Brandon Moss

Brandon Moss broke on to the prospecting scene with an incredible 2004 where his batting average was a lofty .362, and he drove in 110 runs. He didn't strike out at excessive rates (90 in 515 ABs). But that changed in 2005 with a promotion to AA.

With Portland, his k's blew-up to 129 in 503 ABs. Those 39 fewer balls-in-play likely contributed to this disappointing follow-up season. After all, he had more extra base hits (51) than the previous season (49), but the slash stats dropped across the board.

In 2006, he repeated AA, and cut down on his strikouts (108 in 508 ABs). Other than the 51 XBHs, Moss's improvement while repeating a level was enough to drop him from the list of elite Red Sox prospects. Those slash stats had barely moved.

With the regular CF Coco Crisp unable to get his OBP above .300 and SS Julio Lugo incapable of doing the same, does Moss have enough in his bat to get a recall? This year, he is tearing the cover off the ball in AAA Pawtucket to the tune of 36 XBHs in 253 ABs. He is drawing walks like never before, but Whoa! the strikeouts are back! He has K'd 75 times already. In this day and age, strike outs are a natural by-product of the increased emphasis on drawing walks, but is 75 whiffs in 253 ABs too excessive or is a slash line of 300/400/542 as forgiving as it looks?