Posted by Beachman on 11/6/2009, 10:21 am, in reply to "Danny Espinosa"
207.200.116.130
While Danny was a good player at LBS I always felt that he was a little overly cocky! Personally I think he would have benefited, GREATLY, by playing his senior year!! Reminded me of another one of our former players(not an infielder and also a much better player) who had an extremely high opinion of himself!
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:
: http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4625423&name=grey_jason
:
: Espinosa hopes to follow Tulowitzki's path
: Thursday, November 5, 2009
: Posted by Jason Grey
:
: Long Beach State has produced a decent run
: of shortstops in recent years. Troy
: Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria (who played short
: in college) and Bobby Crosby were all
: eventually first-round picks.
:
: One of the latest in that line, Danny
: Espinosa, lasted until the third round in
: 2008 before he was selected by the
: Washington Nationals, but has already been
: impressive in his pro career.
:
: After getting just 64 at-bats in 2008 (but
: hitting .329), Espinosa played this year at
: high Class A and put up some decent stats.
: The 22-year-old hit .264 with 31 doubles and
: 18 homers, getting on base at a .375 clip
: and slugging .460. He also went 29-for-40 on
: the base paths, and wound up being a bit
: more than the slap hitter some expected him
: to be.
:
: The 6-foot switch-hitter has a lean,
: athletic build with strength, enough that he
: should have average power has he matures.
: He's been working on developing more
: patience at the plate, as both his 79 walks
: and 129 strikeouts this year were more than
: expected. He doesn't get cheated when he
: swings and can square balls up fairly well.
: He can also stroke hard line drives to all
: fields when he's not lunging and getting out
: front, as he tends to do, which leaves him
: vulnerable to off-speed stuff. However, his
: bat speed and good hand-eye coordination
: make the total package work, and he projects
: to be able to hit for average eventually at
: the big league level.
:
: Espinosa's swing can get a bit long,
: especially from the right side, where he
: gets big and tries to pull the ball, but
: he's shown he can shorten up when he needs
: to and he seems to have the capability to
: make adjustments. Despite being a natural
: right-handed hitter, he was far better as a
: lefty this year, where his setup is better
: and his swing has turned out to be smoother
: and more of a line-drive stroke. He was
: still learning to hit left-handed when he
: was drafted, but has clearly taken to it.
: Perhaps because he's relatively new to that
: side, he's wound up with a more controlled
: stroke that works well for him, instead of
: taking a big cut like he does from the other
: side.
:
: Espinosa drew more raves for his defense
: coming out of college, as he has a rocket
: arm and loves to show it off. He's able to
: make plays on the run and has good shortstop
: actions. He projects to be an above-average
: defender at short, despite not having the
: greatest range.
:
: Those 29 stolen bases Espinosa had last year
: may not translate well as he moves up the
: ladder. He's a smart, aggressive runner with
: good instincts, but his raw speed is fringe
: average, and speed may not be a big part of
: his game over the long haul.
:
: Combine the potential to put up a good
: batting average, a little pop and the skills
: to stay at short, and you have a player who
: needs to get a little bit more attention.
: No, he's not going to be Tulowitzki or
: Longoria, but he's not going to be Crosby,
: either, likely finding that middle ground of
: being a solid regular in the big leagues.
: Long term, I like him better than Ian
: Desmond.
:
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