A Portrait of The Ballplayer As A Young Man by Matt Joyce

by The Colonel on Jul 14, 2008 1:57 PM EDT Comment 3 comments

Excuse me if I write in a stream-of-consciousness-type prose, but who is Matt Joyce and does anyone know anything about him and can they tell me if he is for real or just one of a long list of prospects who has come up and hit for power a la Sam Horn, Phil Plantier, Reggie Jefferson (yes, I'm a Sox fan) and then disappeared into oblivion.

Sickels wrote in The Book that Joyce seems like the type of player who could be a late bloomer ("sneaking up on us in maybe '08"). He's only 23, hitting .266 / .320 / .649 with 9 HR in 94 AB.

I saw an AB of his a couple of days ago and he had a pretty nice swing and even made a nice diving catch in the OF. Just seeing if anyone knew anything more about him or had any insight into if he's the real deal or not. Thanks!

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Joyce

He’s an OF for the Tigers, projects to be a lefty bat off the bench or a platoon player. At least that’s what I’ve heard.

As far as this season goes, he has a BABIP of .235, so he may be due for a batting average rise. His walk to strikeout rate is 8/18, which isn’t stellar, but he’s a rookie with very few AAA plate appearances. He does have some juice in his bat, but I’d say that the large number of home runs is due to pitchers not knowing how to figure him out yet. He’ll return to earth, but should still be a decent player.

by demondeaconsbaseball on Jul 14, 2008 3:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Joyce

most of his home runs seem to be off fastballs right over the plate, maybe just barely into the lower half of the zone.

his swing looks great when he’s hitting those shots,
such a easy smooth swing.

by god allah star on Jul 14, 2008 3:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Joyce

He’s about to get more playing time because of the fact it looks like Leyland and Dombrowski are done with the Sheffield experiment for awhile. As long as these boys from Toledo and Erie keep hitting in key situations Sheff will continue to rest. Article from the Detroit News today states them saying the projected 2nd half lineup has Thames at DH with an out field from Left to Right….Joyce/Thomas (pending RHP/LHP) Granderson, Ordonez. As a long time fan of the tigers and having suffered through the Randy Smith draft era its good to see some guys up in the big leagues with some pop. Speaking of which if anyone has more information on Wilkin Ramirez it’d be appreciated i’ve seen a couple AB’s in the minors and like what i see other than he’s a K machine which happens to be just like any other Detroit minor leaguer in recent years. He have a chance to improve on that? Any info is appreciated

by rpm2419 on Jul 14, 2008 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs