when is it the right time to start playing for the #1 draft choice?

When you only need to lose one more game to draft Steven Strasburg.

HFNY said:

From what I've gathered, you'd like a hitter to have about 1,000 ABs in the minors.

For reference, Zunino only had 364. JackFS really should've signed a decent catcher to a 1 or 2 year deal for 2013 and 2014 so as not to rush Zunino to the Bigs but he's JackFS so he obviously didn't.

I don't really GAF about how many AB's a hitter has in the minors. Griffey only had like 465, ARod had just over 700. There's no rule about how many AB's a player needs before he's ready.

The problem with Zunino was he never learned to control the strike zone. His minor league K rates were sky high at every level. As I've said for years by the time he reached Double A at the latest they needed to tell him "you get your promotion when your K rate is under 20%". But they kept jumping him up, and this is the result. Dude was never prepared to handle major league pitching. He could have been a good one too.

HFNY said:

There really isn't a hard and fast rule but Griffey is a 1st ballot HOFer and ARod would be too if he hadn't juiced....in other words, not exactly the best examples of ABs in the Minor Leagues. Your average player has at least 1,000 ABs in the minors and all-timers usually have less than that because they are obviously above average.

But yes, I agree with you that Zunino needed more time in AA and then more time in AAA.

dnc said:

HFNY said:

From what I've gathered, you'd like a hitter to have about 1,000 ABs in the minors.

For reference, Zunino only had 364. JackFS really should've signed a decent catcher to a 1 or 2 year deal for 2013 and 2014 so as not to rush Zunino to the Bigs but he's JackFS so he obviously didn't.

I don't really GAF about how many AB's a hitter has in the minors. Griffey only had like 465, ARod had just over 700. There's no rule about how many AB's a player needs before he's ready.

The problem with Zunino was he never learned to control the strike zone. His minor league K rates were sky high at every level. As I've said for years by the time he reached Double A at the latest they needed to tell him "you get your promotion when your K rate is under 20%". But they kept jumping him up, and this is the result. Dude was never prepared to handle major league pitching. He could have been a good one too.

Of course those two are extreme cases, but they were also straight out of HS. Zunino came not only from college, but a high major very successful college program that faced the toughest competition (SEC, SEC, SEC!). There are kids who come out of the SEC who don't need 1000 minor league at bats. Zunino just wasn't one of them.

The rule of thumb that's more applicable here IMO is that catchers' bats take more time to develop because they spend so much more time working on defense than any other position. As a catcher, Zunino needed more than average time in the minors, not less.

HFNY said:

Yep there are kids who come out every Big 5 conference who don't need 1,000 minor league ABs (Barry Bonds only had 402 after playing at ASU).

Then there's college stud Jeff Clement (USC) who had 2,650 minor league ABs and still couldn't hit at the MLB level.

Clement actually had nearly 1,000 ABs (and played catcher) for the M's minor league teams before he made his debut.

dnc said:

HFNY said:

There really isn't a hard and fast rule but Griffey is a 1st ballot HOFer and ARod would be too if he hadn't juiced....in other words, not exactly the best examples of ABs in the Minor Leagues. Your average player has at least 1,000 ABs in the minors and all-timers usually have less than that because they are obviously above average.

But yes, I agree with you that Zunino needed more time in AA and then more time in AAA.

dnc said:

HFNY said:

From what I've gathered, you'd like a hitter to have about 1,000 ABs in the minors.

For reference, Zunino only had 364. JackFS really should've signed a decent catcher to a 1 or 2 year deal for 2013 and 2014 so as not to rush Zunino to the Bigs but he's JackFS so he obviously didn't.

I don't really GAF about how many AB's a hitter has in the minors. Griffey only had like 465, ARod had just over 700. There's no rule about how many AB's a player needs before he's ready.

The problem with Zunino was he never learned to control the strike zone. His minor league K rates were sky high at every level. As I've said for years by the time he reached Double A at the latest they needed to tell him "you get your promotion when your K rate is under 20%". But they kept jumping him up, and this is the result. Dude was never prepared to handle major league pitching. He could have been a good one too.

Of course those two are extreme cases, but they were also straight out of HS. Zunino came not only from college, but a high major very successful college program that faced the toughest competition (SEC, SEC, SEC!). There are kids who come out of the SEC who don't need 1000 minor league at bats. Zunino just wasn't one of them.

The rule of thumb that's more applicable here IMO is that catchers' bats take more time to develop because they spend so much more time working on defense than any other position. As a catcher, Zunino needed more than average time in the minors, not less.

Troy Tulowitki? Nah

Ryan Braun? Pass

Ryan Zimmerman? No thanks

"With the 3rd pick in the 2005 amateur draft, the Seattle Mariners select, Jeff Clement catcher out of USC."

#GreatMomentsInMarinerHistory