What to make of Josh Donaldson

by Asfan4ever723 on Sep 8, 2008 7:17 PM EDT

Josh Donaldson has had 2 different seasons wrapped into one. He came into the 2008 season ranked just outside the top5 prospects in the cubs system, a 3 star rating by BP. He had a horrible 1st half in the MWL and was sent to the A's as part of the Harden deal. He didnt deserve a promotion but was sent to the offensive minded cal league. for the last 2 months + everything clicked and he showed that power/obp combo from the catcher position that is coveted. his solid play has continued into the postseason and at this moment is facing off against buster posey, in the cal league playoffs.

In a recent chat keith law mentioned he liked donaldson the best among the position prospects A's have traded for. higher than a cardenas, cunningham, carter, etc. And went on to say he'd put donaldson in his 09 top 50 overall due to his positional value. Is law overating DOnaldson over a couple hot months or is his thoughts fair? Donaldson will head to the AFL, surprisingly listed as an infielder so its possible they might try him out at his college position of 3b. 09 will be his age 23 season. Maybe he has a rise through the majors similar to a chris iannetta? any thought on donaldson's upside, maybe a future position change, where he fits in with suzuki, etc?

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Josh%20Donaldson&pos=C&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=518626

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What to make of Donaldson

Make him and a few others into Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin.

by slurve on Sep 8, 2008 7:26 PM EDT reply actions

Law

Keith Law was high on Donaldson coming into the season if memory serves. I don’t think that he’s taking the small sample size of his time in the Cal league and overrating that sample, more likely he sees the horrible 1st half numbers as the aberration.

by jibs on Sep 8, 2008 8:29 PM EDT reply actions

He's doing his best to make the MWL numbers look like a fluke

So far, I’m agnostic. It’s just a very strange statistical progression.

Law has weird opinions about a lot of things, so I wouldn’t put a lot of stock into something he says until I hear someone else saying it too. He’s way too willing to make sweeping judgments based on one outing by a player.

I still feel like Kurt Suzuki might end up getting traded somewhere. Not anytime soon, mind you, but maybe in 2011 or 2012 he gets traded to a catching-starved org to fill another need (3B?). He’s in that “tradable” range— good enough so people want him, not good enough that he’s untouchable.

My gut tells me we haven’t heard the last of Landon Powell either.

By the by, does anyone know why postseason minors stats aren’t counted? Excluding them makes no sense to me. It’s not like MLB where everyone is playing the same number of games.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Sep 8, 2008 11:59 PM EDT reply actions

Suzuki is 24 and already one of the best (top 10, at least) offensive catchers in baseball

And, by all accounts, he’s pretty darn good defensively, too. I think the A’s would be nuts to get rid of him until he gets really expensive.

by thejd44 on Sep 9, 2008 3:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Powell?

How so? Be interested to hear your take on him. On the one hand, didn’t think he’d make it thru the year healthy, on the other hand if he had 300 ABs I would have expected him to hit at least as well as he did last year.

Wrong and wrong, eh?

Still, won the most improved player for the Cats, so…hard to get a read on him. And did he get injured at the end of the season, or was that just a tweak?

by scooter on Sep 9, 2008 8:24 PM EDT up reply actions

No, it was an injury

Not as serious as the ACL tears obviously, but significant (I think it was a torn meniscus).

Still, if he’s healthy (big if) I see a guy who still has great power and plate discipline and got victimized this year by a freakishly (and uncharacteristically for him) low BABIP. Neutralize his stats for luck and he’s a AAA catcher posting an .829 OPS, which certainly suggests the ability to hit in the bigs.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Sep 10, 2008 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks

Will be interesting to follow him.

by scooter on Sep 10, 2008 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I would assume that

recovering from (yet another) knee injury had alot to do with his low BABIP. Bad knees could affect your stability at the plate and affect your ability to turn on balls.

by nms on Sep 12, 2008 2:45 AM EDT up reply actions

Probably

Affects your ability to beat out ground balls, too.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Sep 12, 2008 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

I don't think Landon Powell has ever done that in his life, healthy knee or not

: )

by nms on Sep 13, 2008 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

donaldson

is he a top 50 prospect? IMO, no, but to each their own.

In his defense, his receiving skills have, by most accounts, improved to the point where he’s average. Furthermore, the reports from the MWL suggested that he was making good contact, just not getting the hits, and that he had closed a hole in his swing on the inner half.

That said, you still have to produce. I’ve got a hard time figuring out MWL stats each year. Russ Canzler was horrid in MWL, and he’s done fine in FSL. Brandon Guyer raked this year for the Cubs in MWL – I’m still not sure if he’ll legitimately rake in the higher levels.

Thing is, for Donaldson, his value lies in his bat, so I always thought that the chances were high that any organization would eventually consider moving him. I never thought his future with the Cubs would as a C, considering Soto and Wellington Castillo. Certainly, that’s where his value is highest, but I think his bat will play at 3rd, or 1st.

by toonsterwu on Sep 9, 2008 11:14 AM EDT reply actions