On Thursday afternoon, ESPN's Keith Law held his weekly prospects chat and here are some excerpts:
Chris (KC)
What do you make of Dan O'Dowd's comments that "Nolan Arenado's maturity level has not yet reached his talent level?" Do you think he really meant that the way it sounds?
Klaw
(1:11 PM)Lines up with what I've heard from scouts who've seen him this year.
In spring training, the talk was that Arenado was close to being major league ready, but he isn't hitting for power this year as his slugging percentage sit at just .407 and his ISO is just .126.
Derek (work) [via mobile]
Hamels for Olt and other prospects. Good trade?
Klaw
(1:15 PM)
Olt has had a solid showing in AA this season, hitting .300-.406-.590 with 22 HRs, 51 runs and 62 RBI in 283 at bats. He strikes out around 25% of his at bats, but also knows how to take a walk, as his BB% is 14.3%, after a 16.4% rate in 2011. I imagine that Olt would be a nice fit for the Phillies, as he is blocked at third base in Texas, and Placido Polanco is in the last year of his contract with the Phillies.
More Chat excerpts after the jump:
eric (baltimore)
O's reportedly considering promoting Machado to AAA. Too soon?
Klaw
(1:33 PM)Too soon. No rush.er
I agree with KLaw here. Machado has started to hit better of late, as he hit .286-.336-.467 with 4 HRs, 23 RBI and a 12-8 strikeout to walk ratio. He has stayed hot in July as well, as he is triple slashing .333-.429-.667 in 4 July games. The Orioles would be better served by letting him play the rest of the season in AA, start the 2013 season in AAA with a June/July call up a possibility.
Matt (Hanoi, Vietnam)
In your opinion, which website better calculates WAR? There are some big differences on certain players between FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, especially on defense.
Klaw
(1:36 PM)I prefer Fangraphs because I think their defensive metric of choice is better, and because they base pitcher WAR on peripherals.
For those of you who were wondering what the difference was between FanGraphs WAR calculation and Baseball Reference's WAR calculation, here is KLaw's take.
Jeff (NY, NY)
What are your thoughts on Tyler Austin as a prospect? I know he made your "ones to watch" list earlier this year. Can he be a legit middle of the order bat?
Klaw
(1:48 PM)I'm all in. He's good.
It's amazing how the Yankees keep producing solid hitting prospects year after year. They have 3-4 solid hitting prospects in the Low minors right now, with Austin, Mason Williams, Gary Sanchez and Dante Bichette Jr. I live close to the Yankees AA affiliate Trenton Thunder, and can't wait to see these guys come up in the next year or so. Austin was recently promoted to High A after hitting .320-.405-.598 with 14 HRs, 69 runs, 54 RBI and 17 stolen bases in Low A Charleston.