A lot of people, including me, were surprised by the Twins decision to add Estarlin de los Santos to the major league roster. From the description, de los Santos is a slick fielding shorstop with some bat. His numbers at Fort Myers certainly indicate that. He hit .290/.330/.397 with 11 SB and 4 CS in 262 at bats. That may not sound impressive, but that gave him the second highest batting average on the team after Ben Revere and 24th in the FSL. He is no Revere with the bat, but if he is a plus major league shortstop defensively, his bat looks like it will also be a plus at shortstop.
Of course de los Santos hasn't played above A-ball so he has a long way to go. He hit better than Steve Singleton at Fort Myers despited being a couple years younger. Singleton was promoted to New Britain during the 2009 season in order to make room for de los Santos at Fort Myers. Singleton's offensive production there caught the attention of a lot of folks in the blogsphere, but apparently not the major league scouts as he was left unprotected and unclaimed in December Rule 5 draft.
Here is a link to an article in the New Britain paper with Jim Rantz discussing the players New Britain will see in 2010, including de los Santos.
New Britain 2010 Preview
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2 comments:
You gotta hope that some of these guys like De Los Santos pan out. Middle infield is the glaring weakness in the Twins minor leagues.
That's a lame comparison to Singleton. Singleton played there in 08 and hit better. Singleton has hit better and been more consistent than DeLoSantos his entire career. Since you are checking, check Beloit as well. DeLoSantos didn't hit at all....and oh yeah....he got hurt there too. How about E-Town? Singleton hit better there too. DeloSantos steals more bases. But he kicks more balls in the infield as well. The same will probably be the case in New Britain. You need guys that can play every day in all types of weather...not just the sauna of Florida in the summer. Singleton is the more productive and better choice. Just because he didn't go in the Rule V draft, don't think that he isn't considered a player. Rule V is not a position players draft. Yes a few go each year, but not many. Let's see DeLoSantos actually complete a full year (500 plate appearances) playing every day. Then let's judge. He hasn't done anything yet...but maybe he will. The Twins certainly hope he will. In the meantime, Singleton is the better guy. And don't belive the BS (not Bill Smith). If he were to get a shot at the bigs...he'd hit there too...Why?...because he can hit (It's really that simple). So can Dinkelman. The perception that fans tend to have is that since a guy hasn't gotten a chance at the Show, that means that he can't play at that level. That couldn't be further from the truth. The real answer is that he just hasn't got a chance at it.....period.
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