Prospect Retrospective: Pedro Feliz
By John Sickels
Prospect Retrospective: Pedro Feliz
Pedro Feliz was signed by the Giants in 1994, as a free agent out of the
Dominican Republic. As a 17-year-old, he hit just .193/.215/.193 in 38 games
in the Arizona Rookie League. He went 23-for-119 with ZERO extra-base hits,
which seems very hard to do. At this point he would have rated just a Grade
C-, if you wanted to give him a grade at all.
Promoted to the Northwest League in 1995, he increased his batting average
some 80 points to .274. His plate discipline remained poor, and he hit just 2
doubles and 1 triple in 43 games. He improved substantially compared to '94,
but again he'd rate just a Grade C or C-. . .no plate discipline, no power.
In '96, Feliz moved up to the Class A Midwest League, hitting .265/.310/.361
for Burlington. He started to show a bit more pop, hitting 5 homers and 12
doubles, but his strike zone judgment remained poor. His best attribute at
this point was age: he was still just 19. He was not in my 1997 book, but a
retrospective grade would be C. . .he'd improved, but still had a long way to
go.
The power finally started to show up in 1997, as Feliz hit .272 with 14
homers for Bakersfield in the California League. I noticed the power spike,
as well as good defensive reports at third base, and gave him a Grade C+
heading into 1998. At the time he was often referred to as "Pedro Felix."
Promoted to Double-A for '98, Feliz hit .264 with 12 homers for Shreveport.
His plate discipline was dismal, as he drew just 9 walks in 100 games. His
strikeout rate wasn't bad, just 62 Ks. He swung at too many pitches outside
the strike zone, but he actually managed to make contact more often than not.
I demoted him to Grade C- heading into 1999, although in retrospect that was
a notch too low. He still had substantial development time ahead of him, and
while I was rightly concerned about the miniscule walk rate, I should have
paid more attention to the fact that he wasn't striking out that much for a
power guy
Feliz returned to Shreveport for '99, hitting .253 with 13 homers; his
numbers were very similar to '98, showing little growth. I demoted him to
"the back of the book" with other marginal prospects for 2000, although I did
increase his grade back to plain Grade C, realizing that the C- the previous
year had been too low.
Feliz hit .298 with 33 homers and 105 RBI in Triple-A in 2000. His strike
zone judgment improved from horrible to mediocre, with a resulting increase
in his power production. I gave him a Grade B moving into 2001, impressed
with the progress he had made in Triple-A.
Feliz spent 2001 through 2003 as a platoon player for the Giants, then broke
through as a regular in 2004. He has excellent raw power, although his plate
discipline remains shaky and he can be streaky. His batting average and OBP
will never be reliably good, but if he can maintain his current power output,
he will have a successful career.
He is a case study in how traditionalists would LIKE raw young players to
develop. It's taken him time and effort to refine his talent, but he has done
it. Sabermetrically, his two best attributes in the minors were youth and a
reasonably low strikeout rate for a power hitter. His inability to draw walks
was a huge handicap, one that has ruined many similar players.
Because of his hitting style, Feliz will never have a big margin for error.
Once his bat speed starts to drop, his production will tail off quickly. But
that might not happen for another five years.
Similar Players to Pedro Feliz (based on Sim Score and PECOTA)
Matt Mieske
Joe Lefebvre
Sean Berry
Jim Morrison
Jim Lemon
Wes Chamberlain
Mike Blowers
Darrin Jackson
Scott Brosius
Russ Davis
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 140.113.94.29
SFGiants 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章