Royals DFA Peter O'Brien. If your not familiar, I've followed him for a couple years now. (Fantasy baseball) and who doesn't love monster dingers. Spring training 2016 he hit the hardest ball statcast ever recorded at 119.5 mph exit velocity.
http://m.mlb.com/vid...a-462foot-homer
LaRussa says the only other guy he has seen with this type of raw power is Mark McGwire (maybe he's never heard of Giancarlo Stanton...but still).
http://www.kansascit...e135576573.html
In 79 PAs with the D-Backs in 2015-2016 he slashed .176/.228/.446 with 6 homers, 5 walks, and 32 Ks.
His numbers got tremendously worse in 2017 at AAA leading to his DFA. But his BB% went up and the K% went down. Maybe he's working on something.
http://www.fangraphs...288&position=OF
I think the comp here is Trey Mancini with more muscle. Worth noting O'Brien's BB% and K% at AAA are both better than Trey Mancini in MLB right now. If he were to see the BB% go down and K% go up at the MLB level, naturally, he could be on par with a Mancini, but hit the ball harder than Mancini which is saying something given what we've seen the kid do, slugging .648 right now.
Former second round pick of the Yankees. Came up as a catcher, moved to the OF to make it to MLB quicker, but isn't good defensively. Has two option years left. Big, big, big power, but will K a lot. 26 years old. Sounds like a DD "Dumpster dive" move that I would love to see for once.
That kind of power, you got to give him a shot, at least let him toil in Norfolk and see what comes of his defense and his approach at the plate. See what a change of scenery and different coaches can do for him.
Thoughts? Besides if I have a man crush on the guy?