His skill set, highly dependent on batting average, was a risky one to begin with. He’s not a great fielder. And Angels hitting prospects of his generation have all underperformed. I’d bet on him to be an above-average player, but never a star.

with 12 HR - 50 RBI - 18 SB

something like that if he stays healthy

Regarding the “injury prone” label, in 2007 he got hit on the hand twice by pitches, which is certainly not his fault. In 2008, he had a nagging hamstring injury; those are usually a conditioning issue and can be corrected. (Although Reggie Jackson had hamstring injuries throughout his career and I’ve yet to find anyone who wrote him off.)

People tend to dismiss Angels prospects because they don’t take a lot of walks. That’s not necessarily the player’s fault, it’s the Angels system of play. They encourage a batter to find a ball he can drive, especially with runners on base, to move up the runners. It works best with contact hitters like Howie; in the minors through 2007 he struck out about once every 7.7 AB. The Angels know he can square up pretty much any pitch and put it in play, which is why he has the low walk rate.

Howie had a bit of a meltdown in the 2008 ALDS, but that’s just a young player’s jitters. Over the long run, he should be a reliable .300+ AVG. His OBP will probably be in the .325-.350 range because of the Angels’ system, but he should have some pop too as he matures physically and adjusts to major league pitching.

Is single handedly ruining this website for me. Get your own website if you want to hear yourself talk, you’re a parasite on John Sickel’s site.

This one is for minor league players.

I’m with the Economist on this one.

I mean I know it’s a small sample size but Howie was TERRIBLE. He chased every single slider low and away he saw. He made more than his fair share of awful fielding plays. He killed their team basically all series. On top of that, he’s never shown much power, never walks, and strikes out a pretty decent amount. Everyone who saw him in the playoffs will feed him sliders low and away this season, and I’m not sure he’s a smart enough hitter to adjust. Also he’s insanely injury prone. Howie Kendrick is bad.

I’m usually a numbers guy but I really don’t need to look at the numbers to see that Kendrick has no plate discipline. And I know that is a small sample size but the playoffs are when hitters are supposed to be most locked in and most disciplined. His around 4% walk rate last season compared to a K% around 17 shows that he is a very undisciplined hitter and one whose only value is tied to his batting average.