Diamondbacks Bullpen

whatuwant · AAA Stud Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Phoenix

If you watched Conor Jackson last year, you might of noticed his contact swing and ability to get on base plus some rookie slumps and struggles. Offensively he reminded me a lot of Mark Grace. Defensively he reminded me of Shea Hillenbrand when he moved over there. Here are some comparisons between Grace's rookie year and Jackson's.

Grace
(AB) 486; (H) 144; (2B) 23; (HR) 7; (RBI) 57; (BB/SO) 60/43; (BA/OBP/SLUG) .371/.403/.296

Jackson
485; 141; 26; 15; 79; 54/73; .368/.441/.291

Eerily similar, no? The two big differences are Gracie's better BB/SO ratio and Jackson's better power numbers. They're even the same height, but Jackson has 25 lbs on him. Obviously, Jackson has a long way to go (like 14 yrs of consistency), but if he continues to mature he'll become a Grace-like hitter; and maybe the 25 lbs will allow for better power numbers.
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TAP · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:19 am Post subject:

Well, you know that shoewizard has projected Jackson to lead Arizona in OBP this season with .381 and to finish 2nd behind Carlos Quentin in OPS with .844. I like Conor's future here, but there are his detractors that would say of your Jackson/Grace comparison:
"Hell...nary full of Grace."

EvilJuan · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 6:25 am Post subject:

For CoJack's sake, I hope he doesn't follow Grace's path when it comes to slump-busting... Very Happy

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lee mellon · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:58 am Post subject:

TAP · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:51 am Post subject:

lee mellon · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:56 am Post subject:

whatuwant · AAA Stud Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Phoenix

Fielding Statistics:

1988 Grace 17 errors .987 FP

CoJack: 12 errors .990 FP 9.94 range factor

Grace's range factor isn't available for his rookie year, and they only started recording it in 1999 when he was already old, but it never exceeded 9.3.

Apparently CoJack was much better than I thought.
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Dangerfield · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:31 am Post subject:

levski · Veteran Presence Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 1633

Conor is going to have a better career than Grace.

And Gracie "hung" in there better than William on American Idol...

shoewizard · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:21 am Post subject:

Any concern about his second half BB/K ratio last year?

First Half 303 PA 38 BB 30 K .272/.370/.402
2nd Half 253 PA 16 BB 43 K .312/.365/.772

His first half OBP was actually higher.

His first half BABIP was .281 and his second half BABIP was .348
That second half BB/K ratio just won't do over a full season. It seems odd that he would walk so much more than he K'd in the first half, and then K almost 3 times as much as he walks in the second half.

I'm not going all negative on Conor, I think he will be fine.......however, I hope that he does not feel like he needs to change his basic approach to be successful in the majors.

Dangerfield · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:27 am Post subject:

Here I am, the Luddite and have to correct some things...Conor was hurt in July after hitting Prince, because of a bad throw. That was the primary cause of such a bad July, along with a petulant all star who went all-star, and a team in disarray. Conor came out of his funk after a couple day blow in August and didn't look back....380 obp in aug...390 obp sept...His Sept and May were his all star months.

Next, my main criticism of Conor, wasn't Conor's fault. It was the petulant superstar, in jun and who didn't pay attention to some of the rookies not running things out, moping, or giving umps hard times, because he wasn't that great of a leader...All that's handled now with Gibson here. Gibson's also going to be able to ride some umps.
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shoewizard · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:04 am Post subject:

Yeah, I remember well the Fielder incident. Getting run over by a Mac truck will tend to have an effect on a guy for a while.

But even when he was hot in August and September, his ratio was 14/29, and thats just not what his success and career has been built upon.

Small sample sizes and all that......it's not a major concern, but somethng to keep an eye on in the long term. Just something to monitor.

whatuwant · AAA Stud Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Phoenix

Zephon · Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 6:38 pm Post subject:

Conor is going to be a damned good hitter. I've seen in person and watched hours of video(Insomnia, I have a lot of free time at nights), and the dude has a freakish batting eye. I think he is so fucking underrated it's unbelievable. The only knock on him that is honest to goodness is that he isn't the best fielder in the world. He may not end up a gold glover, but he's going to at least be an above glove at first base. When I see Cojack, I see a future .300 career hitter, .450+ OBP, I think he's going to knock at least 40 hr's one of these days, as soon he figures out his swing, and uses that freakish batting eye, he's going to be a monster of a hitter.
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whatuwant · AAA Stud Joined: 30 Jan 2007 Posts: 71 Location: Phoenix

Being a beast (6"2 225) leads us to conclude that more power may be on the way, hopefully. Usually pundits agree that power usually comes later on in the career. Look at Barry Bonds Wink

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