Wi ll someone please tell me what everyone is talking about? this guy doesnt look ready to replace tino. he is hittin .255 with 10 hr at AAA. hardly major league ready numbers
Wi ll someone please tell me what everyone is talking about? this guy doesnt look ready to replace tino. he is hittin .255 with 10 hr at AAA. hardly major league ready numbers
More importantly, Tino doesn't seem to need replacing.
[Sigh].....He has a .400 On-Base %, even though he's only hitting .255.
He had a .525 OBP in Double-A, which was about the highest in Minor League History. Scouts unanimously rank him as the Yankees #1 prospect, if not the best prospect in all the Minors.
[Sigh].....He has a .396 On-Base %, and he has a whopping 68 Strike Outs!! I still think the only reason his OBP is so high is because no one else in the line up strikes fear in the pitchers. He obviously doesn't have Ted William's eye at the plate with 11 more K's than Soriano in 80 less at bats. He might be an All Star some day, just not this year.Originally posted by ElDuque110
[Sigh].....He has a .400 On-Base %, even though he's only hitting .255.
His batting average is nothing special, but his slugging and on base numbers are quite good. And he did have a hand injury which may have affected his hitting when he first returned, although I have no breakdown of his stats over time to test if that's right or wrong. More relevantly though, he is widely regarded (not just by the yanks, but by other scouts and publications) as one of the top hitting prospects in the minors right now. Looking at his stats, you wouldn't necessarily assume he's a messiah, but pretty much anywhere you read minor league ratings, people have him at the very very top. Whether that will be borne out or not I don't know, but people's opinion of him is much more related to the consensus among scouts than what he'd doing right now at Columbus.
Don Mattingly himself said Johnson will someday win a batting title in the major leagues. That's good enough for me to get excited about his future appearance here.
Also partly thanks to Don Mattingly our man Tino is stroking the ball well these days. Don shortened up Tino's swing and it seems to have done the trick.
Casey
We have enough youth.
How about a fountain of "smart"?
Nick WHO?
Russ
Don't laugh too hard, CalifYanksFan, like it or not that's our starting first baseman the next 10 years or so.Originally posted by CalifYanksFan
Nick WHO?
Do the math.
I can't wait to see what he does against major league pitching. It is a lot different up here. Stats in the minors are pretty much worthless. That's why they send scouts TO the games to watch live and see exactly how the prospects perform. If they ranked him number one, either they know something from watching him live that we can't tell by stats, or our farm system is in shambles.
Skooter, here's what Baseball Prospectus said about Johnson in 2000:
They ranked him their #1 prospect, Baseball America had him at #5, as did John Sickels, another universally-respected authority on the Minor Leagues. So you can understand why the Yankee organization is so enamored of him.He’s been described as a souped-up Jim Thome, a left-handed Jeff Bagwell and Don Mattingly with an extra 100 walks a year. But to best expres how historic Johnson’s talents are, take Frank Thomas–-back when he was Frank Thomas–-and throw in a Gold Glove, a little speed, make him a left-handed hitter and put him in Yankee Stadium. Oh, and imagine he was ready for the major leagues at 21, not 22...his .525 OBP is the highest of any player, at any level, in recent history...Tino Martinez still has another year on his contract, so Johnson may have to wait until 2001 for a full-time job. Then again, he may not. Hall of Fame talent has a way of forcing its way into lineups.
NJ by the numbers through July 6th 2001...
I fail to see what all the hype is about:
Batting Avg: .253
Games: 69
AB's: 229
Runs: 40
Hits: 58
Total Bases: 101
2B's: 13
3B's: 0
HR's: 10
RBI: 33
BB's: 47
K's: 69
SLG%: .441
OBP%: .397
Hmmm thats 69K's in 69 games is it not?
Anyway I fail to see the "heir apparent" to Tino in these numbers.
This bears repeating, in addition to the stats.Originally posted by chriscary
More importantly, Tino doesn't seem to need replacing.
Assuming he can do it (and it is an assumption--not established fact), NJ will get his day in the sun. That day isn't now!
Just out of curiousity, does anyone know how Donny, Bagwell, Thome, and Thomas' AAA stats compare to NJ's? I sure hope those scouts are right.
Bagwell hit all of 6 homers in the minors in 1990, before he was traded to the Astros for Larry Andersen. The Red Sox didn't consider him a power hitterOriginally posted by SkooterPhil#10
Just out of curiousity, does anyone know how Donny, Bagwell, Thome, and Thomas' AAA stats compare to NJ's? I sure hope those scouts are right.
In 1991, his first year in the Majors, he had a .294 average, .387 OBP, and .437 SLG, hitting 15 homers.
Saying that it’s time to bring up the “Stick” is way too premature. Nick should be a great ball player at the major league level in the future. But from what I can see, he’s not ready to make this big step yet. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. It’s good that the Yankee org is not pushing him, and that they are giving him adequate time.
I remember when people were yelling to see Nick Johnson in 1999. How premature was that?? Then he spent the entire season in 2000 on the DL without a diagnosis. Now it’s clear how unrealistic it was to expect that he’d be the starting first baseman in 2001.
And for those who are so big on numbers, Nick’s 2001 stats so far are not adequate to earn him a starter’s job in 2002.
#27 !!!
I'm also concerned. Johnson still isn't all the way back from his injury last season and isn't even performing at the level that he was in 1999 in Norwich. However, he is drawing walks and hitting for power. He seems to be readjusting to the strike zone as evidenced by his low average. I think he will be ready by next year although he will need a strong second half to convince the Yankees of that.
There have been rumors of a trade to the A's involving Giambi. I'd hate to give up Johnson, but it's not often that you get a chance to get an MVP caliber player like Giambi for minor league players, and with players playing longer these days, Giambi could be amazing for the Yankees. In sum, I guess I'd like to keep Johnson (just because I like the home-grown kids) and I still think Johnson will be a consistent .320/.420/.500+ player for the Yankees for over a decade after he hits the majors.
Don't be too scared.Originally posted by Jimbo
Hmmm thats 69K's in 69 games is it not?
One player's posted the following numbers:
1999 - 131 K's in 147 games;
2000 - 117 K's in 118 games;
2001 - 88 K's in 85 games (the most in the league).
This player is Manny Ramirez.
For players with abilities to get on-base and drive the ball when making contacts (both almost half of Johnson and Manny's hits have been extra-base hits), high strikeout isn't the most horrible thing.
I'm not saying Johnson should be promoted today (although I think he can do an adequate job). I think that Johnson should get as many ABs as possible to make up his lost time and continue to refine all aspects of his game. Evidently, since Tino is red hot with the bat right now and his glove has never been a problem, Johnson will not have the opportunity to play 1B everyday in Bronx right now.
give the kid some slack!
he was out almost all of last season with that wrist injury - my guess is that he's still trying to make adustments to his swing to compensate for the injury. i don't think he's ready for the majors either, but one day this kid is going to be part of the next generation of yankees, lets not crucify him before he has a chance to succeed.
its got to be an entirely different world going from double A to triple A. some of the guys you are playing against have been in the big show already. some are ready for it. and some aren't. i would think the talent level is twice that of double A - and that's probably justification for why johnson's numbers have slipped off.
i'd like to see him brought up in '02. i think he could use an extra year down there, and even have him called up from time to time so that he can get a feel for major league pitching. but he's one resource i would hate to see wasted. i love tino, but when the yankees brass feels that the time is right for NJ to come up, i know i'll be anxious to see what he can do for us
Words cannot express how little I care about Nick Johnson's strikeout total. There was some guy a few years ago, in '98, who struck out 155 times in 155 games... what was his name... Oh, yeah, Mark McGwire. The fact of the matter is, unless there's a guy on third, strikeouts aren't any different from any other kind of out. And in double play situations, they can be better. Walk total is much more important to a team than strikeout total (Mr. McGwire had a cool 162 in 1998), and that's where Nick Johnson shines.
Minor league stats do matter, but here are some things to consider - his stats aren't bad, although they're not too great, he's a 22 year old in AAA, and the scouts love him. Walks help you win games just as much as hits do, and Nick Johnson will likely, sooner or later, give the Yankees more than his fair share of both.
In Monday's newspaper, Don Mattingly said he studied Nick and talked with him about his hitting.
Donnie says Nick is the real deal and has it, and he mentioned that when he (Mattingly) jumped from AA to AAA for the first half year Donnie had lots of trouble with the better pitching, and especially the sinkers and hard stuff down low. But in the second half Donnie came on strong. He seems to expect the same from Johnson.
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