Just to put into perspective the type of massive hitting prospect Nick Johnson was.
Greg Bird is 20 years old, and is playing for Charleston. That's not necessarily a bad thing - he is where he is supposed to be.
At the age of 20, Nick Johnson was already playing in Double-A.
Currently in Charleston, Bird has put up a .285/.424/.507 line with 95 walks. He is poised to easily surpass the 100 walk mark this season and has to be considered one of the best pure hitting prospects in the entire system.
For Norwich (the Yankees Double-A affiliate at the time), Johnson posted a .345/.525/.548 line in 581 AB with 123 walks.
You will read a lot about Bird "being a first baseman" and how that affects his stock - and that is very true. If Bird doesn't hit extremely well, his prospect status takes a hit. Very little margin for error.
At the time, nobody really said much about Johnson being anchored at first base, but it is obvious why: He was such a huge hitting prospect that being "only a first baseman" meant very little.
No comments:
Post a Comment