Thursday 24 July 2008

Baby steps

Adam Lind has been on fire since he's made his return to the bigs. He's now hitting 350 since his recall, and has solidified his role as the left fielder of the future.

Lind has done a terrific job so far hitting for both average and power. Right now he's hit 5 home runs in those 80 at bats - nobody can keep that up, but he's got an outside shot of leading the club in HR's by the end of the year. What's even more impressive is that he's hitting lefties, and to this point doesn't look like he needs to be platooned.

If there's one thing to worry about with Lind, it's that he hasn't been walking lately. He's really taken Cito's aggressive approach to heart. Since his recall he's struck out 8 times (which is pretty impressive considering it's been 80 at bats), but he's only walked 3 times. Lind's hit 384 since the all star break - so right now it's not a big deal if he walks that much. But since the all star break his OBP is 364. It's a small sample size (6 games), but it's never a good sign when the OBP is lower than the batting average.

Going forwards, the next big challenge for Lind is going to be drawing more walks. He was a career 318 hitter in the minors, so it's possible he could hit around 300 in the majors, and not need to walk as much while showing some power. But for him to be that dominant, middle of the order hitter that we all know he can be, he's going to have to show that he can get on base without getting a hit.

Twitchy.

2 comments:

The Southpaw said...

adam lind = new greatest blue jay ever?

Anonymous said...

nah, i think that's already been given to travis snider. seriously, are we as a fan base ever setting ourselves up for disappointment, eh?