I was looking the other day for players with good minor league plate discipline and some power (Ben Zobrist and Dustin Ackley clones). The criteria was the following in any season of AA or AAA:
- Walked over 11%
- Struck out less than 15%
- Greater than 200 PA
- ISO > 0.100 (some power)
- Under the age of 23
Eighteen players made the list. Here are 15 of the non-Royals related players:
Hank Conger,Matt Wieters,Jed Lowrie,Elijah Dukes,Luis Valbuena,Daric Barton,Andy LaRoche
Chris Coghlan, Jonathan Lucroy,Jeff Fiorentino, Kurt Suzuki,Buster Posey,Logan Morrison,Andrew McCutchen,Dustin Ackley.
Chris Coghlan, Jonathan Lucroy,Jeff Fiorentino, Kurt Suzuki,Buster Posey,Logan Morrison,Andrew McCutchen,Dustin Ackley.
Some good, some bad.
The three Royals related players are:
Kila Ka'aihue - a no brainer.
Billy Butler - again, a no brainer
Yamaico Navarro - What the F?
The same Yamaico Navarro that we traded free swinging Mike Aviles for from Boston. He has not shown the same level of disipline while in the majors (6% BB%, 28% K% in 112 PA), but had a 10% BB and 15% K rate combined in AA and AAA.
I am not sure what to make of the numbers or the comparison players, but he may be a diamond in the rough. Maybe even a better possible answer at 2B.