Is Garrett Jones the next big thing?

No, no he is not. However, his performance this year is something that needs further discussion.

Anyone who has missed the tremendous season Jones is having, which you probably have considering he plays for the Pirates. After picking him up from the Twins mid-season, he has racket up 19 home runs and a .420 wOBA in just 250 at-bats. Those numbers would put him in the same breath as Chase Utley. Is Garrett Jones the next Chase Utley?

Jones is a 28 year old rookie, a la Jake Fox, and has had a successful minor league career with a career .200 iso despite the .762 OPS, which DME defines as Matt Kemp power. He is average or below in walk rate, defense, speed, and pitch recognition. His 26% HR/FB rate would put him second in the league behind Reynolds, somehow I doubt a career minor leaguer has the second best power stroke in baseball.

For all you over ambitious fantasy players out there, dont go drafting Garrett Jones next year thinking he is the next big thing. He is nothing more than this year's Matt Joyce, and the Pirates should probably unload him to the Rays for Edwin Jackson before next season. Oh, wait, Jackson is no longer on the Rays? My bad

4 comments:

David "MVP" Eckstein said...

Matt Kemp power is more like .180 ISOish. Good try

David "MVP" Eckstein said...

.180 ISO power is also Youkilis pre-2008

The 'Bright' One said...

I meant he would regress from his .200 minor league iso, to a more realistic 170-180 major league iso, which is in matt kemp territory. Booya!

Cubsfan4evr said...

I agree that Garret Jones is probably nothing. We have seen way too many times that players come up and go on a tear for a while. Then the book is written on them and they can't adjust. Thus, they rarely have a good full season as a everyday player. Mike Fontenot of the Cubs is a great example of this. He played great last year in limited action and now as a 29 year old people thought he could be an everyday player. Josh Fields of the White Sox is another example.