Eastern League Hitters

 
What the Eastern League lacked in quantity of good hitters, it made up for in quality.  Several of these guy are gonna be terrific major league baseball players.

Brad Wilkerson probably would have finished the 2000 season with a call-up to the majors had he not been picked to join the Olympic baseball team.  In Sydney, he played solid defense in both center and right and finished with a respectable .286 average, .500 slugging average, 1 RBI, 5 runs scored and a stolen base.  In Montreal, he'll likely be moved to left field, which will give the Expos the best armed outfield (Vlad Guerrero in right, Peter Bergeron/Milton Bradley in center and Wilkerson in left) in the majors.

Signed in the 4th round of the 1955 draft, Alex Hernandez is a typical Pirates prospect - 5-tools but doesn't know how to play baseball.  He certainly has enough talent to challenge for an outfield position in Pittsburgh soon.  However, if he doesn't develop a better knowledge of the strikezone, he won't stay there long.

Many scouts have compared Alex Escobar's ability to that of Vladimir Guerrero.  That's probably no a fair comparison: 1) Guerrero was in the majors at this point in his career, 2) Guerrero never struck out this much, and 3) Guerrero never had this much speed.  I think a closer approximation is Reggie Sanders and more that just for the numbers.  Both players are incredibly fit - both have less than 3% body fat - and both players are incredibly injury-prone.  But like Sanders, when Escobar is healthy, he is a formidable offensive and defensive force.  Health willing, he'll be the best outfielder the Mets have had since the halcyon days of Darryl Strawberry.

Jermaine Clark has sort of been lost in the shuffle.  For a team that has had as many highly regarded prospects as the Mariners have, that's not a difficult thing to do.  However, he won't be in the shadows for very much longer if he keeps having years like this one.  The speedy second baseman is an on base machine, and although he doesn't possess much of an arm, has displayed tremendous defensive range in the field.  When mark McLemore becomes too expensive for the M's, this guy will be ready to step in.

There are two Gary Johnsons in the minor league who play outfield.  One plays for the Angels.  This is the one who plays for the Cubs.  He's also the more likely to get some major league playing time next year.  Decent power and average speed, he'll have a lot of competition from Gary Matthews Jr for playing time.  He certainly won't displace White or Sosa in the Cubs outfield.

When Eric Valent was picked by the Philadelphia in the supplemental first round in 1998, the consensus was that he and Burrell would make a formidable duo in the middle of the Phillies order one day.  Burrell made his appearance there this year.  Valent is on schedule to make an appearance no later than next September.  He has a very good knowledge of the strikezone for a power hitter and has made an almost seamless transition from the corner infield to the outfield.  Once he reaches the bigs for good, Valent, along with Pat Burrell, Travis Lee, Bobby Abreu and Scott Rolen, will give the Phillies one of the best young line-ups in the NL.

Bobby Kielty first made a name for himself in the Cape Cod League in 1998 as a free agent.  Passed over in the draft after finishing college at Ole Miss, the Twins signed him for a little over $500,000, a paltry sum when one considers his first round ability.  Although his strikeout totals are high, his walk totals are very good.  He has very good power and shows all the makings of becoming a very good major league offensive player.  As odd as it may sound, the Twins aren't that far from putting together a nice little young team.  Kielty will be another positive step in that direction.

Pablo Ozuna was the shortstop of the future in St. Louis when he was signed in 1996.  Things didn't quite work out that way, as he was traded to the Marlins in the deal that brought Edgar Renteria to the Cardinals.  So he became the shortstop of the future in Florida.  But when Alex Gonzales developed, the Marlins decided to make him the second baseman of the future.  Now Luis Castillo has established himself as a star at second and the Marlins don't really know where to put Ozuna.  One thing is for sure: they need to put him somewhere.  He's a very talented defender and a quickly improving offensive player.  Somehow, they need to put him in the line-up everyday.  He has good power for a middle fielder, decent knowledge of the strikezone, emerging speed and is still young enough to show dramatic improvements across the board in the near future.  If Gonzales does not get a better handle on offensive side of the game, Ozuna should be his logical replacement.