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If Not McLouth, Is Urrutia The Guy in LF?

olehippi

By olehippi
in Orioles Talk

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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Didn't know that.

I met Henry his first week in the US. At that time, he was happy and outgoing. Spoke a bit of English, and did EVERYTHING that Buck and Dan asked of him. He had a very unique fixation on his special bats. He did not want the other minor leaguers fooling with them. He said that he was happy to be here, but did not come to play in the minors ;)

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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His whole story was very interesting, as it is with many of the Cubans.

Henry Urrutia says he doesn't remember much about the 10 days he spent waiting in the bushes by the beach. Or the constant patrol of the border police. Or the three days he spent adrift at sea, crammed onto a small boat with 10 others as they hoped desperately to find friendly ground before they starved.
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Il BuonO Hangout Grand Counsel

Il BuonO

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From what I heard last year his routes and jumps were the biggest areas that needed improvement. I don't know about his arm strength. I think Kendall, the AA Bowie manager, spoke well of his defense. So reports are mixed I think. Kendall is also Henry's manager in the Arizona Fall League.

Kendall did speak well of his defense and I've posted the article from MASN last year. He's been hampered by the injury but the idea that is not a good defensive player has been largely exaggerated here.

I had high hopes for him offensively but was concerned with his lack to turn on anything and drive the ball while up last year. I'm glad he's hitting well in AZ, but the pitching there does not equate to ML. Even if he does OPS at the same rate Nick did his rookie year it won't mean anything if he is strictly an opposite field hitter.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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I hope so, but as long as he's a singles hitter, he's not the answer. He hit for good power at Bowie, not so much at Norfolk, and none in Baltimore. He's hitting for power in the AFL but even there only 6 of his 25 hits are for extra bases. That's not the type of percentage you want to see. Brian Roberts power (10-15 homers 40+ doubles) would be acceptable accompanied by a good OBP, but Roberts did that against ML pitching. I fear that Henry's in game power at the ML level is just not going to cut it. I hope he progresses though.
One of the best hitters for average in Cuba, Urrutia batted .397/.461/.597 with12 homers in 305 at-bats for Las Tunas in 2010. However, he did that as a full-time designated hitter and his power production wasn’t especially impressive given the usual numbers compiled by stars in Cuba

Urrutia attempted to defect from Cuba in 2010. After the failed attempt, he was suspended. He did not play AT ALL in 2011 or 2012. He might be just getting back to where he belongs.

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weams Hangout Grand Counsel

weams

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Maybe, but I'm not sure what he's getting back to. It's hard to project what power numbers in Cuba project to in MLB. His slugging in Cuba was largely driven by his batting average. Dariel Alvarez it 20 homers in 344 AB's in 2009, .363/.404/.613, and I suspect he has little in game power at high levels in the minors. In AAA and the majors they are facing top level pitchers game in and game out.

A guy who can OBP .400? A guy who can hit .350?

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