Lastings VS the Strawberry

by babaoriley7 on Mar 7, 2006 4:17 PM EST

"It wasn't even close; I was awesome."
-- Daryl Strawberry, on whether he saw any similarities between Mets' top hitting prospect Lastings Milledge and himself

I found this on Bill Simmons' Page 2...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

Sounds like a very humble guy. But he might be right.....

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Strwaberry

I'd have to agree with Strawberry, I mean just look at his 20 year old season in AA. The only thing Milledge has done better is hit for average, Strawberry at the same age was better at everything else.

Also I don't see many similarities between them, overall they are different players.

by hybrid on Mar 7, 2006 4:51 PM EST reply actions

Having grown up when Straw was breaking in

I'd have to agree with him.

by samjjones on Mar 7, 2006 5:00 PM EST reply actions

Daryl

Straw is right.

Strawberry had inner circle hall-of-fame talent (which was flushed down the toilet, but that's besides the point), and Milledge is somewhere around the #20 prospect in baseball.

by SmokeyJoeWood on Mar 7, 2006 5:01 PM EST reply actions

Prettiest swing ever

Straw. My first baseball memory is of Darryl Strawberry. I was living in the UK at the time and the World Series was on TV. I must have liked his name or something. I still have a poster of him, framed in my living room!

"Well I believe in the soul..."

by D O on Mar 7, 2006 5:04 PM EST reply actions

I often wonder

what Strawberry's numbers would look like if he had used steroids instead of cocaine.

by jeck on Mar 7, 2006 6:12 PM EST reply actions

Probably look...

Just like Barry Bonds.

by Boxkutter on Mar 7, 2006 7:07 PM EST up reply actions

lol

ha!

by slarve on Mar 7, 2006 7:36 PM EST up reply actions

So I checked out the day-by-day database

And input Daryl Strawberry's age 21-29 seasons and Barry Bonds' 21-29 seasons. His age 29 season was basically Daryl's last good, full season

Daryl Strawberry - .263/.359/.516 - OPS of .875, 15.74 AB/HR

280 HR, 201 Steals

Barry Bonds - .285/.394/.537 - OPS of .930, 17.43 AB/HR

259 HR, 309 Steals

Barry also wins in K/BB, but one could make the case that if Daryl hadn't gotten sidetracked, they would have been comparable. Barry did have a higher OPS+ to that point, I believe.

The funny thing is that Barry was ridiculously good even before 1998, when he purportedly started the steroids, according to this new book.

By the end of 1997, Barry had a career OPS of .959, 374 HR, and 417 steals. He was 32, so you could definitely make the case that even with a decline in the next few seasons, he could reach 500/500.

God I love the internet

by sasquatch83 on Mar 7, 2006 7:58 PM EST up reply actions