What do you think of Gordon Beckham?

by nyy601 on Feb 4, 2009 10:56 PM EST Comment 21 comments

Had a couple good seasons as a freshman and sophmore at UGA and then exploded last season. As a junior he hit .411 with 28 homers and lead UGA to the CWS. He jumped up the draft boards and was taken 8th overall. After the draft he went on to post good numbers in his limited time in A ball (ending the season with 31 total homers).

Ranked #1 Prospect in CWS organization by BA, BP, John, and pretty much everyone else.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/b/Gordon-Beckham.shtml

Improved across the board every year in college. BA, SLG, OBP rose every year. As a freshman he had a 27/58 K/BB. Last season he improved that to 54/30.

Now the comminity rankings had him #47 and some individual list had him ranked pretty low.

My only question is what is there not to like about Gordon Beckham? He has amazing potential, a great track record, and has improved drastically over the last 3 years. He has a great chance to stay at SS, and even if he can't, he is the best 2B prospect in the game.

What are your opinions of Beckham?

Poll

What do you think of Beckham

Severely Underrated - top 10 prospect

15 votes

Underrated - top 20 prospect

56 votes

top 30 prospect

64 votes

top 40 prospect

42 votes

Overrated - top 50 prospect

25 votes

Severley Overrated - not a top 50 prospect

14 votes

216 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 21 comments

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Comments

I have seen him...

a few times in person, being from GA and have read alot about him…While he will stay at SS, he will never be great or good defensviley at SS (just becuase of his range the best we can hope for is average) I imagine he would be an above average 2B defensively. Still nothing WRONG with that, but I think his defense is really the only reason he isnt a top 10 prospect.

Obviously he has alot to like on offense, discipline, power, contact ability..but, his swing is really unorthodox with an obvious hitch, making people wonder how much he will strike out.

I think you point out a good aspec is how he has improved EVERY year….is he maxed out, or does that just mean he is really good at making himself better.

Personally, I think an average year in his prime with look like upper 20 HRs, .280 BA, .340 OBP and probbaly 130Ks.

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 12:42 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

oh yeah

maybe a micheal young on defense and tejada on offense with a litle less raw power.

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 12:43 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Michael Young's defense

that’s pretty bad.

by nyy601 on Feb 5, 2009 12:57 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That still sounds like one of the top 4 shortstops in baseball

I think he’s a top 20 guy. I think he is being seriously underrated most places.

by alskor on Feb 5, 2009 1:02 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Just to specify

how horrible Young is at SS.

Fangraphs has zone ratings since 2002. No other SS has a zone rating worse than -20. Young was somehow able to put up -27 and -21 in 2004-2005.

by nyy601 on Feb 5, 2009 1:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Young

wasnt horrible those years..he has never had good range just like Beckham wont.

Young dosent do well on all those range sabermetrics stuff because, uh well, he has never had good range..but, there is still something to be said for SS who can make the routine plays and not kill you out there.

Young had to move off the position just like Beckham will have to eventually

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 1:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I used to think the same way

but I was wrong

if you have SS A who gets to 50 more plays than SS B, even if SS A butchers 30 more plays than SS B, he still is in the win. While arm acurracy and consistency matter, its not the be all end all, or even a main component

by Navi's_Navy on Feb 5, 2009 2:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

RE

Yes but neither is range..point is you can be passable for a few years just by making the routine plays..which is what beckham will probably do

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 11:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

bad enough to win himself a gold glove!!

;)

"I think people in this state like BOTH teams," proclaims Nick Aliotti, the Ducks' defensive coordinator. "Except for our hard-core fans, I don't think most Duck fans would have been terribly upset to see Oregon State going to the Rose Bowl."

Another reason he needs to go.

by diehardoaklandfan22 on Feb 5, 2009 2:19 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Gordon

great hair.
great story of his hair and a poster from this site.

would like to see how he looks at 2nd,
but think he definitely has the bat to negate any defensive issues.

by god allah star on Feb 5, 2009 1:41 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Haha

This thread is funny.

“Defensive issues”? Really.

12 months ago the book on this kid was that it was his combo of pure SS glove and homers that was going to get him picked highly. Now people are pretending his glove is a Q mark.

Look, unless your name is Alcides Escobar, even the best defensive minor league shortstops are no locks to be good defensive SSs at an MLB level. Being a good MLB SS is hard as hell, just as even the best minor league sluggers have an uphill road to being 30-40 homer hitters.

Beckham very well may be a better pro 2b than SS, that doesn’t mean his glove is a Q mark.

by nms on Feb 5, 2009 4:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

you are wrong

his ability to stay at SS has ALWAYS been in question.

“12 months ago the book”…what book lol? I can find plenty of predraft reports questions his glove.

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 11:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Instincts

I watched a CWS game that he was in last year and was instantly impressed. I don’t recall how well he actually played, but he struck me as the type of player that I love. He was clearly a natural leader that played the game right with great instincts.

I don’t know much about any defensive concerns statistically, but I’d expect him to be at least solid.

by mentalpowers on Feb 5, 2009 7:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Compared to Tim Beckham?

How would you compare him to Tim? I know he is probably closer to the majors, but what about ceiling/floor wise? From a fantasy perspective..

by highheat on Feb 5, 2009 12:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

RE

Id rather have Gordon from a fantasy perspective…alot of Tim’s value was that he projects to be a very good SS…I think Tim will windup with probably 20 more steals/year but Gordon will hit for more power easily.

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 1:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

To everyone voting severely overrated

Why?

by nyy601 on Feb 5, 2009 3:05 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He has power

and should be at least a 2B if not a SS, so he has value, certainly. At the top of the thread, JSmall404 projected his peak as being roughly .280/.340/.480, despite getting 130 Ks, which seems optimistic, but generally reasonable. My basic concern is how reminiscent those stats are to Khalil Greene, with the exception of Beckham being projected to have a .280 batting average with those power and strikeout stats, while Greene has been closer to .250, with similar power and walking nyumbers. Greene had an unusually low BABIP, and so perhaps these projections will be closer to the reality, but I’m reticent to say that Gordon Beckham will be significantly more than an average middle-infielder. Considering I don’t think he’ll make the majors for at least another year or two, I personally would rate him in the third quarter of a top 100 list (in the 60-70 range or so). Obviously, I could be entirely wrong, but that’s why I voted to put him in the bottom 50.

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by OldProspects on Feb 5, 2009 7:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

well

he has never really actually shown the propensity to strike out alot..he makes very very good contact, unlike khalil green. its just that his swing is just not what you would call very nice haha.

I am not sure how anyone wouldnt have him in their top 50…if IF he is just average and can stay at SS, he should be top 50 because of his polish and position.

by jsmall404 on Feb 5, 2009 11:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

re:

Comparing both players junior years, well it isn’t much of a contest at all … Gordon is hands down better. However I believe your comparing Khalil’s Senior year to Gordon’s Junior, which obviously wouldn’t be a good inidcator of how they stack up against each other.

by hybrid on Feb 6, 2009 4:09 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

hmm

Reading it over again maybe you weren’t comparing their college stats at all and I jumped the gun. If your talking about MLB stats though you have to remind yourself how Khalil played in Petco and had a hard time staying healthy. His road numbers are along the lines of – .270/.318/.484.

by hybrid on Feb 6, 2009 4:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs