Wilfredo Tovar 2016

[goulik]

WIlfredo Tovar was born Aug. 11, 1991 in Venezuela.

He has played primarily SS throughout his career but he has been playing lots of 2B and 3B this year in Rochester.

SIgned as an international Free Agent by the Mets in 2007, Tovar was signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent in December .

 

Tovar has 18 MLB at bats in 9 games in '13 and '14 but did not get a chance last year which is probably why he decided to move to a new club. Last year he batted 283/327/356 in the PCL and was rated as the best 2nd Baseman in the league by baseball america which was odd for a guy that primarily played short. Last year he stole 30 bases so he has some speed on the base paths. He's not a future all star but he could be a future utility defensive/base running replacement with a light bat.

[goulik]

Tovar has 108 at bats and is hitting 222/280/250 so far this year. It will take more than that to replace Nunez...

[goulik]

Tovar has been at SS for all 444 innings he has played so far for Rochester committing 9 errors. He has a decent BA at 272 but with only 12 walks and 9 extra base hits his OPS sits at 652. What he has done that does not show up in OPS is swipe 18 bases so far getting caught only 3 times. He trails only Zachary Granite in stolen bases (25) in the Twins minors this season

[goulik]

Tovar is in a slump batting .100 over his last 10 games dropping his ytd batting average from .254 to .237 over that span. His average has dropped .035 over the past Month and his triple slash is dropping right with it. His slash is now .237/291/304 dropping his OPS under 600 on the year. He has swiped 21 bases with only 4 Caught stealing. That is only 3 steals in the past month. You have to get on base to steal another base.

[goulik]

Tovar is hitting 278 in his last 10 games and has raised his season slash to 252/298/339 since my last update. That doesnt seem like a huge improvement but it has his OPS back over 600 so there is that...

 

Tovar is not a power hitter and has 15 homers in his last 9 years as a pro but he did get the 15h homer August 3rd of this year (his first of the year)

 

Tovar also has 25 stolen bases on the year after swiping 30 last year. He has onlyy been caught 5 times vs 13 last year so he seems to have improved his abilities in that area. This is always an important stat to me as it does not show up in OPS/Slugging but is the equivelant of adding 25 doubles to his OPS.

[HitInAPinch]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Wilfredo!!

http://greetings-day.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Happy-Birthday-card-23-06-17.jpg

[goulik]

2016 Review

Tovar had his worst hitting year since he was 17 and in the VSL. After coming over from the Mets organization, He hit a disappointing 249/301/327. He added 29 stolen bases in 38 attempts. He does not have the range or power to be much more than his 2015 line 283/327/356, but this article describes and shows his higgh baseball IQ.

 

https://gradingonthecurve.com/2015/05/02/is-wilfredo-tovar-mets-answer-at-shortstop/

 

2017 Outlook

Who knows whether Tovar sticks with our organization or not. If he is not hitting, he will not get another chance at the Majors and whatever organization he ends up in, he belongs in AAA for now. His only hope is to return to his 2015 form and get a shot as a slap hitting, base stealing,leadoff hitter that just keeps making the plays despite not looking the part.