10
2012
MMO Mailbag: Shift Aderlin Rodriguez To The Outfield?
An article by 
Alex In CT asks:
With no real power corner outfielders to speak of in the Mets minors, would it make sense to shift Aderlin Rodriguez to left or right field? As it stands now he’s blocked by David Wright and Ike Davis at the corner infield spots. We know he has the bat, but does Rodriguez have the arm to play in the outfield?
Sean Kenny replies:
Before I start this response, I will say that everything regarding fielding and Aderlin is based on scouting reports as I have never seen him in person nor playing on TV. Despite having an arm that has been rated as a 60 on the 20-80 scale, his footwork/fielding as well as his conditioning have been called into question. Defense will never be his calling card, and a positional shift would be geared at getting him into the lineup for his bat and not much else. (See Lucas Duda)
Despite his awesome power, which is by far the most promising in the Mets system, his overall hitting approach is based on guess-hitting. Aderlin has improved his patience at the plate, but hitting .263 isn’t too enticing and doesn’t show much of an advanced approach. On the plus side, of Ad-Rod’s 124 hits, 51 were of the extra-base variety.
Could Aderlin develop into someone who can get to the balls hit at or near him? Quite possibly. Would it ever look pretty and make you mistake him for a gold-glove candidate? Probably not. Aderlin fits into the same mold as Flores in the sense that his bat (or the power in it) will get him to the majors.
In a vacuum, I try Ad.Rod at the outfield, but only for the sake of eliminating it as a valid option. Aderlin looks like a first baseman, his hitting profile fits like a first baseman, and he would be able to hide some of his negative defensive value at first base.
So, in closing. Should they move him permanently? No. Would it hurt to play him a few times in left field just to see if its an option? Probably not. Best-case scenario has Aderlin spending most of the season with the B-Mets with a late season promotion to Las Vegas, and a 2014 season spent mostly in Vegas with a visit to Flushing in the summer of 2014.
On the note of Mets power hitters in the minors, that assessment is correct. Cory Vaughn is the closest to the majors, but he repeated Hi-A ball at 23 years old. On an aggressive promotion path, Vaughn could be a New York Mets outfielder by June/July 2014, if at all. On the slow path? Opening Day 2015. The system is barren of proven power-hitters.
About the Author: Sean Kenny
Sean Kenny is a student/writer currently attending school at the City College of New York. For more Mets news, notes and thoughts follow him on twitter @TheSeanKenny
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The Mets have prospects in the outfield, the problem is that they have all been rushed or are years away. Honestly, if they were capable of signing two starting quality OFers this offseason, they could’ve pushed Kirk and Valdepsin to Buffalo for a whole season with den Dekker. All of a sudden, the OF wouldn’t look so bare and the kids would have time to develop.
How would this be possible? One way would have been to move Wright to fill some holes and free up money. Another would be to add to payroll so you’re not at a 95-100MM mid-market payroll in NYC when you own your own network and play in arguably the largest market in the country.
We just had an article about this guy a week ago didnt we? the mailbag must be light this week. Anyway as you say his best position is first base. Same with every hitter in the system who has any power. Unathletic power hitters who stikeout a ton are a dime a dozen. Anybody remember Butch Huskey? boy could hit the ball a mile.
Seems like it, but the question was about Flores. The Mets OF depth is so bad if anyone at any position looks good, the first idea is “Can he play the OF”. I am waiting on the questions about some of our pitchers in the OF.
Oh, there were a few heated discussions about how horrible it was he wasn’t on the 40 man roster because every team i nthe majors were ready to swoop in and take him in the Rule 5 draft.
The question was about Aderlin Rodriguez, not Flores. Moving Flores to the OF has been discussed to death. I think it’s been made clear that Flores is slower than a rock, but this is the first discussion about moving our A-Rod to OF I’ve seen. If we can put Duda out there, we can try almost anybody. At least A-Rod is still in the minors, so we don’t have to experiment at the ML level.
no…
why not just trade Aderlin after his value builds up for a real OF?
or move Wright to Right, right away
Just curious if Wright can play RF? If so, why not?
I would rather trade Flores + Aderlin + anyone in our system not named Wheeler for G-Stanton
but in the event Florida isnt in the mood to do that…
moving Wright to the OF would seem to be a logical move..
than if he suffers at the plate, they can blame the manager for moving him
Chipper made the move to LF – at age 30. Only for a year, but he did a good job.
First off I have an Official request regarding naming him…
If we are going to insist on a nickname it should be And-Rod
They need to start playing all these kids in a variety of positions both IF and OF early (A-AA) so they have options to play them at multiple positions once he gets to AAA and may need him to play one or the other in order to be able to promote him to the MLB.
Especially if you continue to pick IFs regardless of your ability to play them in the MLB.
As for his .263 BA we should not get too caught up on the BA of a Power Hitter….
Guys who hit with Power rarely have a high BA and almost always have a high K Rate because they are swinging with power and that costs you Bat control and Swing Adjustment.
Ryan Howard hit .268 in 2007 but had 47 HRs to his credit that year.
The year before he hit .313 and hit 58Hrs (Odd isn’t it that was the year before testing started!) but has never hit higher than .279 since and the best season since 2006 was a .251 48Hr performance.
So whenever I look at a Power Hitting player the BA is expected to be lower and as long as it is above the .250 mark and 30+ HRs the BA is much less important and I will accept that as part of the price you pay for the dingers.
Gary Carter’s average was always very low as well and it didn’t stop him from getting into the Hall has it?
Can’t be And-Rod, no An in his name! The details are important!
As for BA, I agree, but at lower levels a good hitter should hit well and expect some drop in average. I am more curious to see how he’d do at AA, but I may be waiting until July for that to happen since he only netted 153 A+ at bats.
Howard hit much higher in the minors, but i’ll chalk that up to advanced age. Aderlin will play all of the 2013 season at 21 years old. Howard wasn’t drafted until that age.
I am hoping to get an MiLB package this season to be able to watch some AB’s/fielding of Ad.Rod, Flores and Marte.
I think that, in view of his fragile state, the current A-Rod should have his nickname changed to Aid-Rod. Then A-Rod is free for our guy!
Not sure he’s fast enough but if there’s no room at Infield corners, maybe worth a try.
As for the MLB outfield, Cody Ross remains as an interesting free agent fit…
Cody Ross and Scott Hairston would help shore up the outfield.
I know that pitching is valued in this organization as well as in others as it does cover up the sins of no hitting but don’t Mets organization see that OF help is also a need that you can’t depend on FA or trades to fill this gap?
When are they going to draft one or two RH OF prospects instead of all the LH ones?
I have seen tries at infield prospects being tried but what is the problem here?
Here are the Mets with an obvious lack of RH power in lineup for past few years, Hairston is not a full time player, but I don’t see these needs addressed in draft, unless I missed it so who’s job is it to address this and then provide info to FO so that this is addressed?
Our last OF pick was Nimmo who is LH, are there no RH extra base/power hitters in college, high school, etc?
I hope the mets focus on getting high ceiling right handed power hitting outfielders in this coming draft. As big of a believer in Cory Vaughn, I still think he won’t be able to be that guy we’re looking for.
As for Aderlin, isn’t he a 20 runner? I’ve seen him in action at 16, and he moved like a glacier, and 16 is when you start bulking up and losing speed. He would not be a fit in Left field, the outfield is too big, and he already has trouble defensively.
By the way, the Nickname should be Addy Rodriguez.