Nice Little Story on Derrick Robinson

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 4:21 PM EST

Robinson is the youngest of 64 players in the Royals' camp. A center fielder, he's been studying at the winged feet of Crisp and David DeJesus.

"It's a great experience, being around Coco and DeJesus and all these guys who have been playing for a while," Robinson said. "They've got me following Coco around, soaking up as much as I can."

That's the idea for Robinson, who won the first Willie Wilson Award as the organization's best baserunner. He led the Carolina League with 62 stolen bases while batting .245 for Wilmington's "Runnin' Rocks."

J.J. Picollo, assistant general manager for scouting/player development, said the Royals felt that exposure to the veteran outfielders plus outfield/baserunning coach Rusty Kuntz would help Robinson.

Kudos to DK for the "winged feet" tag, I like it.

Robinson spent last season at Wilmington, has anyone heard where he'll be in '09?

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in about three months, will someone remind me that I need to do a roadie to Wilmington?

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 4:22 PM EST reply actions

One of the true dumps on the Eastern Seaboard

Wilmington is one of a handful of run-down industrial cities to have implemented rolling stops at intersections after 9 p.m. due to huge numbers of car-jackings at red lights and stop signs.

That said, Frawley Stadium is a great place to see a ballgame and is really easy to get to from DC, being right off the I-95 exit.

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Feb 23, 2009 4:25 PM EST up reply actions

so hit a day game is what you're saying

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 4:31 PM EST up reply actions

if you do the DC - NY journey by train

you pass through Wilmington. it looks nice enough, certainly. gotta say that delaware is the most forgotten state in the union, though — never once met someone from there, and if anyone asked me to name the 50 states, i’m quite certain i’d get stuck around 49, my mind desparately flailing trying to remember the big DE

by marbotty on Feb 23, 2009 4:41 PM EST up reply actions

We went to a night game and had no problems

The area around the stadium was well-policed. But if you want to do some exploring, yeah, hit a day game is what I’m saying.

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Feb 23, 2009 4:53 PM EST up reply actions

downstate delaware... if you want to call it that

is fairly weird

i hit the delaware state fair two years ago and it felt like I was in the south

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 5:21 PM EST up reply actions

Delaware is like the junior varsity version of Maryland

To explain – the culture of each is overall more rural and southern than you would expect and only interrupted by boring suburban office parks and one huge urban nightmare (baltimore and wilmington).

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Feb 23, 2009 6:42 PM EST up reply actions

maryland really is a fascinating state

from the eastern shore area to the appalachian regions

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 6:50 PM EST up reply actions

I want to visit a screen door factory!

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by Matt Klaassen on Feb 23, 2009 6:16 PM EST up reply actions

I'd assume

D-Rob moves up a level to NW Arkansas.

Lifetime .314 OBA and .315 SLG. Makes Joey Gathright look Ruthian.

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by RoyalsRetro on Feb 23, 2009 4:34 PM EST reply actions

something tells me gathright will have a high BA with the cubs, rack up some steals

and become a fan/media favorite in chicago

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

gator in the minors, btw

lifetime .315/.390/.365 hitter

but jp howell was never a true royal…

by Freneau on Feb 23, 2009 4:36 PM EST up reply actions

there's a word for gathright: hero

and for howell: turncoat

by marbotty on Feb 23, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions

Look at that OBP

I blame Barnett and the coaching staff on Joey. I don’t remember him being a slap hitter when he first came to KC-Omaha. He seemed to change his style when he came over to the Royals. It seems like a good idea(to coaches) to have a speedster slap at the ball and try to force the defense into mistakes but this is pro ball and you’ll die trying to do that no matter how fast you are. Joey was never a power threat but that change in style hurt his BB% and ISO last year. Joey’s defense according to UZR seemed to have gotten better since being a Ray and could’ve been a serviceable player IMO if they wouldn’t have changed that hitting style so much. Maybe I’m wrong I just don’t remember him hitting that way when he first came over.

I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal.

by kcscoliny on Feb 23, 2009 4:53 PM EST up reply actions

Gathright is a shitty hitter

His OBP with the Rays was crap too. Look, even in the minors his OBP was very BA dependent. If he can’t scratch out a lot of hits, he can’t get a decent OBP. Predictably, when he got to the majors, he usually wasn’t able to get hits, and therefore his OBP has been low, except for one outlier season.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Feb 23, 2009 7:32 PM EST up reply actions

So your'e saying you can't coach OBP?

Kevin Seitzer is going to hunt you down and make you rue your words.

Waiting for April.

by DC Royal on Feb 23, 2009 8:30 PM EST up reply actions

Well...

I can’t. And Barnett can’t. Be we all know Seitzer can. Maybe we should have kept Gathright then.

The immoderate moderator

by Scott McKinney on Feb 23, 2009 10:29 PM EST up reply actions

+1

And that one outlier season was in limited time.

Stathead, Zack Greinke fan, and Rock Band 2 singer extraordinaire.

by NHZ on Feb 24, 2009 2:45 AM EST up reply actions

But the thing is

The great majority of players OBP is BA dependent. There are not too many Dunn’s and Cust’s out there. Gathright’s minor league “Isolated OBP” is .083, exactly the same as A-Rod, higher than Utley and Lee, a smidgen below Pujols….

Of course, unlike those guys, it all went to shit in the majors, but he had the fundementals there.

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by kcbottom9th on Feb 24, 2009 2:56 AM EST up reply actions

have to say

his O-Swing % was good compared to league average… he just had no power, couldn’t drive the ball at all. Even if you can tell the difference between a ball and a strike, it doesn’t matter much if you can’t hit it out of the infield.

Willie B. apparently has a really good eye, too.

Awesome, Dayton, the guys he gets who have some power swing at everything, and the guys who have a good eye bat with licorice sticks.

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by Matt Klaassen on Feb 24, 2009 2:28 PM EST up reply actions

where Robinson will play in 09:

rr—I would have guessed they would have Robinson repeat Wilmington but the article indicates he will be in NW Ark at some point this summer. I don’t know if that means from the start or they anticipate promoting him this summer.

by nwroyal on Feb 23, 2009 5:58 PM EST reply actions

My guess is

Dayton is pretty impressed with the .315 OBA.

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by RoyalsRetro on Feb 23, 2009 10:19 PM EST up reply actions

DDJ traded for Rafael Soriano at the break

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by Matt Klaassen on Feb 24, 2009 2:28 PM EST up reply actions

Agee with D. Robinson starting at Wilmington again

Reasons for repeating to start the season with Blue Rocks:
1. Robinson was young for the Carolina League. He’ll be 21 year old for all of 09 season. If Robinson stays the entire year with Blue Rocks, he’ll still be one of the youngest guys on the team.

2. He still has work to do: Slugging .322, OBP .316 isn’t going to get it done regardless of how fast he is.

3. NWA OF doesn ’t look too bad with Dickerson, Orlando and Parraz for a starting lineup. Those are guys I would think KC would like to get 400-500 ABs this summer.

4. On a personal note – A Blue Rocks OF of Adrian Ortiz, Derrick Robinson and David Lough probably won’t allow a ball to drop all season. Three CF in same OF really looks good to me. Wilmington would be stacked with prospects – Moustakas, Giavotella, Duffy, Cegerra, Lough, Ortiz, Taylor (when he comes off suspension) and perhaps Bianchi. They should be stacked!

by daveyork on Feb 23, 2009 11:56 PM EST reply actions