The (new) Great Debate

As you know, I've been the foremost Reid Brignac fan since his drafting in 2004. I've been his unofficial hype machine and I even created his nickname (The Cajun God of Baseball).

However, the question being debated is "Who profiles to be the better future Major Leaguer between the two?"

This is one of the few time that I can't say that Brignac is the better hitter/overall prospect.  If  someone asked me around the draft, I'd pick Brignac. However, seeing them play on the same teams and put up equally as impressive stats, I can say that I can see what the Rays scouts seen in Longoria when they tabbed him as our first round pick and I can see how you can easily argue that Longoria profiles as the better Major Leaguer of the 2.
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Evan Longoria's 2006 MiLB stats ( 3 Levels- 62 games/248 Abs):

.315/.360/.597- 18 HRs- 41 Runs Scored- 58 RBIs- 4 SB (2 CSs)- 44 Ks/19 BBs

Reid Brignac's 2006 MiLB stats (2 Levels- 128 games/521 Abs):

.321/.376/.539- 24 HRs- 100 Runs Scored- 99 RBIs- 15 SBs (6 CSs)- 113 Ks/42 BBs

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While you can easily see that Brignac pretty much dominated Longoria, stat-wise across the board, you have to put Longoria's stats into context. Longoria had just finished a 56 game season at Long Beach State University, where he hit. .353/.468/.602 with 11 HRs- 42 Runs Scored and 43 RBIs.

Also if you look at the production of Longoria in the lower amount of AB & Games, you can say that Longoria's 210 At-bats in High A and Double A combined were probably as good, possibly even better than Brignac's 521 Combined At-bats in those same 2 levels.

Both prospects don't walk as much as they should, but Evan puts the ball in play more and strikes out less than Brignac does. Longoria's college stats lead me to believe that he'll walk at a decent clip without really striking out much. Brignac, on the other hand, has had consecutive 100 K seasons (which is one of his worst flaws as a hitter).

Now everyone knows that hitting isn't the only thing that should be considered when comparing positional prospects, fielding and other intangibles also come into play. When comparing Longoria and Brignac as fielders, there's no comparison between the 2. Longoria looks more comfortable (plays back on his heels more) and fields significantly better at Third Base than Brignac whose arm-strength and range already have been questioned. Brignac isn't in the Upton range of Errors at SS, but 31 errors is still a lot for a Shortstop.

Another thing to compare between these 2, are their demeanors. I've seen and heard Brignac play and he's so quiet and laid back that he almost robot-like (I've even heard from a few Rays fans that he's got a "crazy in the head" look going on) in showing his emotions. Longoria has been known to curse to himself, throw his glove for screwing up and giving all his teammates high-fives when plays are made. Longoria showed this year that when he slumps, he breaks out of them relatively quickly. He's got an attitude about him that shows that he hates when he's underperforming and he hates when he's losing. At every stop, he was leading the teams to victory (and that's saying a lot when he was playing in Hudson Valley).

I believe that Brignac has the tools to fix his problems and project as a better major leaguer than Longoria, but he's got a lot of work to do to close that gap. Let's hope he can learn better pitch recognition (which may lead to better plate discipline) from his mentor, David Dellucci (whom he worked with last offseason).  I just don't know who is going to help Briggy in the fielding department.

Is anyone going to defend "The Cajun God of Baseball"?

but you brought up their posture and emotion during the game and stated that Longoria is more of the leader type. Yet on the Rays, CC and Kazmir will be the leaders, CC all ready is and there's no way that either CGoB or Gorey will take that spot over (barring unforeseeable circumstances), so Reid's 'lone wolf' status isn't going to affect his play on the field. The fact that Gorey can become a leader is nice but not necesarry.

Brignac does have some issues to address, but what player doesn't? CC, Rocco, and Delmon need to learn plate discpline skills yet that hasn't stopped them from getting the job done.

In the field sure Longoria is smoother, but he doesn't even have a sure position. We think he'll move to 2b, but whose to say he fields as well there as 3b?

Also you mention Longoria's #'s at the lower levels were as good or better than Brignac's, well Gorey was fresh from being a senior in college, last time I checked Brignac was straight out of high school, we're talking about a major step up either way, but even moreso for Reid.