Daric's home

I don't think any final decision has been made regarding the A's minor league player placements.  Oakland often, but not always starts important guys out a level lower than they will spend most of the year just to get their feet wet.  I expect Daric to play a month in Stockton and then move up to play the rest of the year in Midland.

I believe it was announced on the A's website that Barton would be moved to 1B immediately, yet as soon as players reported he was catching, though not throwing the ball back due to elbow problems.  I have no idea if that was just because we needed as many catchers as possible at the beginning of camp.  I expect he will play mostly at 1B this year.

I knew the info I read came from a reliable source and not just some reporter.  Beane is as reliable a source on their minor leaguers as there is.  Another thing he mentioned that I thought was strange is that he thought of Yabu as a reliever.  I expected Yabu would begin the season as a starter and Meyer or Blanton (less likely) would begin in AAA.

You're onto something here. Why bother with AA and AAA if a player has A-ball success. Afterall, look at Pujols.

Pujols is the typical blue chip prospect. All other blue chip prospects should follow the same path.

This reminds me... Back in 1998 a 20 yr old Marcus Giles posted a 1.064OPS with 37 homers in low A-ball. The braves sent him to high A-ball the next year. Double A the year after that. It wasn't until Marcus' 3rd MLB season that he busted out. If only the Braves had put him on the Pujols path he could have been an instant success. A highly successful Low A ball is the only foundation a prospect needs... the rest is redundant.

Pujols has put up dimaggio/ted williams numbers. No one except Frank Thomas has lit the league on fire from the beginning and sustained it like Pujols (sorry Lynn) in the last several decades. I don't know why people insist on picking a new A-baller every year to claim is better than guys like Pujols or Clemente. I like Barton's chances to be an all-star but get a grip.

If you're reading that Barton is better than Pujols your its likely from a source that benefits from the hype or someone who wishes it to be true.

Everywhere I've looked Delmon Young is rated higher than Barton. So is he better than Pujols too? At this rate we should have a couple new Pujols every year. If only it were that easy...

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A little off on the side... has anyone else noticed that Pujols and Lebron James seem way more physically developed than the average super prospect at their age? Their good b/c of unparalelled skills... but the fact that their man-beasts doesn't go unnoticed.

At Peoria:
2004 Barton OBP=.956           
2000 Pujols OBP=.952

Those are the numbers. Not hype.

Dude, nobody ever said Barton is better than Pujols.

We said, "it's reasonable to assume that Barton could have success as a major league player this year."

Put the herb away bro because it's effecting your reading comprehension skills.

The first place i read of the Barton Pujol comps was in Peter Gammons article a few days after the Mulder trade. Gammons isn't a scout, so for sure he got that from other scouts....

there are comps, and there are good comps. gammons is a quality baseball writer. He's getting inducted in the HOF. But if anyone doesn't think Gammons hypes players their naive. He's all about generating interest in the game and there is a place for that. Rest assured though, Bob Lee is never going to invite him to do an 'outside the lines' investigative piece.

With that out of the way, remember the two part column gammons did on Toe Nash in 2001? Nash was comp'd to Babe Ruth. I've seen a column where he's called Dee Brown the next big thing. How many guys has he comp'd to George Brett over the years... I'm sure atleast one scout made any comp that Gammons printed. But scouts know that if they tell a media type the guy realistically reminds him of Jeff Blauser he's less likely to generate interest than if he said Jeter.

I love gammo though. I don't take his comps very seriously at all, but boy, no one is better at certain things like insider trade rumors and winter meetings dirt.

I just thought people who visit this kind of site were more knowledgable. That they would know Clemente, Brett, Pujols are few and far between. Scale back your expecations just a touch.

Anyway, gun pressed to my head, I'd say Barton = Blalock(+15 walks). Thats an all-star.

Think about it.

I have thought about it. Plenty of guys have posted great stats in A-ball at 20 and got rave scouting reports. You guys want to drink the kool aid and say he COULD be better than someone who has had a HISTORIC first four seasons. Why? Why use a slim and none "COULD"? Its just annoying.

Why use A-ball stats to justify a comparison to a hitter that baseball-reference.com has the following guys as his age 24 comps:

Joe DiMaggio (928) *
Jimmie Foxx (912) *
Ted Williams (903) *
Vladimir Guerrero (888)
Frank Robinson (887) *
Hal Trosky (882)
Hank Aaron (876) *
Joe Medwick (868) *
Orlando Cepeda (867) *
Ken Griffey (862)  

Its borderline disrepectful to act like its that easy.

couple of notes, and not nearly as strong as an argument as some of you have put forward

1. Hype is not always a bad thing, as long as the player continues to produce.  Nats brought up LeBron.  Talk about Hype - but it was Hype that was due because he performed in a way that nobody else his age really had in a while.  With Barton he is getting comparison Hype because Pujols came through just a couple years ago and he is fresh in everybody's mind.  Will he turn out to be the great hitter that he is projected to be, well, that is why they play the games.  Only time will tell.  I WOULD bet on it though but that is because right now I am believing the hype that BB traded Mark Mulder, a very excellent, proven pitcher who his team needed to trade to stay competitive (and, more importantly for the owners of the A's, lucrative), for a great young pitcher in meyer and one of the best hitting minor leaguers available in Barton.  It does come down to the Kool Aid for me.
2. As far as when Barton will be at the show, I think he will be with the team when ST breaks camp.  His bat is precious to the A's and the A's are going to be moving him to DH/1B so that they can speed him through the system.  The move is needed because the A's have Kendall at catcher right now, and a slew of catchers in the minors after last two drafts. (Baker, Powell, and Susuki are the three that to come to mind) Maybe that will help you phiago - by the way you can check out an exellent A's Blog @ www.athleticsnation.com.  It is part of this Sportsblogs Faminly.

In closing, I do not think it is disrepectful of current and past players to compare a player to them.  I think it is quite the opposite.  I think it is a compliment to the player coming up to be considered of such a high regard (all though it may be Hype).  I think every player knows that one day there will be somebody better than them and many players would say that there are stars that would say there are current players that are better than them.  I am sure that Barry Bonds knows that someday his HR record will be beaten by somebody else.

was today at 5:28 PM EST and he worked a walk

I saw Barton about five times in 2004, and while I've compared him to Pujols value-wise, they are very different prospects and ballplayers.

For starters, Barton is about five inches shorter than Pujols and he has a funny build. Basically his legs are shorter than your average 5'11" guy and he's a little thick in the butt. So Barton probably won't develop the same kind of power that Pujols has. Barton's also had a variety of physical ailments early in career, which combined with his body type makes me wonder a little bit about his long-term fitness.

On the good side, Barton's plate discipline looked darn near perfect when I saw him: Throw him a strike he swings at (and usually hits) it, throw him a ball and he watches it go by. Pujols will swing at pitches out of the strike zone if he thinks he can do something with it, and depending on whom you ask, that may or may not be a good thing. But like with Pujols if you throw Barton a first pitch strike to get ahead in the count, be prepared to duck. Like the unnamed scout quoted in BA's list, his approach is exactly how you teach it.

Last and probably least, Pujols and Barton played at different stadia in Peoria. I don't know what the old stadium looked like, but it's 310 down the lines at the new park. The park evidently favored pitchers in aggregate, but I've wondered if Barton got a tad more advantage power-wise than the average hitter. Perhaps related to the stadium, but perhaps not, Pujols had 6 triples at Peoria and Barton had none.

He's still a heckuva prospect, so much as so that as a Cardinals fan I call it the Barton trade. But any comparison with Pujols should come with significant caveats.

thanks Rob, great stuff.