Darren Ford was one of two players that was traded as part of the Ray Durham trade to the Brewers last year. He was originally a prep draftee with the Brewers in 2004. In 2006 and 2007, Ford showed the ability to make contact and put up impressive SB rates while mainting a BB % above 10 % in A ball. This combined with good defense in CF. The knocks on his A ball performances are that he Ked around 25 % of the time and he had a clearly unsustainable BABIP (.378 and .429) even considering his speed. In 2007 and 2008, Ford's BABIP and subsequently his .avg suffered from regression in his BABIP to slightly below league average (.292 , .326, and .302). His BB % actually improved slightly despite the promotion while keeping his K % the same, except in 155 PAs after the trade.

 In 2009, after a failed experiment with switch hitting in the first half resulting in a line .207/.341/.293, he abandoned it.  The rest of the way, Ford tore up the league ending the season with .300avg, .160 ISO, and maintaining a BB % of 11 with the a 25 % K rate. His .381 BABIP is unsustainable again, but even after regression, his line is still impressive when considering the walks. It should also be noted that despite playing in the CALI league, San Jose is definitely one of the toughest environments to hit in the league. On the stats side, what is more puzzling is his batted ball profile from Minor League Splits. In the months he was slumping, he put up GB % of 60 and a LD % of 20 which would suggest a higher than normal BABIP. However, in his second half hot streak, his LD % is under 10 for the last two months except for July when it was 20 %. His GB % goes almost even aggregate with his FB %, yet he put up BABIP .440, .380, and .433.

On the scouting side of things, from an article done by Wonderful Terrific Mounds on McMovey Chronicles( awesonme name btw), quotes an old BA chat saying that he has 90 speed on the 20-80 scale. Also from that fanpost are reports saying he has excellent range in CF but with an arm that is average. Apparently he was listed as best defensive outfielder for both the Giants and Brewers by BA in the past. Total zone rating for the minors has him as average to excellent for every significant sample.

Personally, I love these kinds of players that have a borderline prospect profile but can jump out of nowhere and suprise you like Nyjer Morgan and Dan Uggla. I can see him putting up numbers similar to Michael Bourne if he can survive the AA test. He might not hit .300, but if he can improve his contact skills a little, his speed will help him sustain a higher than normal BABIP to keep his average up. Next year he is going to be 24 likely entering AA. So what are the communities thoughts on him?