Just to make things clear, I am not talking about the mediocre lefty for the Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox who all of a sudden became unhittable in the postseason for the New York Yankees.
I am talking about the big outfield prospect for the Florida Marlins.
If you are not familiar with the Marlins’ version of Mike Stanton, then you will be very shortly. He is a big man who can hit a baseball very far.
Marlin fans (all 10 of them) have known about Stanton for a couple of years now, and he is using this spring training to show he can hit major league pitching.
In 19 ABs this spring, Stanton has six hits, three of which are home runs, has knocked in seven runs, and has scored eight runs himself. One of his home runs was a mammoth two-run shot off the Minnesota Twins’ Francisco Liriano.
While I would say there is a 95 percent chance Stanton will start the year in the minors, he should be firmly entrenched in the Marlins outfield when they open their new stadium in 2012.
Here are some other facts about Mike Stanton:
Age: 20
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
College: None. Drafted out of Notre Dame High School in Panorama, CA
Drafted: Second round of the 2007 Draft
Minor League Stats
2007 Low Single-A and Rookie: .161 average with one home run, three doubles, and a .226 OBP in 17 games
2008 Single-A: .293 with 39 home runs, 26 doubles, and a .381 OBP in 125 games.
2009 High Single-A and Double-A: .255 with 28 home runs, 24 doubles, and a .341 OBP in 129 games
Keith Law Ranking and Analysis
Ranking: No. 5 out of 100 best prospects in baseball for 2010.
Analysis: “Stanton has enormous raw power—80 on the 20-80 scale, which, as you might infer from the scale, is good—but isn’t the prototypical minor league slugger, with athleticism and arm strength and the ability to play right field. Stanton’s profile is a mix of big positives and red flags.
He has good bat speed and plate coverage, getting his arms extended on anything past middle-in. He keeps his back side up, even straightening a little on his follow-through, and uses his wrist and hand strength to drive balls most hitters would have to lunge to reach. And the ball comes off his bat extremely well—and quickly, especially on anything over the middle of the plate that he can drive.
Stanton is an average to above-average runner with long strides and covers plenty of ground in right field with a plus arm, although he needs to improve his throwing accuracy. On the down side, those long arms combined with trouble recognizing breaking balls lead to a long swing and lower contact rates, and his big raw power pushed him to Double-A before his 20th birthday, where he faced better breaking balls and struggled to hit for average.
The best-case scenario has Stanton as a plus right fielder who hits 40 bombs a year and draws enough walks to keep his OBP healthy. There is, however, always a risk that even a player this young and strong can’t maintain a contact rate high enough to reach that star potential.”
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