The Arizona Diamondbacks made a desperation trade yesterday. Despite a rash of injuries to the pitching staff, the 'Backs traded their best young pitcher for an average third baseman. Hillenbrand is a slight upgrade over Matt Williams playing everyday, but not nearly enough to offset the quality innings B-H Kim would have likely provided the rest of the season. Waiting in the wings is one of the top infield prospects around - thirdbaseman Chad Tracy. Look for various clubs to make overtures as the trading deadline approaches: Joe Jr has a history of trading young for old and it could well happen again. Could the Jays be among the teams looking to pry away the AAA third sacker?
Chad Tracy was not a high draft pick out of East Carolina (7th round), but blasted through A ball in 2001, before dismantling AA pitching in his first full season of pro ball (2002). He's gotten off to another good start in AAA. Here are his component batting stats to date (league norms in paratheses):
Year League(s) ---- age----- PA --- Power ------- BIPavg ----- Walk Rate --- K Rate
2001 NWL/MWL ---- 21.11 -- 279 -- .087 (.124) -- .350 (.307) -- .073 (.084) -- .087 (.195)
2002 Texas ---------- 22.11 -- 564 -- .128 (.121) -- .366 (.302) -- .056 (.085) -- .092 (.173)
2003 Pacific Coast -- 23.11 -- 216 -- .121 (.148) -- .354 (.310) -- .066 (.081) -- .075 (.179)
The league norms listed for the Pacific Coast League are from 2002.
Tracy is the type of hitting prospect I like: line-drive hitter, doesn't strike out much. His power is mostly doubles at the moment and his walk rate is a little below average, but not poor. As a player gets older, walks and homeruns usually increase, and batting average on balls in play decreases. In other words, we can expect good things from Tracy because he has young player's skills (excepting his lack of speed).
Here is an article on Tracy from Baseball America written almost exactly one year ago. I found the following paragraph most interesting:
"... Arizona scouting director Mike Rizzo compares Tracy's patient-but-aggressive style to that of another Diamondbacks prospect, Lyle Overbay. Tracy tends to focus on the fastball and adjust to offspeed offerings, but also scours scouting reports and his memory to remind himself what certain pitchers like to throw."
That's an indication that Tracy is a thinking man's hitter. The comparison to Overbay seems apt, except that Tracy is about 2 years ahead in terms of development (Overbay was 25 last year in AAA).
Corner infield/DH isn't a weakness in the Toronto organisation at the moment, but it never hurts to have an oversupply of prospects to hedge against future injuries and serve as potential trade bait.
Chad Tracy was not a high draft pick out of East Carolina (7th round), but blasted through A ball in 2001, before dismantling AA pitching in his first full season of pro ball (2002). He's gotten off to another good start in AAA. Here are his component batting stats to date (league norms in paratheses):
Year League(s) ---- age----- PA --- Power ------- BIPavg ----- Walk Rate --- K Rate
2001 NWL/MWL ---- 21.11 -- 279 -- .087 (.124) -- .350 (.307) -- .073 (.084) -- .087 (.195)
2002 Texas ---------- 22.11 -- 564 -- .128 (.121) -- .366 (.302) -- .056 (.085) -- .092 (.173)
2003 Pacific Coast -- 23.11 -- 216 -- .121 (.148) -- .354 (.310) -- .066 (.081) -- .075 (.179)
The league norms listed for the Pacific Coast League are from 2002.
Tracy is the type of hitting prospect I like: line-drive hitter, doesn't strike out much. His power is mostly doubles at the moment and his walk rate is a little below average, but not poor. As a player gets older, walks and homeruns usually increase, and batting average on balls in play decreases. In other words, we can expect good things from Tracy because he has young player's skills (excepting his lack of speed).
Here is an article on Tracy from Baseball America written almost exactly one year ago. I found the following paragraph most interesting:
"... Arizona scouting director Mike Rizzo compares Tracy's patient-but-aggressive style to that of another Diamondbacks prospect, Lyle Overbay. Tracy tends to focus on the fastball and adjust to offspeed offerings, but also scours scouting reports and his memory to remind himself what certain pitchers like to throw."
That's an indication that Tracy is a thinking man's hitter. The comparison to Overbay seems apt, except that Tracy is about 2 years ahead in terms of development (Overbay was 25 last year in AAA).
Corner infield/DH isn't a weakness in the Toronto organisation at the moment, but it never hurts to have an oversupply of prospects to hedge against future injuries and serve as potential trade bait.
