Thinking about Reid Brignac

Here's what I wrote about Reid Brignac in the book this year:

So far, so good for Brignac in 2007: 13 games for Double-A Montgomery, hitting .304/.352/.500. Of particular note: 5 walks and just 2 strikeouts in 46 at-bats. He's also hitting .421 against lefthanded pitchers.

Sample size matters, of course: 13 games is not very meaningful. But his performance this season is certainly in keeping with what he did last year, and I particularly like the BB/K/AB ratio.

I spoke with Tampa Bay Director of Scouting R.J. Harrison on XM radio yesterday about Brignac. He loves his bat, of course, but he's quite optimistic about his defense as well and believes that Brignac will be able to remain at shortstop. He also gave a lot of praise to Brignac's makeup and intangibles; his work ethic is tremendous. Now, you'd expect Tampa Bay officials to say good things about a player's makeup, but everything I know about Harrison indicates that he pushes this even more than the average scouting director, and what he says about Brignac also dovetails with what other people say.

Take a guy with a bat like this and a terrific work ethic....if he can be even average defensively, you have yourself one hell of a player. . .maybe Chipper Jones?

As good as Brignac is, he doesn't get as much attention as he deserves on a national basis. In many organizations he would be the top prospect, but for the D-Rays he came into the season behind Delmon Young and probably Evan Longoria, although personally I prefer Brignac to Longoria.

I'm going to post a separate discussion thread about the Devil Rays and the positional decisions they need to make over the next few years.