Royals Spring Training Preview – 3B
Previous Installments: C – 1B/DH – 2B/SS
A quick look at all of the Hall of Famers who have played for the Kansas City Royals will leave you with two lingering thoughts:
1.) Orlando Cepeda and Harmon Killebrew played for the Royals? Really?
2.) Thank God for George Brett.
With a breakout performer and a sure-fire prospect competing for a spot on the hot corner, this may be the most interesting position battle since Ken Harvey and Calvin Pickering went head-to-head over the buffet table in 2005.
Mark Teahen
290/357/517
OPS+ 117
Perhaps the last great thing Allard Baird did as general manager of the Kansas City Royals was send Mark Teahen down to Omaha after his horrid start to the 2006 season.
Team AVG OBP SLG KC 195 241 351 OMA 380 500 658 KC 313 384 557
Faced with fading away or fighting back, Teahen did the latter. He got angry at our little white friends with the red stitching and began thumping whenever one came across the plate.
Dayton Moore brought Teahen back up to the big league team to see if his hot streak would hold, and it did until a labrum tear ended his season in early September.
What remains to be seen is how the shoulder surgery will affect Teahen’s ability to progress this season. Mark is already a candidate to decline – his minor league stats show a lot of patience, but not as much power.
With a log jam in the outfield and golden boy Alex Gordon standing on third base in the minors, Teahen cannot afford to have another April like last year.
Alex Gordon
325/427/588 (AA)
Ahh, the golden child.
Gordon has pretty much raked the ball as far back as the stats go.
Check out his splits while at Wichita last year and you’ll see that the only time he didn’t really produce was in twelve at bats as a first baseman. (Note to the Royals, Alex Gordon is NOT a first baseman)
Most observers assume that Gordon will be the starting third baseman coming out of Spring Training, forcing Mark Teahen to the outfield.
Ideally, the two players will push each other to greatness and force the Royals to trade away some of the excess baggage in the outfield.
Realistically, the 23 year old Gordon will have a few struggles against his first taste of MLB quality competition. How few are up for debate.
2007 Projections AVG OBP SLG OPS AB PECOTA 282 364 511 875 541 ZIPS 275 361 473 834 491 CHONE 273 353 465 818 485
A 21 year old George Brett put up a 282/312/363 line in 457 at bats in his first major league season and finished second in the MVP voting at age 23.
Can the chosen one keep up?
- KC Royal 3B Alex Gordon out with broken thumb
- Royals Week in Review
- Who’s on Third? The 2007 Kansas City Royals Lineup
- SI.com Lists Top 2007 Prospects
- Joe Gordon elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- The Royals Unoffensive Off Season
- Royals Week in Review – 3/30/07
- Royals Spring Training Preview – Outfield
- Royals 2008 Season Preview – Who are These Guys?
- Royals Week in Review – 5/25/07
- Eight is Enough- Edmonton beats Chicago 8-4
- Lydia Ko wins New South Wales Open
- The Comeback I- Pittsburgh Penguins beat NY Islanders 5-0
- Seattle Mariners Outfielder Greg Halman stabbed to death at age 24
- Hee Young Park wins CME Titleholders Championship
- Oklahoma State Women’s Basketball Coach Kurt Budke dead at 50
- Costly mistake- Blackhawks waive Rostislav Olesz
- Manager Tony La Russa announces retirement
- Puck Drop- Florida Panthers start the 2011-12 NHL season
- 13-time PGA Tour winner Dave Hill dead at 74
Comments are Closed