Mike Napoli

by Joltin Joe Orsulak on Jul 2, 2005 11:32 AM EDT Comment 3 comments

Napoli is having an excellent year at Arkansas, proving that the power he showed last year can hold up at higher levels (although Arkansas is a hitter-friendly park in a hitter-friendly league).

His line: .275/.408/.534, 15 HR, 17 2B, 1 3B, and a BB:K of 52:78 in 247 AB. He also has 8 steals in 10 attempts.

That's an astounding walk rate of 17%, although his contact rate is only about 68%, and he's shown solid ISO throughout his career (last year and this year are well above his first two years, around .258, but even his first two years were around .145 or so). The strikeouts are a bit worrisome, but the rest of the peripherals seem quite strong. I don't know any scouty info about him -- maybe his Ks are caused by a long swing or something that wouldn't play well in the majors, for instance -- but his minor league numbers look pretty impressive so far.

I've read mixed things about his defense as a catcher, enough so that many people think he may move to 1B.

John rated him a C+ in the 2005 book, and others wanted to see if his 2004 power was for real before rating him as anything other than marginal, but he seems to be putting a lot of those concerns to rest.

What do people think his future is? Can this guy become the Angels C of the future, as Mathis slumps his way to backup-dom? Perhaps he could fill a Mike Stanley kind of role as a rotating regular at 1B/C/DH while Kotchman mans first and Mathis catches?

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Napoli

I see him as a Mike Stanley type. Two notes:

His power is legit, but he's a little bit of a guess hitter. Those can struggle as they move up the ladder. Also, his swing is longer than Stanley's was.
His defense is underrated. He's done a nice job of throwing runners out this year, though he is boxing the ball around a little bit behind the plate and will need to bring down his error and PB rates.

Here's a write-up on Napoli from CalLeaguers.com (a site I highly recommend), it was written last year:

"Strong 1B who has lost a lot of weight over the past yr. Hit his way into the everyday lineup this yr when Abruzzo got hurt. Will hit a avg fb a mile. Drops hands and brings them thru zone with avg bat speed. Front foot gets down a little slow. Some excess movement in swing. No approach offspead. Swung over offspead stuff repeatedly. Will also get out on front foot on offspeed. Lack of offspead plan will catch up with him but you can't overlook his raw power which is plus. I saw him DH and play 1st mostly and he is a bit of a lumbering presence around the bag. He caught one game and showed a below avg arm with below avg accuracy and hands that weren't very soft. Is another tweener player who doesn't have the defensive skills to catch (where his bat would play) and doesn't have the frontline bat to play 1B. May have a future as a power RHH bat off bench, much more value if he can catch once a week."

by Der Komminsksar on Jul 3, 2005 1:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Nothing to do with your comment

but your username is one of my favorites of anyone on baseball sites. Oh Joe Orsulak...

by Marc Normandin on Jul 3, 2005 5:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks

Thanks for the info -- sounds like Napoli does have some issues, but could be a very useful major leaguer in the right context. I hope he doesn't get buried like so many high-K, questionable defensive guys.

On the name -- I'm just a huge Joe Orsulak fan. He was not the greatest player, but he was usually pretty decent and always a whole lot of fun to watch, and the Orioles really needed that during most of the late 80s and early 90s. Jon Miller would come up with some silly nicknames for him -- Joltin' Joe, Smokin' Joe, etc...

by Joltin Joe Orsulak on Jul 4, 2005 10:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs