Orange County Register: Angels Notes: Job sharing at second, Garrett Richards update, Kyle Kubitza

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The second base competition is so wide open that no one may win it.Asked Friday morning about the battle for the job -- which includes Josh Rutledge, Grant Green, Johnny Giavotella and Taylor Featherston -- Mike Scioscia threw out...

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[Sherlock31]

Scioscia said. "The ball really explodes out of his hand."

[nikkachez]

Really excited about Kubitza, hopefully he's the answer to third base long-term. My dream = Kubtiza, Trout, Calhoun, Pujols at the top of the lineup with Iannetta batting 9th to be on base while the lineup turns back over. 

[ukyah]

Scioscia said. "The ball really explodes out of his hand."

 

it's a bit meta of scioscia because this very statement is scioscia's version of the ball really exploding out of his own hand. he has tremendous natural managerial talent.

[ELEVEN]

Whatever explodes your balls.

[JAHV76]

Whatever explodes your balls.

Leave Adrian Beltre out of this.

[Glen]

Scioscia's getting a semi just thinking about a platoon at 2b.

[Second Base]

That would be very much like Scioscia to go with a platoon at 2B.  He'll probably carry all three of Green, Featherston and Rutledge on the active roster.

 

I like that they're taking a nice long look at Kubitza.  There's so much strength you almost have to think more of those DB's are going to turn to HR's.  Hopefully his OBP stays as high as it is. 

[Hollyw00d]

Kubitza's MiLB numbers look a lot like Brandon wood....with less homers

Just sayin

[nikkachez]

Kubitza's MiLB numbers look a lot like Brandon wood....with less homers

Just sayin

Lol except not really. Kubitza has an OBP almost .050 points better than Wood and averages twice the amount of walks Wood ever had in the minors. Kinda of sick of people always comparing prospects to Wood. I swear to god every single prospect gets the Brandon Wood comparison. Wood had horrible discipline, Kubitza is known for his plate discipline. 

[Second Base]

Also, can we get over the Wood thing. Yeah he didn't pan out, it happens. But stop pretending you weren't all completely on his jock when his hit something crazy like 50 doubles and 40 home runs in the Cal League.

Inflated or not, no one has ever been THAT good in that league. No, it didn't translate to the majors, no the Angels didn't handle him right. But we should all at least be able to appreciate that for one year, Brandon Wood did things no one else could and was the best prospect many has seen up to that point.

Hype can just ruin the publics perception of a player. It's why Kendrick is underrated, he never one a batting title, why Aybar is underrated, never won a SB crown. It's also probably why Trout is do special, for once the hype didn't do the superstar justice. He was better than they ever could've imagined.

Mike Trout is so good at baseball that right now, those Mickey Mantle comps he got when he was 19 look unfair....to Mantle.

Anyway, back to Kubitza. I really like him because he reminds me a little of Calhoun in that it's clear he's probably going to be a good major leaguer, but he doesn't have what prospect sites drool over. He's too old, wasn't drafted early enough, doesn't hit enough HR's.

I think once they come off their high horse and realize that he's a 3B in his mid 20's with outstanding discipline, plus power to the gaps and the ability to steal bases, they might be forced to rethink how they evaluate prospects.

How many OF's as prospects had more speed, power and pedigree than Calhoun coming up? Now compare them in the majors.

Sometimes, despite the money, draft slot and hype, a Shoemaker is just as good if not better than a Skaggs. Sometimes a Tropeano can be just as good as a Heaney.