Hello again everyone from southeast Michigan, where all the hot rods and muscle cars of yesteryear are gathering for the annual “Woodward Dream Cruise“. For the uninformed, the Woodward Dream Cruise is the largest gathering of muscle cars in the world. Having started out as an informal gathering in the 1990’s, it is now home annually to over 1 million spectators and in the neighborhood of 50,000 classic cars each August. And if a few of you are interested enough to ask me to do it, I’ll even post a picture of the 1971 Dodge Challenger Convertible (with a 440 Six Pack engine) that I restored and show, and also drive in this event.
But I digress, as I really had intended to write a quick post about an article I ran across on our sister site on the Fansided Network, “Seedlings To Stars”. As you might infer from the name of the site, “Seedlings To Stars” focuses on talent before it reaches the big leagues. The article that I think you might find interesting is focused on Braves farmhand Chris Garcia. I really love it when I run across a piece on someone who isn’t one of the top 5 prospects in the organization. And the article makes a complimentary comparison for Chris, too. More follows after the jump.
You can read the article in its entirety here. While the author, Nathaniel Stoltz, thinks that Garcia projects out as a Jack Cust type of player, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Barbaro Canizares. It was actually kind of amazing to me that the Braves went out an acquired an “all bat, little glove” first baseman in Garcia after having just released Canizares from AAA Gwinnett this spring. And both players just this past season had finally started to show signs of the power stroke they would need to make it in the majors, either at first base or as a designated hitter. The saving grace for Garcia may be that he is not as huge a liability in the field as was Canizarez.
Regardless, I think you’ll be impressed with the numbers Garcia is putting up, especially his OPS given the relatively low number of homers he hits. I’m not sure how he’ll fit with the Braves, but perhaps he develops into a player that can be swapped for talent that better fits the Braves’ needs.
That’s my take. What might yours be?