Jeff Salazar, outfielder

Is he destined to be a AAA lifer?

Salazar, who turns 30 at the end of November, had a terrific first half with Norfolk in 2010 and an equally terrible second half. Add it up, and he had a season well within his career expectations, although a hair on the low side.

Salazar hits left-handed and is at least a passable outfielder. He has a decent batting eye. However, he doesn’t hit for average and he hadn’t hit for power until he hit 16 last season. However, I suspect he was taking advantage of Norfolk’s short right-field porch, because he hit only 14 doubles.

He’s a generic AAA veteran. I didn’t see him do anything extremely well, nor anything extremely poorly. I expect that next season he’ll play in AAA, or Japan, or Korea, or somewhere else.

Could he earn a major-league job?

Salazar played two seasons as a reserve outfielder in the major leagues, and just didn’t hit enough to stick. The Rockies lost him to the Diamonbacks on waivers, after he hit .283/.409/.415 in a 67-PA trial in 2006.

His slugging percentage explains why he won’t move up. He doesn’t hit for a high enough average to make up for his limited power, and he doesn’t hit for enough power to make up for his limited batting average.