Mat Gamel Interview

by prince of power on Nov 24, 2008 1:48 PM EST

The following link is an interview with Mat Gamel, conducted in May 2008 in Huntsville, Alabama. Mat was named Topps Minor League Player of the Year in 2008. He is currently the Brewers top prospect. Here is a link to the interview on Youtube. He went to college in Cali and sounds like a laid back surfer dude.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQJrWTAIYVs

What type of player do you think Mat projects to be in the majors? What current or former MLB players do you think are his best comparables? Due to his defensive challenges in the minors at 3B, do you think he will be able to stick there or have to move to a corner OF or 1B? Do you think he will spend all of 2009 at AAA Nashville, or what do you foresee his estimated ETA is at Miller Park?

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BABIP

Was .394 in the Minors last season, not to mention how much he ended up struggling after Matt LaPorta was traded. While I think he will be a decent regular, I think last season was a fluke. Just my opinion, but the BABIP is the main number that he has no contrl in maintaining.

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by goose102977 on Nov 24, 2008 4:36 PM EST reply actions

he struggled due to elbow tendinitis that he hid from the team

by Lovejoy on Nov 24, 2008 8:53 PM EST up reply actions

Fair enough...

That BABIP won’t last though. League average has been around .300.

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by goose102977 on Nov 24, 2008 9:50 PM EST up reply actions

My fearless prediction...

He will get a look in March and, like Braun did a couple years ago, he will hit will during Spring Training but struggle mightily with the glove…forcing him to open the season at Nashville, where he will try his hand at 1B & RF. The bat stays hot and the Brewers suffer an injury or three that force their hand, deciding on about May 1, 2009 to pick up the phone and get the One-T Wonder to the show. He will play 2x a week at 1B, allowing Prince to rest a balky hamstring. He’ll also get 2-3 starts per week in RF after a M Cameron injury forces C Hart to roam the CF grounds. Maybe 5 starts total @ 3B.

His line from 5/1/09 – 7/1/09: 45 games, 135 offiicial ABs, .296/.326/.533, with 6-2B, 1-3B, 8-HR, 30 RBI…but 10 errors as he hops around the field, with 5 of those coming in as many games at the hot corner. So, despite the nice start offensively, Prince & M-Cam get healthy and Mat is shipped back to Nashville to work on the glove.

As July draws to a close, the Brew Crew ships Bill Hall to the Phillies for JC Romero, and Mat gets the call again. He finishes the season with two months of surprisingly effective defense at third and a steady diet of starts in the 7th spot in the line-up. Although the power numbers dip slightly, he remains steady at the plate and with 4 months under his belt, his line looks like this: 92 games, 290 AB, .276/.315/.490 (12-2B, 4-3B, 14-HR…58 RBI.

Just something to get the discussion going. (I was working on a spreadsheet projection while keying in the post, so apologies if any numbers didn’t transfer over perfectly.)

And for the record, I’m a Gamel fan.

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by Giants_Junkie on Nov 24, 2008 4:36 PM EST reply actions

Whew

Only 290 ABs in 92 games? I guess you’re projecting him to get pulled for defensive replacements a lot, then.

The power figures look a little high for him . . .that would mean his power would play as a full grade or two higher than what current projections are running with, and I don’t really see a reason to think he’s going to be capable of playing at that level save a statistical fluke.

by mrkupe on Nov 24, 2008 5:54 PM EST up reply actions

AB numbers a little low, yes...

…but I was actually factoring in walks & sacrifice opportuities rather than defensive substitutions…still you’re right that it seems too low. I think he has the potential to produce at that level, regardless. I’m surprised that so many people are so quick to call his success a “fluke”…it’s not like he didn’t have a track record of success before his solid ’08 campaign.

And for the record, I’m a Gamel fan (but I am not Mat Gamel).

Giants: World Series Champions...in 2011.

by Giants_Junkie on Nov 24, 2008 7:07 PM EST up reply actions

Power

Actually I had him marked as a big sleeper before 2008 . . .check John’s 2007 Brewers list if you don’t believe me!

I think he might be capable of a solid average and decent power numbers next year, but you’re projecting him to slug nearly .500 which I don’t think he can manage (at least not yet).

by mrkupe on Nov 24, 2008 9:22 PM EST up reply actions

he's got a lot going for him as a hitter

Left handed without a big split and a good eye. Hits to all fields with some power. According to Don Money, he is still learning how to turn on a ball and pull it when he gets the right pitch.

While the conventional wisdom is that he has a frying pan for a glove, the Brewers minors infield instructor and Don Money both say that he has the skill to play 3rd. That may be organization spin, but Money doesn’t sound like a guy who would be good at that. He also describes him as not being that light on his feet and sometimes his footwork isn’t good and that leads to throwing errors.

by Lovejoy on Nov 24, 2008 9:02 PM EST reply actions

27 Double Plays

I brought up this point in a chat with Kevin Goldstein in a chat about his defense and his scouting reports on defense in general…esp Jed Lowrie. Mat Gamel started 27 double plays last year at AA and it is virtually impossible to do that unless you have some level of skill at the position. Its kinda like if a guy stole 40 bases and had NO speed or hit 33 homers with NO power. It doesn’t mean everything but it means more than 8 idiots saying who havent seen him saying he cant stay at 3b or 3-4 guys in the Brewer org saying he CAN. A CAREFUL look at the right minor league fielding stats can mean a lot.

The problem i have with Goldstein is that he says a guy like Lowrie is going to be so bad that he cant stay at SS…says he heard it from “SCOUTS”… it proves to be totally FALSE…Lowrie is about as solid there as Carlos Guillen ever was and he doesnt say he was wrong. Now he is doing it again with Gamel.

My instincts tell me Gamel will be like Aramis Ramirez, a guy who was error prone but had skills and worked his way to being solid. Just like Lowrie, this goes a LONG way in finding out just how good of a prospect they can be.

by casejud on Nov 25, 2008 3:14 AM EST up reply actions