Crack of the Bat
by Patrick Ebert
Consistency Continues
Last year leading up to the 2007 draft I wrote a story about how consistent Matt
Wieters had been through his college career at Georgia Tech. One of the top talents
available for last year’s draft, he went fifth overall to the Baltimore Orioles
but didn’t begin his professional career until he debuted in the Hawaii Winter Baseball
league since he didn’t sign until the August 15th deadline.
His consistency to me is the most impressive part about his game, a tall and powerful
switch-hitting catcher that really does not have any glaring weaknesses to his game.
He was the best player in all of minor league baseball this year, collectively hitting
.355/.454/.600 with 27 home runs and 91 RBI and more walks than strikeouts (82 to
76) while spending half of the year at AA. Wieters’ time spent in the Arizona Fall
League starting next month could be his final tune-up before debuting with the big-league
Orioles on opening day next spring.
When I talk about consistency I am talking about his statistics, and more specifically
his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, since these percentages
are usually the stats that don’t fluctuate as much from year to year as counting
stats (home runs, runs, RBI) do.
And these stats typically paint a pretty good picture of a offensive ability,
as Wieters is above average in all three aspects with the ability to hit for average,
power while also showing excellent plate discipline. First, let’s start by taking
another look at his numbers from his three years in college:
2005: .366/.470/.581
2006: .355/.480/.606
2006 (summer, Cape Cod League): .307/.417/.535
2007: .358/.480/.592
And now here is what he has done so far in the minor leagues, at three different
levels, including two this year during his first full professional season:
2007: .283/.364/.415 (Hawaii Winter Baseball)
2008: .345/.448/.576 (A+ Carolina League)
2008: .365/.460/.625 (AA Eastern League)
That a pretty impressive and almost completely seamless transition from college
ball and using an aluminum bat to pro ball and swinging with wood.
Wieters has been a player I have been paying very close attention to ever since
Jerry Ford pointed out that he was arguably one of the best players in attendance
at the 2004 WWBA Tournament in Jupiter, Florida. Not too many people talked about
him leading up to the 2005 draft, at least not in relationship to the early rounds
of the draft, but most of that had to do with his signability concerns.
With big things expected from him moving forward, what can we expect from Matt
Wieters in the years to come? I can say pretty confidently much of the same, which
is a very good thing for the Baltimore Orioles.
The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those
of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and
Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.