For those of you new to this site, Matt Wieters is really, really good. The 5th pick in this past draft, the former All-American at Georgia Tech is quickly showing that he can hang with the big boys. Wieters still has more walks (11) than strike outs (7), and nine of his 23 hits have gone for extra bases. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder will likely start the year in High-A ball, but may see the bulk of his action for the Double-A Bowie Baysox. Be ready to snatch up this remarkable talent early in your keeper league drafts; he could be playing or the O's by the second half of '09.
Austin Jackson CF - Honolulu Sharks (New York Yankees) 29 games: .300/.393/.570
A little over a week and a half ago, Austin Jackson was hitting just .246. Since that point, Jackson has gone 15-for-39 (.385) and is now one of just 11 players to have a batting average of .300 or greater. Jackson is a tremendous athlete who profiles as a plus defensive centerfielder and base runner (8 SB, 0 CS). He also possesses plus power – Jackson had a .172 IsoPower in the minors this year, and 10 of his last 15 hits have gone for extra bases in HWB action. The only real flaw with the 20-year-old is not really a flaw, but a random fluctuation. The Denton, Tex. native had a .395 BABIP in the Florida State League and currently has a .416 BABIP in Hawaii. If/when his numbers come back down to earth, the overall effect on Jackson should be minimal. He still has been productive and has one of the higher ceilings around.
Ian Gac 1B - West Oahu CaneFires (Texas) 22 games: .308/.393/.654
Gac can be seen as a bit of a case study on non-prospects getting hot generating some buzz. Gac is 6-foot-3, 240-pounder with legitimate light-tower power, having gone yard five times in the last nine CaneFires games. He's now tied for the league lead in home runs with seven. Unfortunately for Rangers fans looking for Teixeira's replacement, Gac's peripheral numbers do not suggest that his recent level of performance is sustainable. Gac has struck out 24 times in 78 HWB at bats, which is on par with the 32% K rate he established for himself in affiliated action. The 22-year-old Gonzaga product's walk rate is also sub-par. Simply put, he doesn't make contact enough to show off the good things that happen when he does.
Steve Johnson SP - West Oahu CaneFires (Los Angles Dodgers) 22.2 innings: 2.78 ERA 19K 3BB
Johnson led the Pioneer League in strikeouts in 2006 as an 18-year-old but struggled with his control this past season. The Dodgers sent Johnson to Hawaii hoping to straighten him out, and he has responded by turning in proficient performances thus far. Johnson got hit around on October 13th, giving up five runs in four innings, but aside from that one outing, his ERA is around 0.50. He averaged almost 4.5 BB/9 this year, but this summer has only allowed three free passes. Johnson is consistently working down in the zone and has seen his groundball rate jump up to 1.47. If this improvement in his game is for real, the Dodgers may have found something in this 13th ound pick from the '05 draft.
Argenis Diaz SS - Honolulu Sharks (Boston) 24 games: .418/.473/.506
Diaz has been flat out fantastic for the Sharks. Last year, the average HWB batter hit .238, and Diaz is almost 200 points higher than that. While pitching has not dominated quite to the extent it did a year ago, baseball on the Big Island is still a pitcher's paradise. Diaz is currently hitting 57 points higher than his teammate, Brandon Snyder, who is second in the league in hitting. To put things in perspective, the said 57-point gap between first and second place is the same as the gap between second and tenth.
Chad Tracy LF/DH - West Oahu CaneFires (Texas) 17 games: .290/.362/.597
The son of former big league skipper Jim Tracy, Chad is listed at catcher despite not playing there since late May; he's been splitting time between left field and the DH spot. The Pepperdine alumnus has a bat that has a chance to play somewhere. Tracy is currently second in the league in homers (5) and for a 6-foot-3, 205 pound former catcher, is quite an athlete. The right-handed hitting Tracy's numbers would look even better overall if he weren't hitting an aberrantly low .154 against southpaws.
Kyler Burke OF - Honolulu Sharks (Chicago Cubs) 18 games: .355/.412/.516
Over the last week and half, Burke has been the hottest hitter in Hawaii. After joining the Cubs via the Michael Barrett trade, Burke started off very slowly in the Northwest League – 1-for-27 kind of slow – but soon acclimated himself to the league and hit .284 with good power the rest of the way. Similarly, Burke was hitting all of .226 as recently as October 24th in Hawaii, but then proceeded to go 14-for-24 with half of his hits being doubles. Scouts ballyhooed him as "the best high school talent to come out of Tenn. since Todd Helton," and Burke has really shown why over the past week. He has a strong right-field arm and a beautiful, simple lefthanded swing that generates tremendous bat speed. Burke seems like the kind of player who takes a little bit of time to get accustomed to new pitching and off-speed stuff, but apparently he learns very well, and has one of the higher ceilings around.
Lincoln can be reached at lhamilton@dentonoutlaws.com.