Josh Vitters
Age: 21
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 200lbs
From: High School (Cypress, CA)
The Cubs seem to be perpetual disappointments. It seems every year they have a bunch of players that have uncharacteristically poor years. This year they had several, including Derek Lee, Carlos Zambrano and most applicably to this post, Aramis Ramirez. The potential heir apparent to Aramis is Vitters, who was the number 3 pick in the 2007 Draft.
Offense
Vitters has one of the nicest swings I’ve seen from someone this young. He took the ball the other way in BP, which is a good sign and I don’t remember seeing him swing and miss at a single pitch all weekend so he has good hand-eye coordination, enough that he’ll be a .290+ hitter in the majors one day. He has the power to regularly hit between 20 and 25 HRs a year.
However, he has an extreme lack of patience and plate discipline. Vitters walks in just 6% if his plate appearances and hasn’t posted an OnBase% higher than .300 since he was in Low-A ball as a 19 year old. This is a huge problem and one that will limit his value if he does not improve.
Defense
Vitters looked good defensively when I saw him, which is refreshing considering that his reputation as a defensive liability was growing. Now he’s not Adrian Beltre or anything, but he had decent hands and footwork and definitely has the arm to play 3rd. Some scouts though he’d eventually have to move to first base which would destroy his value because he likely won’t get on base enough to be an effective regular there.
Future MLB Comparison: Pablo Sandoval
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