It's Time to Talk About Blake DeWitt

Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness

By | May 5, 2008 at 10:37 PM | In | 8 Comments

Blake DeWitt finally got his first major league home run tonight, and not only that, it was a proper bomb to dead center field. He also pushed his average up to .295, in addition to some excellent defense, and I think we've been a little remiss around here in not recognizing his amazing story thus far. (Sidenote: see? We can be positive about players too! It's possible!) To make up for that, we're giving him the rare and coveted "large centered picture" honor, of his curtain call after his homer tonight.

Look at those fans! They love him! The guy in the blue Dodgers jersey is yelling, "Andy who?!" I think the woman to his right is actually offering him a child.

Seriously, a quick review of the third base depth chart entering the season:

1. Nomar Garciaparra
1a. Andy LaRoche
3. Tony Abreu
4. Russell Martin, apparently
5. Brandon Inge/Joe Crede/Wes Helms/Mark Loretta
6. Ron Cey
7. Jim Gilliam
8. forget 3B entirely and solve the OF logjam by putting all 4 of them in at once
9. Blake DeWitt

This guy had no prayer to even get a shot this season, and even less of a chance to do anything with the opportunity should it arise. Even after Nomar and LaRoche got hurt within 12 minutes of one another, and Abreu never really got out of the starting gate, no one believed that Blake DeWitt would do anything but embarrass himself. I'm going to quote myself quoting other people here, on March 20 - 11 days before Opening Day.

Let’s bounce around the blogosphere, starting with new it-boy Blake DeWitt, the talk of camp with his .571 SLG this spring. DodgerThoughts:

Blake DeWitt has also been mentioned by some, but considering how recently the guy was in A ball, it just strikes me as too huge a leap for him to make. Consider that the Dodgers are hesitant to do the same thing with Clayton Kershaw, then ask yourself whether it makes sense to throw DeWitt to the major-league wolves at this stage.

I’m not really worried about the Kershaw comparison, because it’s such a different situation - the Dodgers have a few decent 5th starter options, and are getting absolutely desperate at third base. But on the whole, I tend to agree that DeWitt’s not ready for the bigs, and so does ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer:

DeWitt’s just not ready. He spent most of last season in the Class A California League before moving up to Double-A. Also, he wasn’t great at either level, and in 128 games he drew 27 walks and struck out 88 strikeouts. The major league wolves would eat him alive.

Now, I can't kill either of these guys for not believing in him; who would? This is a guy who in 4 minor league seasons had a line of .279/.332/.443. Keep in mind, he'd only played 71 games above single A, and in his first attempt at AA in 2006, he flopped miserably with a .183/.241/.221 line in 104 at-bats, prompting him to get kicked back to down A-level Inland Empire to start last year. Not exactly a forecast for success at the MLB level, no? Baseball Prospectus gave him a 50% chance of putting up even a .253/.303/.394 line in the bigs in 2008, and ranked him at #10 in their preseason prospect rankings for the Dodgers (and only the third best 3B!), saying:

The Good: On looks alone, DeWitt has one of the prettiest swings in the minors, notable mostly for its speed and fluidity. He has excellent barrel control, no weakness by location, and at least average power. He's a decent third baseman who makes the plays he gets to.
The Bad: As much as scouts love DeWitt's batting tools, the results have hardly been eye-popping, and he's yet to show enough in the way of secondary skills to project as a classic third baseman. A move to second base last year was a failure, as DeWitt lacks the athleticism to play up the middle.

Judging by every statistic and scouting report known to man, letting this kid who admittedly had talent but had shown no indication of putting it all together play in the bigs could only lead to catastrophe. Right? Let's look at the stats again: in 4 MiLB seasons, he had a line of .279/.332/.443 and Baseball Prospectus believed that gave him a 50% shot of putting up a .253/.303/.394 MLB line. So what has he actually done? He's blown all that away at .295/.382/.436. That's respectable no matter who you are, and he's been particularly hot over the last week (.438/.500/.563). Look at it this way: he's currently 8th in all of MLB 3B in OPS at .818, which is ahead of some guys you may have heard of, like Ryan Zimmerman, Troy Glaus, and Mark Reynolds.

What's more: he's been a fantastic fielder. How good? Well, his range factor is the best in Major League Baseball. The best. And it's not even close; his 3.76 far outpaces runner-up Melvin Mora's 3.27. His Zone Rating is 5th best in MLB, and fancy stats aside, all we needed to see how slick he is at the hot corner is the week or so we had to suffer through Nomar playing there on a regular basis.

So here's to you, Blake DeWitt. I have absolutely no idea how you not only managed to not embarrass yourself, but to be an adequate hitter and valuable fielder, but we're all enjoying it. What this means for the future of Andy LaRoche remains to be seen, of course; but hey, the more successful young players around, the merrier. Just please: no more Nomar.

- Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

- Mike Scioscia's tragic illness

Discussion

8 Comments on "It's Time to Talk About Blake DeWitt"

Posted by grabarkewitz, May 6, 2008 6:52 AM

Mike, I would've added Rob Neyer's comments from yesterday morning regarding DeWitt. Neyer's comments were, to say, very vicious, regarding DeWitt. He is expecting him to fail at any moment, but even with this small sample, the most anti-DeWitt person can see that The Rook has a strong approach at the plate, makes changes from at bat to at bat and has stuck with what made him a hot prospect in high school, spraying line drives and hitting the ball all over the field.

As for his defense, call me very impressed. I had read in more than one prospect handbook that DeWitt was a mediocre fielder and was range-challenged. Obviously, someone or more than a few folks didn't do their homework on this kid's glovework - he is something special at third.

Lastly, like several posters on Dodgerthoughts and the BBWC have said - can LaRoche play second? It might be something for DeJon Watson, White and Colletti to investigate. Given the fact that LaRoche started out his career at short, one would think that second could be doable. Maybe he might be range-challenged, but after three years of Kent, I wouldn't know how to handle a second baseman who actually had range.

Posted by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness, May 6, 2008 7:41 AM

I hadn't seen his most recent comments on DeWitt, actually. I should would love to have a power threat like LaRoche at 2B, but while DeWitt has been great, I'm not sure he's been SO good in just 80-something atbats to force LaRoche to learn a new position already. I guess it also depends on whether Kent finally does call it quits or not.

Posted by Eric, May 6, 2008 10:03 AM

DeWitt should stay. Not only is he proving to be a big leaguer at the plate and in the field (a few errors aside), but the obvious team chemistry that's apparent in the Dodger dugout is something I want to see for the rest of 2008 and beyond. Even Kent was smiling when the team goofed with DeWitt after his first major league home run last night.

If LaRoche or Abreau can play second or be an all-around utility player, then fine, but DeWitt should stay.

Posted by Paul, May 6, 2008 5:01 PM

I am so excited to see this kid make it to the big leagues as he comes from my hometown.
I hope he continues this path and makes a superstar in baseball.
He has his head on straight and was raised to be his best and I cannot think of anyone else who deserves a chance like he has now.
Way to go Blake!!!!

Posted by Mike Scioscia's tragic illness, May 6, 2008 7:21 PM

Pride of Sikeston! Paul, did you know him personally?

Posted by grabarkewitz, May 6, 2008 10:42 PM

Mike, if it is about putting the best nine on the field, playing either DeWitt or LaRoche at second accomplishes that a lot better than running Nancy Abreu or Hu? out there. I really don't care who plays second of the two, but I remember that DeWitt had problems with the turn at second and seeing as how LaRoche has bounced all over the infield in his career, moving him to second might be the easier transition. Hell, right now, I wanna hope that Torre is thinking along the same lines.

Posted by SoSG Sax, May 7, 2008 5:04 PM

Love your depth chart. Hilarious! Keep up the great work...

Posted by Sikeston1213, May 15, 2008 5:43 PM

All of Sikeston is proud of Blake. I'm happy to say I am now playing on the same team that Blake did 4 years ago. He's a down to earth, level-headed guy. No one deserves it more than Blake. Not only is he a good athlete, he's a great guy to talk to. He's one of the few "jocks" in high school taht are very likeable. Here's to you Blake