Lastings Milledge is 21 years old. Jose Reyes was 21 in 2004. That is all.
4 thoughts on “Not There Yet”
But Wally Matthews says he sucks. And he means it. And Wally knows boxing.
He seems a bit like Wily Mo Pena of the Sox. Physical freak, can hit the ball to the moon, doesn’t really know exactly what he’s doing all the time, swings at some terrible pitches, has a little trouble with good off-speed stuff and is, uh, interesting to watch in the outfield (he threw a guy out last night from mid-right field with a bullet that never even came close to hitting the ground). Pena is now hitting .315/.562/.364 with 9 HRs and has really come on since he came back from wrist surgery. He hits the ball farther than anyone on the team. I understand in Cinci he was more all over the place which is why they were willing to move him for a #3/4 starter. Now Pena has pretty much won the job in right and he has great professional hitters like Ortiz, Manny, Loretta and Lowell to look at and learn from. If Milledge can take that route and learn from some of the veteran talent around him you could be talking about 2 very scary men playing rightfield.
Milledge probably isn’t ready yet, but I’m bullish about his long-term prospects. Most of the highly touted outfield guys who don’t work out have huge strikeout numbers in the minor leagues, and Milledge does not. That tells me he’ll be able to make the adjustment eventually.
But Wally Matthews says he sucks. And he means it. And Wally knows boxing.
He seems a bit like Wily Mo Pena of the Sox. Physical freak, can hit the ball to the moon, doesn’t really know exactly what he’s doing all the time, swings at some terrible pitches, has a little trouble with good off-speed stuff and is, uh, interesting to watch in the outfield (he threw a guy out last night from mid-right field with a bullet that never even came close to hitting the ground). Pena is now hitting .315/.562/.364 with 9 HRs and has really come on since he came back from wrist surgery. He hits the ball farther than anyone on the team. I understand in Cinci he was more all over the place which is why they were willing to move him for a #3/4 starter. Now Pena has pretty much won the job in right and he has great professional hitters like Ortiz, Manny, Loretta and Lowell to look at and learn from. If Milledge can take that route and learn from some of the veteran talent around him you could be talking about 2 very scary men playing rightfield.
Milledge probably isn’t ready yet, but I’m bullish about his long-term prospects. Most of the highly touted outfield guys who don’t work out have huge strikeout numbers in the minor leagues, and Milledge does not. That tells me he’ll be able to make the adjustment eventually.
This is the best post I’ve ever seen here.