Incredibly Bad Albert Almora Expectations
Albert Almora (Photo by Bill Mitchell).
There are so many incredibly bad Albert Almora expectations out of Chicago Cubs fans. The biggest expectation is that he will be called up to the big league roster to fill the team centerfield spot. Outside of that, and possibly with a little more merit, they expect him to play Gold Glove defense out of the gate.
While Albert’s defense is highly thought of in scouting circles, it is still difficult to believe a young player would come up and just be the best fielder in a league filled with great defenders. Additionally difficult to believe is someone who has failed to hit consistently in the minor leagues, would be able to turn it on enough to warrant an every day job in the major leagues.
The most glaring hole in Almora’s offensive game is his inability to get on base. Through 325 games, he has walked 65 times, and nearly half of those walks came last season. While that could show a better approach at the plate, and perhaps maturity, he still only walked in about 7% of his plate appearances.
Additionally, he doesn’t add much as an offensive player. Very minimal power, both in terms of home runs and extra base hits, and he doesn’t possess much speed.
Lucky for him he doesn’t strike out that much, having gone down on strikes 159 times in 1,398 at bats. Now, Bleacher Nation looked at Almora before Spring Training last season, and let us know High A strikeout rates are huge indicators of a players future strikeout potential, more so than walk rate indicators do. Does that mean that he can be a contact hitter in a league where the fastballs are faster, the curve balls are curvier, and the pressure is pressurier, that is yet to be seen.
While I believe Almora will become a fine Major Leaguer, it’s gotta be on his time and not the fans.
The Cubs have a scrappy contact hitter that plays solid defense on the team, his name is Tommy La Stella, and most fans hate him (which I don’t know why). While he is a solid MLB player, he is far from what you would want a number one prospect to become. Today’s game requires the ability to hit, otherwise you become the defensive substitution for the offensive player late in the game. Do you want Theo Epstein’s first Chicago Cubs draft pick to become a defensive replacement type of player?
No. ..?
That’s what I thought.
Perhaps Cubs rookies of last season ruined fans expectations of prospects? Afterall, Kyle Schwarber came up and dominated at-bats for three months, Addison Russell may have struggled offensively but ultimately played well, and Bryant came in and won the Rookie of the Year Award.
Thing is, those players were, in a completely different class of prospects than Almora is. Yes Almora’s glove may rival that of Russell’s, but those three are just plain better players than Almora, and closer to being Major League ready.
Refuse to take my word for it? Well what about Baseball America? They track and rank all prospects, and come out with one of the most respected Top 100 Prospect Lists around. They ranked Kris Bryant as the top prospect, Addison Russell third, Jorge Soler 12th, Kyle Schwarber 19th, we even saw CJ Edwards at 38, and Billy McKinney at 83. Nowhere, I mean nowhere on the Top 100 prospect list could you find Albert Almora. In fact, he didn’t even crack the Top 100 until late August, where he appeared at number 99.
In fact, Almora’s highest ranking on any Top 100 (or 101) list was on Baseball Prospectus‘ rankings, where he came in at 38 (pre-season) and failed to reach their midseason Top 50 list. Even Chicago media has chimed in on the Almora debate that has started.
@ILikeJohnStocco I don't think he is ready. I don't see the Cubs signing Heyward unless they are convinced he can play CF everyday.
— David Kaplan (@thekapman) November 9, 2015
While this cancels out one of my wise suggestions for the Cubs this offseason, I agree with David.
Almora will hit, if he is given the opportunity to. He is only 21 years old, and although he’s played on multiple Nationals teams, he is still rather inexperienced in terms of professional baseball.
“The way he has played in the second half, he really has come a long way,” Hoyer said. “Sometimes you forget he’s 21. You have to pay more attention to second half stats. This guy had his struggles but he was able to come out of it. That’s very important.”
Almora has come on late in both of his last two seasons, which shows very well for a young hitter. One, the team can be confident that he can withstand the physical strain of a long 162 game baseball season and secondly it appears that he accepts coaching by implementing what his coaches have taught him throughout the season.
While Gordon Wittenmyer wrote how while Miguel Montero was in Tennessee rehabbing this summer, he passed along very strong and encouraging words of wisdom to the Cubs prospect. Does some of that advice sink in, and does Almora find his way to the Chicago Cubs sooner rather than later?
It really depends on his ability to climb the ranks. Almora does have the most favorable path of any Cubs prospect to the Majors, and it is especially wide open with Dexter Fowler likely to sign elsewhere. Almora was planned to start the 2015 season in Tennessee, and then at some point during the season take the promotion to Triple-A Iowa. When he struggled early, he was kept in Tennessee. While it was disappointing in terms of his progression through the system, the Cubs brass were still impressed with his ability to handle struggles.
“We think this is great for his development, to be honest,” farm director Jaron Madison said. “It’s something that is rare. He’s never struggled in his life.
“You’d almost like the guy to struggle in the minor leagues and figure it out, so that way when they get to the big leagues, they’ve been through it and it’s not the first time they’ve struggled.
“And when they get up to the big-league level, they’ll be ready to stay up there and not bounce back down. We think Albert’s gonna come back healthy, strong and put up a really good year this season.”
A lot of what will happen with Almora will depend on what the Cubs do in free agency, how well he performs in Spring Training, and where he gets assigned. While he is a completely finished defensive product, he still has a long way to go offensively.
I think if you asked the Cubs, they would have preferred to leave Addison Russell in the minors a little bit longer to further develop his offensive abilities, and I think the Cubs will have the resources to bring in a player to play center long enough for Almora to do just that. We are all waiting to see this happen in Wrigley field.
Lets just hope we don’t rush that glove and it causes him to become just a regular player.
