5. San Francisco Giants I think this is three years in a row I've put San Francisco in the top...

5. San Francisco Giants
I think this is three years in a row I've put San Francisco in the top five, although the past two years' rankings were just based on the top five rounds, and in 2006 they didn't do too badly with that Lincecum kid. The Giants grabbed four guys from my top 100, including No. 8 Zack Wheeler and the underrated Tommy Joseph, a power-hitting catcher from Scottsdale who has the arm to catch but needs help on the rest of his receiving game. They also spent to get Matt Graham -- a Texas prep righty with a good two-pitch combo -- away from a scholarship to North Carolina. One pick that stood out in the wrong way for me was Chris Dominguez, a big, strong third baseman from Louisville who hits with metal but who is going to swing and miss far too often with wood.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/news/story?id=4409866

Keith Law, ESPN Insider (sorry Klaw), regarding the Giants' draft

3 months ago baetown415 21 comments 0 recs |

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How do you make more contact win metal?

Chris Dominguez, a big, strong third baseman from Louisville who hits with metal but who is going to swing and miss far too often with wood

You people wit' the cheese. It never ends.

by NuschlerFace on Aug 19, 2009 5:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Lighter bats = more bat speed.

HA HA HA LOOK AT ME I'M ALL HAPPY AND STUFF NO REALLY CAN WE STOP WITH THE COOKYMAN IS SAD JOKES?

:-) :-) :-)

by Cookyman on Aug 19, 2009 5:48 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Isn’t the weight distribution of the two different, too?

by Missing Barry on Aug 19, 2009 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just an ignorant comment

Hitters with holes in their swing have them with metal and wood bats. Dominguez is very quick, big, and strong, so the difference in his bat speed between metal and wood is negligible. One unique thing that you can do with metal bats is fight off tough inside pitches and still turn them into hits and HRs. What Law fails to tell us, and maybe his superior research and knowledge just didn’t turn this up, is that Dominguez spent last summer playing in the Cape Cod League with wooden bats and his offensive numbers were very similar to his (metal bat) college numbers. In fact, he led the whole Cape Cod League in HRs and XBHs, although he did strike out at a high rate – just like at U. of Lousville.

Don’t get me wrong, Law can downgrade the Dominguez pick all he wants, but he needs to make his reasons behind his opinions more legitimate. I also think that Dominguez carries a high risk of failure due to his high K rate, but that has nothing to do with his using wood bats. I also differ from Law in that I think Dominguez was a good risk to take in the 3rd round for a team that really needs a RH with ++ power that can play 1B or as a corner OF.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Aug 19, 2009 6:16 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tidrow likes Dominguez

by wilriv21 on Aug 19, 2009 6:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good. It would suck if Tidrow picked players he hates.

co-dad of IshikaBOOM w/AfDC.
Ishikawa, let the boy hit against lefties.

by kennv on Aug 19, 2009 7:02 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Like half the other hitters in our system, wil wants Dominguez to Toe The Rubber.

Brian Sabean wants to kick tires. I want to kick Brian Sabean.
Adopted Giant: Fred "OBP and UZR, Dammit!" Lewis

by jcb9 on Aug 19, 2009 7:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know.

Considering his track record, we might have been better off picking the hitters he hates.

VAE PVTO DEVS FIO

by Bhaakon on Aug 19, 2009 7:54 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL

Yes! The George Costanza experiment.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Aug 19, 2009 8:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Dominguez Hills

Did you take a vacation somewhere , Pops?

NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?

by victor frankenstein on Aug 20, 2009 6:01 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Law’s point is absolutely correct. Guys that have a hard time making contact against college pitchers tend to have an even harder time making contact against professional pitchers

by FluLikeSymptoms on Aug 19, 2009 11:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

True

But that has little to do with the wood/metal difference. Missing the ball completely isn’t going to be effected either way by a move to lumber.

VAE PVTO DEVS FIO

by Bhaakon on Aug 20, 2009 12:23 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

+1

Right. If Law had put it in the terms of FluLike, then I would have had no problem with his critique. I think that Law was just too lazzy to do the research to see that Dominguez had the same K problem in college.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Aug 20, 2009 5:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m pretty damn sure that Law knew of his high K rates in college and on Cape Cod, he’s mentioned it in his chats before. Plus he has actually, you know, seen him hit with his own eyes.

by FluLikeSymptoms on Aug 20, 2009 10:35 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

or maybe he was just saying in the professional leagues. But instead of saying “as a professional” he said “with a wooden bat”

I R 5

by say hey nation on Aug 20, 2009 1:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

There is a difference in wood and metal bats, though. I don’t know how big the effect is, and it might only affect some guys, but between weight differences and weight distribution differences there’s at least the potential for it to be a factor. That said, if Dominguez has performed well with wood bats in the past, that’s a good point to consider.

by Missing Barry on Aug 20, 2009 6:44 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs