Young Player Comparisons: Omar Infante

Rather than asking if a hitter can learn patience (Sosa proved it can be done) the bigger question (or more accurate one) is asking if he will... I don't see it. Especially when he's in a Tiger's uni.

I don't think he'll ever be as bad as Luis Rivas but he remind's me of a beggar's (that's below "poor man's") Edgar Renteria; not a ton of walks but good speed, hard contact, good range & defense...

Now if he can just raise that BA by a 100 points or so...

I don't like guessing about a player I've seen very little of, but looking at his numbers I see someone who'll fall somewhere short of Dunston, in a best-case scenario.  He's never shown discipline over an extended period of time, and I don't suspect he'll learn it in Detroit.  If he goes to the wrong team, or the wrong "hot prospect" comes up behind him, he could become a utility guy in a hurry.  But, if Detroit (or someone else) keeps him starting and leaves him alone, Dunston's career might be attainable.  

But I'll admit in advance that I'm not particularly confident of this projection.  If I could have seen a little bit of him in action (other than ESPN highlights), I might be more charitable about his future...  

I have to question weather his power is for real. Sure, he hit 16 HR's last year. But prior to that he had hit 11 in 1900 AB. I know sometimes players just develop power "all of a sudden", so we'll have to wait and see if he can repeat his performance.

If this is real improvement, the sky is the limit. Some players just "get it". Who would have thougt, by looking at his minor league numbers, that Shawn Grenn would hit all those homers? Or draw 90 walks in a season? Green and Infante's walk rate was about the same through the minors. In the majors, through thier first 800 at bats, Infante has MORE walks, and is younger. In fact, Infante had a better year in AA at 19 than Green did in AA at the age  of 20. Of course if last year was a fluke, he could be a utility man sooner than we think.

Even if I had seen him play, I wouldn't feel right about making a prediction. You can't measure what's inside of a player, and you can't see what he sees coming out of the pitchers hands. I also have to wonder, does he, or did he, take vitamin S (maybe congress should've called on Infante for some answers)? Regardless of how it turns out, 2005 will be an interesting year for Omar Infante.

He was overmatched prior to last year, because he was rushed and too young for his leagues.  It's not like he hit 16 homeruns in Citizens Bank Park...  It is Comerica, and a 22 year old slugging almost .500 is impressive.

I'm not certain about his ceiling, since I haven't seen him play enough, but from what I have seen and from following his numbers pretty closely, he strikes me as a player who's trying to do too much too soon.

As a 19 year old in AA, he hit .302/.361/.367 with halfway decent K/BB numbers (87/46).  

As a 22 year old in the MLB, I think his poor AVG and OBP (especially the 3/1 K/BB ratio) can be attributed to two things - 1) he is still very young and struggles with MLB pitching is expected and 2) he's swinging for the fences.  

I don't expect him to develop like Marcus Giles, who always had power and speed despite being of relatively short stature like Infante (Giles is generously listed as 5'8'', Infante is 5'9'').  Giles has always showed better plate discipline than Infante, and is built more for hitting home runs too.

I think Infante can eventually become a .280-.290 hitter with decent (20) home run power, but not until his physical peak between 27 and 29.  

For his sake, I hope he doesn't go the way of Alex Gonzalez (Marlins), who tries to hit it out of the park way too often.  Right now, he's better off using what he has and letting the power come with time.  

Maybe part of the reason for his "turn around" was a change in attitude.  Prior to last year I heard a lot of things about him 'pouting' and complaining about a variety of things.  From being moved to the bottom of the lineup to being criticized for lazy play.  I think he had some real problems with 'learning the way of life in the pro's.'

If he has changed that, then maybe this is for real.

I don't think the power was a fluke, I think it is more his maturation.  I watched him day-in, day-out last year and he was a different hitter than the year before.  Previously he was overmatched at the plate.  Last year it looked like he had a plan.  He wasn't afraid to take a strike to wait for a better pitch.  He also wasn't just swinging for the fences.  He'd pick his spots to turn on a ball.  And it wasn't just the 16 home runs.  He was stinging the ball fairly consistently.

His success going forward will be driven by whether or not he can further improve his plate discipline.  

I actually saw him play on TV more in 2003 when he looked just awful--along with most of his teammates. But I was impressed with the progress he made last year at 22.

Like nearly all young players, he has many areas for improvement. But he's so young he could take a step backward this year and still develop into an elite second baseman--which may not be saying much by contemporary standards. Infante ranked 11th in the majors in second baseman OPS last year: .766, compared with a .745 ML average. That figure ranked him a tick behind Figgins and Belliard.

He doesn't strike me as the type of player who will develop terrific discipline, but I think once he gets acclimated he'll hit .300 a few times. Also, it's conceivable he could shift back to short because he's certainly not lacking in athleticism. He plays three infield spots well and even experimented in center field last year.

He was rushed, but he's adapted nicely to the bigs. Considering his home park and his supporting pride--er, cohorts--work against him, I see good things for Infante.

(I'll admit pride was a reach. Lions form prides; tigers don't typically organize.)

but I think Infante will keep going up.  He's probably not going to be a superstar (a gal can dream though, right?), but I think he can be solid.  He's young enough that I can see his power being a result of maturation instead of a fluke, and maybe he's not too patient-- that can come with time.

As for not learning patience in Detroit... well, maybe.  Remember that Tram is still a relatively new manager, though.  2003 was such a loss that it's hard to say what his tendencies are.  He was a little more inclined to smallball in '03, a little less so in '04, but that's not really any sample size to judge him by.  For all we know he could lean on Infante to take more balls all season long.

After his Venezualean winter league 2003 season, he demonstrated some power. I see him elevating his slugging pct to .460 this year and possibly raise his batting average 10+pts. As for OBP he posted a .374 pct for Oriente in Venezuala this offseason, which is substantial jump from his 2004 MLB season (OSP was .886). He better find a way to get on base more with Pudge and Maggs behind him. Potentially he could easily be a 20/20 guy in his prime

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