league leading extra base hits (not just HRs) and league leading total bases (not just HRs).  I'm bringing up the 50+ walks (BB) that would have been fourth on the Twins last year.  I'm bringing up, that I like how the article equates his worth in regards to w/OBA.  This has been my argument for Walker.  You can disagree with me and the article.  Why is that so hard to understand?  I never said Dominant by the way.  I said he was pretty damn good.  And I drew my pretty damn good from something I thought substantial in thought.  [w/OBA] -  You obviously drew your conclusion from a different perspective.  I'm sure Walker wants what all prospects want.  To be the best that they can be.  Never settle.  A forever learning curve.  Forever...............................

 

You should read on a guy by the name of Mike Hessman.  He had a killer wOBA in the minors as well, matter of fact higher than Walker's.   He is a pretty good comparable.

[old nurse]

Randy Bass comes to mind when I see the A B Walker lovefest. I really can't think of any other near comparables to Walker.

[GMinTraining]

 

Randy Bass comes to mind when I see the A B Walker lovefest. I really can't think of any other near comparables to Walker.

Great comparable.  Seriously  - Too bad they skipped AA with Mr. Bass.  He went from A ball to AAA.  He did flourish in Japan for quite a few years.

[drjim]

 

Randy Bass comes to mind when I see the A B Walker lovefest. I really can't think of any other near comparables to Walker.

 

Here is his b-ref page: http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=bass--002ran

 

If someone put up a line like that today people would be going crazy he wasn't up halfway through the first AAA season. Probably couldn't catch up to a mlb fastball, right?

[GMinTraining]

 

You should read on a guy by the name of Mike Hessman.  He had a killer wOBA in the minors as well, matter of fact higher than Walker's.   He is a pretty good comparable.

45 stolen bases out of 90 attempts for Hessman in 19 seasons - 36 stolen bases out of 45 for Walker in 3 1/2 seasons.  Not quite as dynamic.  

 

On another note:

I wonder if there is any correlation with Walker's highest w/OBA of .373 and highest ISO of 130 and lowest SO rate of 20% and his hitting in the middle of the order (4th) that season.  He has hit 7th primarily over the last 2 seasons and his numbers have suffered accordingly across the board in meaningful statistics (OPS & w/OBA).  Although his 106 RBI from the 7th spot and 75 runs scored is still impressive from the back of the order.

[GMinTraining]

 

Here is his b-ref page: http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=bass--002ran

 

If someone put up a line like that today people would be going crazy he wasn't up halfway through the first AAA season. Probably couldn't catch up to a mlb fastball, right?

Failure doesn't have a formula for all prospects.  That's why GMs get paid the big bucks.   Sabers & Gut feeling.  Bass never went to AA.  Huge no no

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Bass never went to AA.  Huge no no

I'm not sure that skipping AA mattered all that much for Bass.  First of all, I think minor league levels were a little more fluid and less defined in the past.  Secondly, Bass didn't perform badly at AAA -- not great, considering it was the PCL, but he more than held his own there and showed steady progress.  28th in OPS his first year, 18th his second, and 5th at age 23 in his third year, right alongside some future MLB regulars.