Results tagged ‘ Jonathan Tucker ’
Miguel Abreu, outfielder
Who is he?
Yet another minor-league second baseman who can hit for a high average, with little power or patience, and who can’t handle the job defensively. Typically, their organizations try to move them to a corner outfield spot, and they don’t hit well enough to play there. If they have some speed, they carve out careers as utilitymen, like Chone Figgins or Eric Patterson. If they don’t have speed, they get released as soon as they have a season in which they hit under .280. The 2010 Tides had a couple of other guys like this, Jonathan Tucker and Paco Figueroa.
Miguel Abreu doesn’t have speed.
Paco Figueroa, second baseman
Who is he?
A singles-hitting second baseman, age 27. For some reason, probably injuries, he’s only played 100 games in a season once. He doesn’t have any power (career .089 isolated power); he was starting to draw walks but regressed significantly last season. He doesn’t have a good-glove rep, and hasn’t played any shortstop or third base. He fits somewhere between Justin Turner and Jonathan Tucker, and is a longshot to have a major-league career.
Jonathan Tucker, utility player
Who is he?
Jonathan Tucker is a small (5’8″) second baseman-outfielder. From the fact that he’s a second baseman-outfielder, you could conclude that (1) he’s not much of a second baseman and (2) he probably doesn’t have the range or arm for shortstop or third base; hence he doesn’t have a future as a utility infielder. From his batting statistics (.226/.314/.306 at Norfolk, .264/.349/.356 career), you could conclude that he’s not going to hit enough to make it as an outfielder. From his age (26), you could conclude that he’s not going to get much better. From all of that, you could conclude that his chances of having a major league career are only slightly better than the chances of Ke$ha having a hit single with Nights in White Satin.
Hitless Wonders
Last night, the Tides lost, 4-2, to the Gwinnett Braves. The game itself followed a familiar pattern for Tides-watchers — lots and lots of deep counts, leading to a greater-than-3-hour game on a chilly night. Fortunately, I was in the press box, so I escaped the winds.
Going into the night, two players in the starting lineup — Jonathan Tucker (not to be confused with Jonathan Taylor Thomas) for Norfolk and J.P. Boscan (not to be confused with J.P. Ricciardi) for Gwinnett — were both looking for their first base hit of the season. As Tucker was coming to bat in the sixth inning, hitless in two previous at-bats, the staff in the press box started speculating which of the two would get his hit first. I said Boscan, because Tucker doesn’t play regularly. Sure enough, Tucker drove a fliner (cross between a fly and a line drive) over the left fielder’s head for a run-scoring double. Later, Tides’ pitchers pitched very carefully to Boscan, apparently not wanting to be the pitcher who gave up his first hit.
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