Saturday, July 19, 2008

If this is true, the Angels minor league system is awful

Whilst watching the Red Sox/Angels on Fox this afternoon, the announcers (whose names I cannot/don't care to find) were talking about the glory that is the sac bunt - a move so difficult, so useful to a baseball team, that only the whitest, least talented players on a team are entrusted to perform it.

Apparently (and I am paraphrasing here), in the Angels minor league system hitters are required - nay mandated - to perform a set number of sac bunts, hit and runs and other stupid shit that doesn't really help win games.

If that is true the Angels organization is stupid.

Let's say you're Angels AAA hitter Matt Brown. You have 20 homers, 28 doubles and a 0.978 OPS this season in AAA. By most measures you are a pretty badass hitter. If it is the Angels doctrine to force this young man to bunt say, 10 times (is it 10? 50? 100? times Sciocicisossa? I need to know how truly shitty your minor league system is!) in the minors, what in God's name does this do to help him get to the big leagues?

Let's say he projects to be a middle of the lineup hitter someday. Are those 25 ugily executed sac bunts going to do ANYTHING for his resume?

*A GM and his scout sit at table discussing a trade*

Scout: "What about asking for that kid, Brown?"
GM: "Nice power, alright K/BB ratio. Looks good to me."
Scout: "Don't forget, he sac bunted 10 times!"
GM: "Thank God! I really want my future 3-6 hitters to know how to bunt, ya know, just in case...

"You're fired."

Even better, Brown has one sacrifice (and two sac flies, but those are at least useful) in 740 AAA at-bats. So I bet said Fox announcers/Scioscia are wrong/lying.

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