Alex Liddi Round table

Last week Jon Shields was nice enough to ask me to participate in a little round table discussion on a few different minor league topics.

Shields ask me about Liddi saying  “Alex Liddi is putting up yet another strong offensive season, now with AAA Tacoma. There still seems to be little agreement among observers with regards to his long-term prospects, however. What is your current opinion of Liddi — offensively and defensively — and do you think he is someone the Mariners can count on to log heavy innings at third base in the not-so-distant future?”

Here is my little excert from the Alex Liddi round table over on ProballNW.

"I think someone could draw a few similarities between Mike Morse and Alex Liddi. Without a doubt Liddi is always going to be considered a “bat” first type of guy who swings and miss way too much. I think the question is less on the defense and more on the bat. While he has improved his walk rates they still aren’t great and his contact rates have to improve for him to be a legit every day player.The thing that stood out to me when he was in AA-West Tennessee was how good of an athlete he was. While he was big he wasn’t hulking (at the time) and he moved pretty well. It just seemed like he’d just didn’t have quick enough foot speed to come in on balls and didn’t have the best lateral movements. But, I didn’t think at the time that this guy was terrible by any means. I thought most of it with some work could improve a bit and I’m glad to hear that he has.I don’t think he’ll ever be considered a “solid” defender but certainly passable in my mind. He may have to go the way of Jorge Cantu (make the move to first base) within 5 years but for now I’m content to let him stay. I think he’s certainly worth of a look in September to show what he can do. But he doesn’t make much sense before that.I think the worst case scenario with Liddi is that he is hitter that comes off the bench that can supply some power."

For more information by much better analysts take a look over at Proballnw to see the full article that is really well done by Shields.