[Lucky]

New feature over at Hardball Times. A position by position prospect list. Very interesting stuff. He starts at the C position. Two exceptions from the traditional prospect lists. 1) He's including anyone at 25 or under so Joe Mauer's at the top. 2) He's just like me and doesn't like ranking so he's using tiers, or groups. YAY!

www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/best-young-catchers-of-2007/

I probably could have tossed this in the prospect thread but its a feature of articles rather than lists. So I thought to seperate it. Plus its not really as easy a reference as those lists are. Like I said, there are major leaguers like Mauer and McCann in there and there are undrafted college kids as well.

[The Jewish Cunthead]

The best part of this? I learned a new stat.

BABIP - batting average of balls in play

I know this has been brought up before but are the Twins going to move Mauer to another position to help save his bat down the line?

[Lucky]

Morneau at 1st sort of blocks the most logical move. And I'm not sure a move to the OF saves him any. He played 17 games at DH so I'm guessing they'll keep going that route. Try and give him those days rest and conserve him. But he's a good defensive catcher so it sort of puts an issue at play. They've got an offensive catcher. That's a commodity. Move him somewhere else and you (a) lower his value and (b) create a hole in your lineup that you're likely to fill with a poor player at at least one side of the ball.

BABIP is an interesting stat. Its supposed to help try and predict how much of a player's success is due to luck. Guys who have abnormally low BABIPs probably got screwed out of a few hits because of good defense or bad luck. Guys who have high ones probably got lucky. Helps for pitchers too. Definitely an interesting stat to look for if you're trying to gauge sleepers and busts in your drafts.