Christian Colon, 2b, Royals: The fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft had a disappointing first...

Christian Colon, 2b, Royals: The fourth overall pick in the 2010 draft had a disappointing first full pro season, batting .257/.325/.342 in Double-A. Yet, he's going to hit for a high average with solid gap power while providing fine defense at second base. I still think he's better than Johnny Giavotella, who made this list three years ago.

Jim Callis

4 months ago 306008 48 comments 0 recs |

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woohoo...im not alone

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 31, 2012 1:08 PM EST reply actions

What we really need to know is

Does he have plus hands?

by thelaundry on Jan 31, 2012 1:41 PM EST reply actions

And plus hands.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Jan 31, 2012 1:41 PM EST up reply actions

Does he say why he thinks Colon is better?

Or is that just faint praise: better than Giavotella.

Kila's slash for Apr 20 to May 4, 2011, right before he was sent down: .276 / .344 / .448

by SagehenMacGyver47 on Jan 31, 2012 1:44 PM EST reply actions

That was my thought

High average? Solid gap power? Are we still going off his amateur scouting reports? Can he bring those aluminum bats?

by Rufus R. Jones on Jan 31, 2012 1:51 PM EST up reply actions

That's his write up on BA

Pretty vague. But they make a living on vague.

PineTarPress

by 306008 on Jan 31, 2012 2:00 PM EST up reply actions

LEADERSHIP

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 31, 2012 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

My read:

He’ll provide better defense at 2B and he thinks Colon will hit better than he did last year. Okay, I’m going with Giavotella for now.

by hawkinscm87 on Jan 31, 2012 3:52 PM EST up reply actions

He thinks Colon is more likely to be a solid major league 2B than Giavotella

Which anyone could do when comparing a 1st round pick to a 2nd. But is Colon’s ceiling a roughly 2 WAR player? That would be useful to the Royals if he could average that for 5 or 6 years, and disappointing but certainly not disastrous for such a high pick. It does confirm IMO that the Royals opted for positional need and a quicker path to the majors over talent and tools in picking Colon. Given how that draft played out, it was curious then and now.

by thelaundry on Feb 1, 2012 11:37 AM EST up reply actions

It does confirm IMO that the Royals opted for positional need and a quicker path to the majors over talent and tools in picking Colon

it does no such thing. if it does anything, it shows that they felt that colon who would sign for slot was more worth the money than the guys drafted after him who wouldnt sign for slot. the guy was ranked as the 4th best hitter in the draft and 9th overall player by BA

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Feb 1, 2012 12:59 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, I don’t agree with this. I don’t think they thought his ceiling was that of an average MLB player when they drafted him. I think most inside and outside of the Royals organization have been surprised by Colon’s two pedestrain minor league seasons. And those performances have made everyone think somewhat less of him, and it has lowered his ceiling in the opinion of most.

I didn’t love the choice of Colon at the time, but it was unclear then who would have been a better choice. At that spot in the draft, there was no obvious choice.

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Feb 1, 2012 2:00 PM EST up reply actions

I also thought Ishtar was going to be the feel good movie of 1987

by thelaundry on Feb 1, 2012 8:34 PM EST up reply actions

You weren't wrong

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Feb 1, 2012 9:38 PM EST up reply actions

Not Colon fan.

He needs to actually be good at some baseball trait, not just below average in every trait.

Doubting Thomas, the patron saint of sabermetrics

by Jeff Zimmerman on Jan 31, 2012 1:52 PM EST reply actions

Just like Yuni who is bad at short, will be above average at second and third, even though he has not played there.

See nothing to worry about.

Go Royals!

by BabyBlues on Jan 31, 2012 1:54 PM EST up reply actions

I agree.

I think Colon will end up being the worst 1st round pick for the last several years. Don’t think he’ll make it to majors.

by hawkinscm87 on Jan 31, 2012 3:52 PM EST up reply actions

he's already done more than some 1st round picks will do...

and that is make it to AA

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 31, 2012 4:10 PM EST up reply actions

I think he meant Royals first round pick

We have had a pretty remarkable string of guys at least reaching the big leagues, although that is in large part because we’ve drafted so damn high.

Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com

by RoyalsRetro on Jan 31, 2012 4:44 PM EST up reply actions

Colon's shown absolutely nothing of value in his ML career

And for a 1st round pick, that’s a big issue.

If he hits decently next year I’ll take another look. If he doesn’t, might as well forget about him.

by Yodazilla on Jan 31, 2012 4:22 PM EST up reply actions

how'd doing that for hosmer work out for ya?

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 31, 2012 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

Entirely different situation.

Hosmer hit .241/.334/.361 when he was 19 years old. Colon hit .278/.326/.380, only slightly better, at 21. Year after that Hosmer skyrocketed to a .977 OPS. Colon hit even worse in his second year with a .668 OPS.

We’ve seen two bad seasons by Colon. And he’ll be 23 next year and nowhere near the majors unless he puts it together fast.

by Yodazilla on Jan 31, 2012 6:40 PM EST up reply actions

why is he being punished for signing early?

this was his first full season just like everyone else in his class

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Feb 1, 2012 2:34 AM EST up reply actions

He's not receiving punishment for signing early

He’s receiving punishment because he’s performed poorly.

by Yodazilla on Feb 1, 2012 7:37 AM EST up reply actions

Good contact rate, even in a bad year. That’s hard to teach.

by WURoyal on Jan 31, 2012 8:26 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

agree with above. im not sold on Colon (yet)

saw him play in NWA last season and he did not look good, even overmatched at the plate at times.

However, it was only his first full season and his 1st at AA, so he could still improve. my opinion is that his 2B defense is average (so slightly better than Gia), but his bat will have slightly-to-significantly less pop than Gias. so which do we need more: good triple slash or (slightly) plus hands.

by DickHowser4ever on Jan 31, 2012 3:08 PM EST reply actions

by most accounts colon is around average at ss...if thats true, there's very little chance he's only average at 2b

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 31, 2012 3:18 PM EST up reply actions

So Yuni should be almost average at 2B, right?

by hawkinscm87 on Jan 31, 2012 3:53 PM EST up reply actions

yep...and he will be

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Jan 31, 2012 4:09 PM EST up reply actions

Placido Polanco

That’s all

by JonasDaMute on Jan 31, 2012 4:23 PM EST reply actions

I wish.

If Colon is an everyday player by 24 with career line of .301/.346/.406 and plus defense at 2B, the draft pick worked out.

by dejezeus on Feb 1, 2012 3:46 PM EST up reply actions

I hate it when prospect analysts say this

My point here isn’t about Colon. I still think he’s a pretty good prospect with upside potential and also significant concerns. My problem is prospect analysts saying things like:

he’s going to hit for a high average with solid gap power while providing fine defense at second base.

I’ll buy the defensive prediction. That isn’t so hard to predict when a guy is showing decent SS defense already. But saying flat out that he will hit for a high average with solid gap power is pretty silly. It’s fine to say that you love his contact and gap power tools and that you think they are projectable tools. But that kind of blunt “this prospect will do X in the majors” prediction is silly. How can he say anything like that with any certainty. It’s one thing to say it about a top 10 prospect, but Colon is no top 10 prospect. He’s not even top 100 anymore (probably). What he’s going to do in the majors is very iffy.

You may know me as NYRoyal.

by Scott McKinney on Jan 31, 2012 4:57 PM EST reply actions

Agreed, especially when...

Colon has so little pro experience at this point.

by HarryL on Jan 31, 2012 5:35 PM EST up reply actions

Either

We’re supposed to assume he’s talking about ceiling, OR prospect analysts have decided it’s best to sound confident.

by hawkinscm87 on Jan 31, 2012 6:13 PM EST up reply actions

Correct me if I’m wrong but if Colon was a top 100 prospect, we’d break our record from last year. I don’t think BA has him as top 10 in the Royals system.

by WURoyal on Jan 31, 2012 8:29 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

That's what the article was about.

Guys who missed the top 10 from the team lists.

I highly doubt there will be more than six Royals (Montgomery, Myers, Starling, Odorizzi, Cuthbert, and maybe Lamb) on the list, and that’s being generous. At the midway point of the season, I’d have said Cuthbert was on his way to a Top 50 berth, but now I worry that even he might not make the list. With Lamb ranked below him, I’m reticent to think that he or Herrera make the list.

Sporadically musing on the Royals at both Royals Review and Royalscentricity, pop culture at Inconsiderate Prick, SVU at Munch My Benson and on Twitter at Old Man Duggan

by Old Man Duggan on Feb 1, 2012 1:48 AM EST up reply actions