Separated at Birth? Troy Tulowitzki and David Hackworth
Long Beach State shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is getting a lot of attention as one of the best prospects in the draft this year. He has excellent physical tools across the board, including on defense; most scouts think he will be better than Bobby Crosby. Statistically, he's at .356/.435/.607 this year. That looks good, but it's even better than you might expect. Long Beach plays in a pitcher's park. The team has combined for a .283/.348/.372 mark this year, their opponents .225/.287/.306. Tulowitzki's OPS is 45 percent better than the combined Long Beach State OPS, and a full 59 percent better than LBS's OPS combined with their opponents. Accounting for context, he's been one of the most dominant players in the college game this year.
His track record is not perfect. His BB/K/AB ratio is 12/29/135, meaning that his plate discipline is, on paper at least, not as good as it could be. It certainly has not inhibited his performance, however. It may be an issue at higher levels, but we'll just have to see.
As college position players go, the only one he clearly ranks behind is Nebraska's Alex Gordon.
I noticed when researching Tulowitzki that he looks a lot like Colonel David Hackworth, a personal hero of mine. If Tulowitzki has "intangibles" like Hackworth (one of the best soldiers produced in American history), he could be special indeed.
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