The Giants acquired 2B Travis Denker, 22, who was hitting .294 with 10 HR and 57 RBI in Class A California League for Inland Empire this season. All you really need to know about him is that he is in his fifth season as a minor leaguer, meaning he started when he was 17, and he could only reach Advanced A ball.
But at least he has been an All-Star twice, so he has shown some potential before, but just not lately. And he is only 22, so he might still start showing something soon. But if this is his 5th year as a minor leaguer, we probably only control him for another year, maybe two, I don't remember the exact rule on when a player can be a minor league free agent; I do know that Lance Niekro will be a free agent after this season, as that was reported recently when it was noted that he is finally going to try to throw his family's trademark, the knuckler, as a pitcher. The Giants want to throw him out there enough to evaluate him before he leaves.
Forgot my handy references. Baseball America thought so little of him that he didn't make the D-gers Top 30 prospect list that they compiled.
ReplyDeleteBaseball Prospectus at least gave him a profile. He did great in rookie league in 2004 and then continued to do well in 2005 in the Sally League with Columbus, but faltered big time with Vero Beach in Class High-A and continued to in 2006, leading to a demotion back to the Sally League. So at least he is finally doing well in Advanced A league this year (now Inland Empire, not Vero Beach, as they moved to the Cal League), after two poor seasons there.
Part of the problem could have been that the D-gers threw him to 3B in 2006 so that better prospect Blake DeWitt could play 2B, and thus he's playing better this season because he's at a position he's comfortable with.
Plus, BP noted that he showed outstanding plate discipline (close to 1.0 BB/K) and excellent power for a MI, which drew comparisons to Marcus Giles. He has hit in double figures for HR in past seasons (12 in 2004, 23 in 2005, 16 in 2006, 10 in 2007).
However, BP notes that because he has a lack of range plus fringe-average arm, he will probably move down the defensive spectrum.
They don't note this (and shouldn't, I'm noting here for those who don't understand this), but he would need to hit for a lot more power if he moved down the defensive spectrum. BP noted that he could perhaps make it as a corner OF, should he figure out Advanced A hitting.
And he appears to have done that this season, though that's hard to tell, as the Cal League is a notorious hitters league, but then, so was Vero Beach (not sure about Florida State League). Plus Inland Empire is a pitchers park as well. That held up in his splits, .291/.376/.429/.804 at home, .310/.377/.482/.859 on the road.
I like this move, Denker is at least somewhat interesting. He might not ever make it but keep in mind we got him for basically nothing.
ReplyDeleteHis D sounds borderline horrible but his bat is intriguing. He's still young and hopefully his defense can improve to average.