2012 version of 2010 Bautista & 2011 Morse ??

[Ender]

Morse and Bautista seem like polar opposites. Morse put up basically double his 2010 numbers in 2011, there really wasn't some big surprise involved. Bautista went from a platoon player with huge holes in his swing to an MVP candidate. I don't think you can predict the next Bautista. The next Morse is what you are really looking for. I haven't done much research so don't have a lot to add.. Allen Craig maybe?

[HOOTIE]

Justin Smoak
Jesus Montero

[rjforlife]

Im with J, I think Mayberry could really be the big "surprise" HR guy this season. The park he hits in is friendly, he has a good enough lineup to hit in, and the guy is a beast of a man, just like Morse. While I won't predict it, Mayberry hitting 30+ would not surprise me one bit.

[daullaz]

I agree that Mayberry probably best fits the Morse profile for this discussion, though he'll need to get lucky in BABIP to post that high of an average.

[Inukchuk]

Morse and Bautista seem like polar opposites. Morse put up basically double his 2010 numbers in 2011, there really wasn't some big surprise involved.

His '11 MDP was 391. His '12 MDP is 77. I'd say there was a pretty big surprise involved last year. Not to say that some didn't like him for a breakout, but I'm pretty sure the point of this discussion is to identify potential guys who can make the gigantic leap in MDP like Bautista and Morse have done in consecutive seasons.

[hondo4mvp]

Mayberry is supposed to platoon with Laynce Nix,but the Phillies signed Juan Pierre to a minor league contract this morning and there's always Dom Brown lurking in AAA.He may only get 300-400 AB's.

[Niffoc4]

Mayberry is supposed to platoon with Laynce Nix,but the Phillies signed Juan Pierre to a minor league contract this morning and there's always Dom Brown lurking in AAA.He may only get 300-400 AB's.

And last year Morse was competing with Laynce Nix and Bernardina for PT. Also, I haven't seen the Phillies actually say that Nix will start against righties in LF, though that has been the assumption.

[Ender]

Morse and Bautista seem like polar opposites. Morse put up basically double his 2010 numbers in 2011, there really wasn't some big surprise involved.

His '11 MDP was 391. His '12 MDP is 77. I'd say there was a pretty big surprise involved last year. Not to say that some didn't like him for a breakout, but I'm pretty sure the point of this discussion is to identify potential guys who can make the gigantic leap in MDP like Bautista and Morse have done in consecutive seasons.

Fair enough, but I stand by my point. Bautista was a guy who had been in the league a long time and people had written off as an afterthought who suddenly broke out with a huge season. Morse was a guy who showed elite talent in a small sample and it wasn't clear if he could duplicated it over a full season or if he would even get the chance since he didn't have a clear cut starting job. They are just very different players who came by that jump in value by very different means. I don't think you can really predict the next Bautista, there are dozens of players who could be the next Morse though and those guys are usually pretty good players to target in the 2nd half of the draft.

[kab21]

If Lillibridge gets a starting role at some point, I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a breakout power year considering what he did in limited time last season. The most difficult part might be getting that starting job, though.

I didn't even notice his season last year but he's not going to get to face 50% lefties again if he's a starter.

[lane_anasazi2]

Juan Francisco? Guy's got great power, and he could get some PT at 3B with Rolen's durability issues. He's fond of the K, but his pop is legit...

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/video/pl ... 9&c_id=mlb

Damn that's impressive. I'm really excited to see what he can do with some consistent playing time. I probably won't draft him, but given how shallow 3B is this year I'll be watching him very closely.