AFL Day 3: Ch-Ch-Chiang

No big Fall League updates today. The only Mariner to play was Chih-Hsien Chiang. Who was back in his “natural” setting of right field last night. I didn’t mention it — though I had meant too — Chiang was oddly in positioned in center field Wednesday night. What makes it odd is out of the 252 games Chiang has played outfield he has never previously played center before.

Despite previously playing second base, Chiang has never showed much in the way of speed as a potentiel tool. Looking back and using fangraphs speed rating as last year he finished with a 6.4, the highest he’d ever posted with a minimum of 250 ABs in a season.  That scored is based upon a few different factors (Stolen Base Percentage, Frequency of Stolen Base Attempts, Percentage of Triples, and Runs Scored Percentage)  all of which Chiang  posted career highs.

All that said most of the different scouting reports available says that he has range and a plus arm. The biggest problems from what I read are the defensive lapses. Just overall lack of paying attention. This is a common scouting report for younger and more immature prospects. One wonders that with maturing and with his defensive skill set if Chiang couldn’t just play center on a more regular basis. Just a what if…

Now for his line.

• Chih-Hsien Chiang, 1-4, 1 2b, 1 k (swinging)

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Chiang is a solid prospect and should be an interesting one to watch over the next 30 days or so.  I’ll have more tomorrow with Hultzen’s start. Hopefully I’ll have some bandwidth to be able to breakdown some pitch f/x. Until then….