Player B(Age: 21)- .274/.327/.447 15 HRs 64 RBIs
Player A(Sergio Pedroza) stands at 5 foot 11 inches tall and tips the scales at 180 pounds. Player B(Joel Guzman) stands at 6 foot 6 inches tall and weighs around 250 pounds. Now re-read those stats, with the "tale of the tape" in mind.
What gives?
How does a player who can literally look up to Dave Eckstein have THAT much power, while Guzman towers and is more of a doubles hitter than he is for light tower shots? Sounds like a hysterical science experiment gone wrong, or a suitable sequel idea for "Twins II"(minus Ahnold and Danny Devito). Unless Guzman is in horrible shape, instead of what a 22 year old professional player should look, he should automatically have Pedroza outmatched in the raw power department. You can't even make a case for Pedroza being big for his size, so the numbers seem even more confusing.
I have some theories how Pedroza appears to have the upperhand on Guzman in the power hitting department.
- Pedroza's swing maximizes his power, basically causing enough lift to hit it over the fence. His short stature is used to get a better uppercut swing, because the trajectory of a breaking pitch goes right into his center of gravity.
- Pedroza has much better plate discipline and has a rare form of pitch recognition. If he sees a mistake pitch, he swings at it. If he doesn't, he'll take a pitch.
- Pedroza's 2006 was played at 2 different levels and 3 different leagues, while Guzman played 2006 in AAA and 2 different leagues.
Guzman's BB/K: 30/95
Doing some research on current major leaguers who are known for walk totals, I've found only 3 so far that walked 100 or more times when they were in the minor leagues. Those 3 are Adam Dunn, Nick Swisher and Nick Johnson. Adam Dunn and Pedroza both did it at lower levels(Dunn had his in the midwest league, while Pedroza had his at Low A and High A combined), while Johnson and Swisher both had their 100 walk seasons at AAA.
While Pedroza walks a ton, he strikes out just as much. That either means that he's more of hacker than he is a "mistake pitch" power hitter, or his "eye" needs some refinement.
Guzman has very low walk totals, basically walks once ever 12-15 ABs, but he doesn't compound that by striking out too much. Add into the fact that Guzman played 2006 in AAA, he faced better pitchers than Pedroza did at the Low & High A levels.
This may be a mystery that may never be solved, mainly due to the 2 players involved in the mystery. Guzman, though never dominant at any level, played 2006 in AAA at the age of 21, while Pedroza played 2006 in the mid-levels at the age of 22. Will Pedroza's plate discipline, BABIP(Batting Average of Balls In-Play) and IsoP continue to be above-average as the talent levels that he's receiving pitches from start to improve? It's hard to predict, but it's fun to think about the weirdness of baseball.