Mariners farm report

by montenegro on Jun 5, 2007 1:26 PM EDT

Spotted this article in the Seattle Times.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2003734544_minors05.html

The focus is on Wlad Balentien, saying he has matured as a hitter.

As an M's fan, I'd be delighted to see the kid cut down on his Ks, gain better strike zone judgement and, potentially be a big bat for years to come.

Does anyone think he'll be able to further refine his game and become better than the Grade C John gave him in the book? Will he be better, equal to, or worse than the "...Curacao version of Rob Deer"?

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Better

WAY better. No offense to Rob deer fans...haha... I am one...but balentien is a much, much more talented hitter than Deer.

I can see Balentier starting in LF for the M's next year if they want to save Ibanez's $ and go aftert a pitcher. Tacoma is a real tough place to hit also. I was just there to see Tim Lincecum in April. Boy has HE come a long way.

casedog

by casejud on Jun 5, 2007 4:37 PM EDT reply actions

Agree with casejud

If you check the live gameday on MiLB when Tacoma's playing, you can check out how Wladimir did in his ABs. In stark contrast to his previous "all-or-nothing" hitting style, he's now taking borderline pitches out of the zone -- he's trying to draw walks, but it also hasn't come at the cost of his power swing.

As the article states, Wlad's two-strike approach has drastically improved, which means the patience will continue to be there along with the power. His average is probably going to go down soon since he still strikes out a lot, but his OBP and power should remain intact.

by SudsMcDuff on Jun 5, 2007 5:07 PM EDT reply actions