#23 Angel Villalona, 1B. 6'3", 200 lbs. BD: 8/13/1990. B-R, T-R.
DNP
High A(2009): .267/.306/.397, 9 HR in 292 AB.
Angel Villalona was a hard guy to rank at best. Now, after missing the last 2 seasons due to legal problems in the Dominican Republic, I honestly had no idea where to put him. I settled on ranking him right after Fuentes and RafRod just to make it a 3 pack of high ceiling international guys. His last professional experience was in the Cal League at age 18 where he actually held his own, although he slumped toward the end of the season before finishing on the DL.
I saw him play in a couple of games that year in which he struggled at the plate. He seemed to have a decent idea of the strike zone until he got to two strikes. Once he got two strikes on him, it was all over. The pitchers didn't have to come anywhere close to the strike zone and he'd still be swinging and the pitchers seemed to know it.
Villalona has shown big time power potential at a young age. The raps on him are conditioning and strike zone judgement. He's reportedly been working out and is in better shape than in the past now. It's hard to believe he's had a chance to polish up his hitting with the lack of playing time. Assuming he gets a work visa to come to the states, I think the Giants will take it slow, probably keeping him in Extended Spring Training until June then assigning him based on where he is in his development and organizational openings.
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His last BA report before the shooting mentions him losing 40 pounds in season. When you saw him last what was your impression of his conditioning? I've seen a couple pics now, he looks much better than in 2009 but they're photos so who knows. Reading the BA reports the thing that stands out to me is the crack of the bat in BP. We need more strong hitters like Pablo and Posey, well better than those 2. Its only BP though. Gotta do it in games as well.
ReplyDeleteMy impression of his conditioning? Not as much adipose tissue as Pablo when Pablo was in SJ, but his face looked pretty round and I'd peg his weight at 240 lbs minimum. He's a big boy, though, and can carry some weight.
DeleteI think this is a good compromise between his former potential and his latter unknown physical condition and rustiness.
ReplyDeleteHe deserves a higher rank because he was once a top prospect, not just on the Giants but in all of baseball, I recall him making the top 40 list for someone's Top 100 prospects list. But I completely understand that the unknown of where he's at now will leave him off most lists, and I'm OK with that.
Wow, so if he could have just laid off that 2-strike pitch, his peripherals would look dramatically better. He wasn't great at contact, but 75% contract rate isn't bad considering his age relative to the league, plus now this observation.
But he showed no development or learning between Augusta and San Jose, both roughly 75% contact rate both years, so per DrB's comment, I agree that it's hard to believe he's had a chance to polish up his hitting while he was out of baseball.
Still, raw power like his is rare so I think that he needs to be still ranked relatively high just for that, I mean, he's still only 21 for this season, he could still make the majors by mid-20's one level at a time, starting in SJ once the Giants assess where he is now. I think DrB's prescription sounds about right: take it slow, extended spring training, then assigning him. Though I can see him starting in Salem-Keizer if he's in there to June, then promote him if he shows that he's handling each level OK. I agree that 2012 is more about aclimating back into pro life and assessing where he is, then 2013 is about moving his development forward.
Say, maybe they have him work with that video system to get him to stop chasing two-strike pitches? Hopefully that is part of his extended spring training. Though results is spotty so far, Belt really learned from it, but Noonan didn't have any good results with it last season.
OGC - Noonan is invited to spring training at least.
ReplyDeleteIndians sign up Freddy Lew AND J Accardo.
Yes, he is, I'm still hopeful, just not as highly now, for Noonan. But he showed some good skills in San Jose that half season in 2009, and I'm hopeful that he will hit well in the PCL, he obviously had problems in the EL, and he's still only 23 YO for 2012, it's not too late for him to come up and make an impact at the major league level (not that I expect him to be in PCL, just that I hope he ends up there, he did OK there in a short stint, but the EL seems to be in his mind, he just can't hit there).
DeleteUnlike other Giants fans, I didn't think that he was a great prospect, I think people drank the Kool-aid when the draft experts threw out comparisons to a Chase Utley-lite for him, but I think that he can be an average starting 2B in the majors if he can translate the skills he showed in SJ that half season (that got me on his bandwagon), he could be good in getting on base, plus enough power to be a starter.
I wonder if his injury with his hammies been affecting him for a while, that would reduce his BABIP, and he went from being a good basestealer his first couple of seasons to being a sloth. That would hurt his value long-term.
Inside the clubhouse with the Gints rooks and Freddy/Posey is on the site now. I am drinking the orange kool-aid hugely, but I just have a feeling the 2011 draft will go down as legendary. Crick, Susak and Ricky O look to have great chemistry.
ReplyDeleteAh, you beat me, I just posted the link for this on the Flurry post, wasn't that a great show? I really loved seeing the three of them interacting, too bad they probably won't start out at the same level, that would have been nice for them. At least Susac and Ricky should be together, probably SJ.
DeleteYeah, I got that feeling about the 2011 draft too, I mean we got 5 guys who were legitimately considered for the first round, Panik, Crick, Susac, Oropesa, Osich. This could bode very well for the 2014 season, when we might be missing some key players if they are not signed to extensions.
Shankbone, I answered your question about draft pick compensation in the Flurry post.
DeleteBasically, I was right, the compensation rules have changed, the MLB article I provided the URL to says it explicitly in there. Of course, I just realized that the article did not require the approval of the MLB, but I have to think the reporter got everything from the official announcement.
Here is the summary document released by the MLB and MLBPA: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/downloads/2011_CBA.pdf
DeleteFirst line in the section on free agent compensation: "1. Starting in 2012, “Type A” and “Type B” free agents and the use of the Elias ranking system will be eliminated.
2. The current system of draft pick compensation will be replaced with the following
system: "
Seems pretty clear to me, obviously Perfect Games did not even look at this document, perhaps they read the MLB Key points article that I provided the URL to in the other thread.
I remember back in 2009 at the trade deadline when I thought the Giants should package Villalona for VMart. They ended up trading a pretty decent pitching prospect for Ryan Garko instead and Boston got VMart who ended up doing very well for them. At the time I thought he would be a great mentor for Posey and could fill in at 1B when Posey was catching. If they had done the trade, who knows what would have happened but more then likely they wouldn't have signed Huff or resigned Bengie and maybe 2010 doesn't turn out the way it did or maybe we win the WS in 4 games instead of 5!
ReplyDeleteYou are making the huge assumption that Cleveland would have accepted Villalona for VMart.
Deletecompared to what they got from Boston, I don't think that would have been a stretch.
DeleteGood analysis, especially about the two-strike thing. He was abysmal for San Jose in 2009 and virtually no SJG fan was disappointed when he got hurt and missed the second half of the season.
ReplyDelete