Irving Falu is one of the prospects we aren't allowed to get excited about, for some reason. Actually, the main reason is that he's probably not that good.
A quick summary of my ignorance: I thought Irving Falu was a) older b) a minor league journeyman and c) a little better than he is. He is none of those things. In my mind he was a minor league free agent that Dayton signed in 2008 or something, but he's not. He's a Baird-era draft pick, taken in the 21st round of 2003. I thought Falu was 30 by now, easily. He isn't. He'll be only 29 next season. And, perhaps because of some good Spring Training stats or just a plain mistake, I had in my mind that Falu was a consistently good hitter in AAA. Eh:| Year | Age | Lev | G | PA | 2B | 3B | HR | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 26 | AAA | 122 | 532 | 19 | 5 | 2 | .269 | .342 | .344 | .686 |
| 2010 | 27 | AAA | 119 | 552 | 14 | 6 | 1 | .272 | .327 | .330 | .657 |
| 2011 | 28 | AAA | 111 | 437 | 10 | 9 | 2 | .301 | .358 | .390 | .747 |
Basically, I've been living a lie. Or, more specifically, the Irving Falu that lived in my mind was a lie. I imagined that he was a classic under-appreciated AAAA hitter, who probably has no position and has a terrible defensive rep. Part of that may actually be the case. I dare you to look at Falu's defensive assignments last season and figure it out.
We don't think about future utilitymen as something you develop, but there's actually something to it. If Falu can truly play a competent middle infield (both positions) and look OK in the OF in a pinch, then maybe, he might have some use as the 25th man down the road. Better Falu at the minimum than Bloomquist for $2 million.
Of course, this is irrelevant because Ned Yost doesn't believe in using his bench, ever. So anyway, Irving Falu.