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First Showings of Spring 2010
In ’09, the Houston Astros were looking for Brandon Allen to become their starting first basemen of the future. In truth, he has the tools, and the numbers that Allen put up in Reno Triple A were very favorable. Allen hit .324, had an above average on base percentage of .413, and a slugging percentage of .641. The Astros were confident that he had the makings of a great first basemen. Allen has an impressive presence at the plate standing 6’2 and weighing 235 lbs. At the end of last season he was called up to the big leagues and although he did show some signs of possible excellence, he ended up with only a .202 batting average. At that point, Allen still had the chance of making it to the big show in ’10. That was until the Astros acquired Adam LaRoche this year. It’s spring training and after one at bat Allen slams a triple. Allen has his hands full trying to win that staring spot at first base in Houston, probably not going to happen, but Allen is someone to keep an eye on this spring. Another player that we should keep an eye on this spring is Kyle Blanks. In ’09, he was called up from Triple A Portland midway through the season after posting a somewhat decent batting average of .283. Blanks started off slow in San Diego, but caught on fire by hitting 10 homeruns in a little over a hundred at bats. He got hurt towards the end of the year and the power parade came to an end. San Diego is banking that Blanks renews his power display in ’10, so it’s positive thing that he hit a single and double with one RBI in his first two at bats in spring.
Another young hitter who got off to hot start this spring is Baltimore’s prospect 3 rd baseman Josh Bell. So many big prospects and the acquisition of Miguel Tejada by Baltimore have sort of pushed aside a name like Bell. A switch hitting, 6’3 220 pound prospect that showed some pop in Double A Bowie in ’09 has just tagged two homeruns in his first four at bats. Bell will end up in Triple A this year, but he is some one to watch closely. Over in the Chicago Cubs camp, Tyler Colvin is out fighting for a spot in that Wrigley outfield. In ’09, Colvin started in Single A with nothing really amazing to point out, jumped to Double A where he hit .300 and proved to have some power with that 6’3, 210 lb frame. Before he knew it, he was getting 17 at bats with the Cubs, but finished with a very slow showing. Colvin’s weakness is those dreaded strikeouts, but this spring in his first 3 at bats has already banged out two doubles and a homerun.
Another light for the Houston Astros comes from Hunter Pence. In ’09, he showed vast improvements that took him to the All Star game. He threw out 16 base runners from right field, hit 25 homeruns, and improved his on base percentage, and slugging. In Houston Brad Mills should be smiling at Pence exploding with 2 homers in the same inning. The spring is mostly meaningless for those players with a secure job or guaranteed spots on their teams. Spring training is long and tedious for those players, but for the young and older players trying to break in, it may very well be the last shot they get to play under this type of microscope. Let’s be honest, spring training is this long mostly for the preparation of the pitchers. This early in spring, no big and celebrated names have thrown a real game yet. So what pitchers actually have thrown a live game so far? Doug Fister of the Mariners pitched 2 innings and struck out 5 hitters. The negative to that is that he allowed 3 earned runs with a homerun. Being 6 foot 8 inches tall, he is built like a thoroughbred pitcher. Not much has been talked about him after a sub par ’09 season where his ERA soared at 4.13 in 61 innings. Another pitcher who’s already thrown some live pitches is Alfredo Aceves of the Yankees. He tossed two perfect innings against the Blue Jays and posted a cool strikeout. In ’09, Aceves won 10 games with the New York club despite having an ERA of 3.54. Theses spring games have only just begun so with each passing day we’ll be seeing many dreams deflate and others will take flight. This is no less exciting for me than the World Series itself.
By Adrian Nevarez
MLBcenter.com Staff Writer
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