LaPorta takes one to the head

by joltinjoe on Aug 19, 2008 1:53 AM EDT Comment 3 comments

http://www.cleveland.com/olympics/index.ssf/2008/08/laporta_has_concussion_after_t.html

Matt LaPorta, playing in the Olympics, got beaned in the head by a pitch from a Chinese pitcher. The various photos on the web show a guy in a lot of pain and he was diagnosed with a mild concussion.

Now he was all ready struggling since being traded to the Indians, granted it has been a small sample size. I would assume that he is simply pressing in an attempt to justify being the 'cornerstone player' who was traded for C.C. Sabathia.

However, combined with this injury/incident, it makes me wonder if he'll live up to the superstar slugger projection that many in the baseball community have labeled him with. Based on his journal he does for milb.com, he seems like a nice guy and I hope he does well.

However, I'm starting to wonder if he might not be any better than a Pat Burrell-type (which isn't anything to sneeze at, but certainly not superstar level) and I can't imagine that sustaining a concussion from a ball to the head can help. While I'm not saying this will have a long-lasting effect, many players have had their careers altered by concussions.

What do the rest of you think about his potential career, the incident and how the bean ball might effect his career.

0 recs | Comment 3 comments

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not much

it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. He was facing a very soft-tossing pitcher (I think the announcers said his fastball was in the mid-70’s) and it glanced off his shoulder before hitting his helmet. I was actually surprised he left but I guess you can’t be too cautious. Still, I’d doubt it has any effect on his career and still think it is too quickly to write him off as a superstar.

by was385 on Aug 19, 2008 2:04 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well if, all of the sudden

you now think he is a Pat Burrell-type what exactly did you think he was going to be before?
For guys who are zeros in baserunning and defense that is a better-than-average outcome. I guess the hope is that you hit an upside something along the lines of Dunn, Delgado, Giambi or Hafner but Burrell is a pretty good outcome for this type of player.

by nms on Aug 19, 2008 3:12 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Response

You’re worried about a 14 game stretch in the minors?

If LaPorta is Pat Burrell I’d be thrilled with that. Taken literally (not that we should do this, but to prove a point), we’re saying that LaPorta would be a guy who:

-Has hit almost 250 home runs by the age of 32
-Has a career OPS of .860
-Has a career OPS+ of 120

No, that’s not an amazing player. But that’s a pretty dang good player who more than holds his own on any team and then some, despite being a bat-only guy.

As for how the concussion will affect his career . . .simply put, it won’t. And I’ll live with myself if I’m wrong in saying that.

by mrkupe on Aug 19, 2008 11:55 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs