If you don’t read Baseball Analysts regularly, you should. Great baseball content on a daily basis. Here’s what they had to say about the Reds’ first round draft pick:
8. Cincinnati Reds: Drew Stubbs, OF (Texas)
Stubbs has been associated with the “Can He Hit?” question since people have ranked the 2006 draft-eligible players. However, from a facts perspective, he has *never not* hit. As a freshman, at one of the country’s largest programs, Stubbs earned an everyday spot. He was one of the better players on a 2005 club that won the national title, drawing rave reviews for his defense in center. The College World Series proved Stubbs to be a freak athlete – and freak athletes with contact problems draw an unfortunate group of comps.
Last summer, Stubbs hit well with wood, hitting .304 for the USA Baseball National team. And this year, given the role of leading the Texas attack, Stubbs thrived, coming to play on every day of the week. There are serious contact problems, yes, but Stubbs skillset counteracts that. His speed and power should yield higher BABIP rates than than most players, meaning we don’t have to write him off as Torii Hunter just yet (how many can say that?).
If all else fails, Stubbs will sit on a Major League bench, able to play all three OF positions, and able to steal a base, hit a home run and draw a walk at will. If all goes well, he is the best position player eligible to be drafted.
I was skeptical initially, but after looking at Stubbs’ stats and what he did in his career at Texas, I think this is a decent pick. I would have rather had an arm, but I can’t fault the Reds for taking Stubbs.
Let’s hope Stubbs and Jay Bruce join Austin Kearns in the Reds outfield in a few years (with Adam Dunn at first base, of course).
The idea here seems to be, at worst, we have 2/3 of the Reds future OF in the fold. If/when Kearns and Dunn become too expensive, the foundation seems to be laid for their cheaper and talented replacements to hit the field.
I don’t have statisical evidence, but I watched Stubbs during a couple on ESPN U last week. He is as advertised, a good defender and has great speed. One thing that I noticed was that it seemed that when he was struck out, he was struck out looking on close pitches. If I’m right, then thats a very good thing, because its more easily correctable than flailing at bad pitches. This also explains why he walks so much. He just takes anything close. Like Dunn.
Thanks, Chad. You’re overly kind. I picked CIN to finish last this year so what do I know? The one good thing I did though was to draft Aaron Harang for my fantasy team, which is in first place in a 15-team league.