in the majors. 20:59 BB/K ratio. He’s been playing in some hitters’ leagues too.

If he’s eligible, which he probably will be, he’s going to have a very strong case for the top 10, maybe even top five prospects, depending who gets promoted. Laporta will be right there with him.

I don’t think Davis will be a top 10 guy if he stays eligible but possibly a top 25 guy. His K/BB is really his only problem but its a big one, however for all that he K’s he has still hit for a good average every step of the way. He isn’t likely to hit .330+ in the majors but is .290 with real good power out of the question?

What’s up with all the LaPorta love?

He’s good. Don’t get me wrong.

He’s the second-best hitter on his team. Gamel has more hits, doubles, triples, total bases, a higher average, a higher OBP, a higher OPS, fewer Ks in 30 less ABs.

How about the comparison of Rangers AA DH Max Ramirez to LaPorta?
2 month age difference, Both Righties, very similar BB:K ratio, looks like LaPorta’s power numbers are better, but Ramirez has the better SLG. %

What do you think?

Gamel is having a nice year but he only hit 26 home runs in the previous 2 seasons combined including just 9 in 128 games last year. Davis hit 36 home runs last year alone.

I saw Davis when Frisco came to San Antonio. He absolutely mashed a hanging slider over the 20 foot high wall in right center. This guy has hit well at every level, and seems to be stepping up his game in AAA as well. I think the Rangers would be foolish not to consider him or Max Ramirez at first base over a gimpy Hank Blalock who seems to have lost it. The problem for the Rangers is a good one: too many prospects relative to available positions. Jarrod Saltalamachia needs a place to play, and I’m not sure they’re sold on him at catcher. Justin Smoak could be the first baseman of the future, and a plus defender, which is an edge over Ramirez/Davis/Saltalamachia at first, all of whom have suspect defensive skills. I think they may eventually try Davis at a corner outfield spot, Ramirez as DH, and wait for Smoak to claim first base. But I think Davis is a fine option at first until Smoak is ready. The guy could legitimately hit 30 homers a year, albeit with 150 strikeouts per to go with them.

He is really rolling and now has 19 for the year and 6 in 75 at bats. The guy is putting together a huge year.

Looks like another Brandon Wood. Strikes out a lot. And I don’t think he’ll sustain his average in the majors. Albeit in Texas he could probably be pretty valuable with that ballpark, at least at home. His power is legit. He’s a big kid too.

Obviously, no one is as good as they look in their very hottest streaks and Davis is in a doozy of a hot streak at the moment, hitting a hr for the third straight night tonight. But this discussion started when tt68 identified Davis as the best power hitting prospect in the minors. Let leave this year’s draftees out of the discussion and only include last year’s to the extent they played most of a full year in the minors (ie. no Wieters) and ask if anyone else can be expected to hit more home runs a year at their peak and/or more home runs for a career than Davis among current minor leaguers?

An obvious starting point on the question of who will hit the most hrs is to ask who has hit the most hrs this year. The answer this year is Brad Eldred (27 years old, 30% st4rike out rate), Mike Hessman (30 years old, 37% strikeout rate), and the a three way tie between Dallas Mcpherson (27 years old, 37% strikeout rate), Nelson Cruz (27 years old, 22% strikeout rate) and Chris Davis (22 years old, 24% strikeout rate). If they played the “one of these things is not like the other game” the two who stand out for having a reasonable strikeout rate are Davis and Cruz and the only one who stands out for having a remotely appropriate age for a prospect at their level is Davis, who is five years younger than any of the other. Going one more you get to Laporta, who is 23, at AA rather than AAA like the others on this list, and has a 21% strikeout rate, clearly the next most interesting player on this list. However, with only 30 games last year, he’s not in this conversation and none of the other players mentioned are any kind of prospect so they aren’t either.

So going back to last year, there really isn’t another prospect in the same area code as Davis’s 56 hrs since then. Jeffrey Larish, 25 years old, 44 hrs split between AA and AAA is next. Rasmus, only 21 and only a 22% k rate this year, but also only a .741 OPS and 240s batting average this year and Halman only 20 years old, but struck out 39% of the time last year, 30% this year followt with 39. Both Rasmus and Halman bear watching but remember that since the beginning of last year Davis has 17 more hrs than either.. Clement, Wood, Balentien, Laster and Ramirez, are among those at a reasonable age and with hr counts in the 30s since the beginning of last year.

At least I don’t see a reason to prefer the future of any of these guys to that of Davis, certainly not to prefer their future as hr hitters. You can take Maybin or others not even on this list if you prefer but I think that performance is predictive of something so I am pretty skeptical in predicting a guy who did something less than half as much the last two years to start doing it more once they reach the majors.

Bottom line, if there is anyone in the minors who is a better power prospect in the minors among those who have been in the minors for two years or more, there is nothing in what they have done to indicate it. at least imo.

In 2006 and 2007, his Line drive percentage was in the low 10’s (ranging from 12-14). This year, however, he hit 20% of balls for linedrives in AA and (granted small sample size and all that) 27% of balls for linedrives in his first 92 ABs in AAA. I don’t know if this is evidence of an actual improvement or not, but it seems notable

That is 7 in his last 10 games. The guy is on a serious hot streak.

1 for 1 last night