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November 01, 2005
Eric Duncan
Through yesterday, in 19 games with the Grand Canyon Rafters in the AFL, Eric Duncan has 17 XBH, 39 RP, and an OPS of 1.224.
October baseball agrees with the kid.
Does this mean that Duncan is a lock to be a star? No, it does not. He's still a prospect. And, every prospect is suspect until he does it at the big league level.
But, this performance does improve his status in terms of being a chip to trade. Therefore, I could see Eric being part of a package this winter that brings New York a CF.
Time will tell.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at November 1, 2005 04:18 PM
Comments
I had the good fortune to see this kid play at A level ball here in Fort Wayne. He is a great big kid, but he is not real good. I would say boost his trade value, which he is doing, and trade him asap for some pitching. He doesn't have the glove or the bat for the majors. In 50 years of watching I find him a career minor leaguer at best. Yanks hype him all the time; hype and trade, real soon.
Posted by: Scott Coulter ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at November 1, 2005 06:57 PM
Scott, I'm glad you got to see the kid play - i haven't had the pleasure yet. He may not have the glove at third but hey, he's not playing for the Yanks there anyway. He just needs to be adequate at 1B and with his power potential, he chould be cracking 2Bs and HRs with the best of them soon enough. I guess if he ends up between your view and my (decidedly optimistic) one, he should still be all right.
By the way, I've come across some writing on the web that a lot of minor league followers find that the jump from A to AA is harder than AA to AAA so I guess I can understand his struggling at AA this season (somewhat). I don't know - I'd wait to see what he does next year at AA with a year of seasoning under his belt. In my mind, Melky is the overrated one (amongst Yankee fans, that is).
FYI - here were my thoughts on him from before:
http://www.yanksblog.com/item/318
Posted by: James Varghese at November 1, 2005 07:28 PM
I'd wait to see what he does next year at AA with a year of seasoning under his belt.
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Same here... Give him 1/2 season @ Trenton, then move him to Columbus. If not, then we'll have a better idea of what we have after a full season @ AA
He's too young to give up on him, but at the same time he needs to step it up.
Posted by: Raf at November 1, 2005 07:43 PM
The A to AA jump is very difficult, especially depending on the level you played A ball. Duncan played in a mid-level A league. With so many A teams and only one AA team per ML franhise and veteran AA players, you can see how a kid can get lost in AA real easy.
Posted by: Don at November 2, 2005 02:04 PM