April 6, 201412 yr Haha, I couldn't help but laugh at this quote: "He's gotta slow it down," director of player development Nick Capra said. "He wants to be on the fast track, but for him..." Then, why did the Sox send him to High-A right away? I mean, if they want a kid to slow down, then go slow with his placement. Hawkins was a raw 18-year-old with oozing talent, but a flawed swing and a lot to learn. He should have been in Low-A last year. The quote just seems so misguided, like let's blame the kid when the organization was equally fast-tracking him. Edited April 6, 201412 yr by maggsmaggs
April 6, 201412 yr QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) Haha, I couldn't help but laugh at this quote: Then, why did the Sox send him to High-A right away? I mean, if they want a kid to slow down, then go slow with his placement. Hawkins was a raw 18-year-old with oozing talent, but a flawed swing and a lot to learn. He should have been in Low-A last year. The quote just seems so misguided, like let's blame the kid when the organization was equally fast-tracking him. It's an interesting debate. Some would say that he needed to fail so that his bad habits would become exposed. If he went back to Kannapolis he may have continued to rake while continuing to exhibit bad habits at the plate. The results were awful at WS last year but if that is the reason why he changed something it may have worked for the better, no? I don't really have an opinion on which is better without knowing the kid or seeing him in person but it is interesting.
April 6, 201412 yr Here's another Hawkins article as well: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2...lb&sid=milb
April 6, 201412 yr Laughable he's "eyeing" AA after three games, he was completely overmatched by High A all last season. I would be fine with him staying in Winston-Salem for the majority of the season. If he's tearing it up and they want to give him a taste of Birmingham for the playoffs or something, that's a different story. He doesn't deserve/need a promotion until then.
April 6, 201412 yr QUOTE (southside hitman @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) Laughable he's "eyeing" AA after three games, he was completely overmatched by High A all last season. I would be fine with him staying in Winston-Salem for the majority of the season. If he's tearing it up and they want to give him a taste of Birmingham for the playoffs or something, that's a different story. He doesn't deserve/need a promotion until then. Didn't he play the end of the season at Birmingham as an 18 year old in his first season? I don't think it's unrealistic that he thought he had a chance to get back there. I think it's unrealistic. But I'm not a teenager.
April 6, 201412 yr QUOTE (southside hitman @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) Laughable he's "eyeing" AA after three games, he was completely overmatched by High A all last season. I would be fine with him staying in Winston-Salem for the majority of the season. If he's tearing it up and they want to give him a taste of Birmingham for the playoffs or something, that's a different story. He doesn't deserve/need a promotion until then. That article was from January. He was talking about last year. I would hope they've managed his expectations at this point. It should be a year-by-year thing at this point. Hell, he's 20. If they can make his first opening day with the Sox in 2017 at age 23, what would be wrong with that? I would be ecstatic if they turn him around, and he ends up being an impact major league player.
April 6, 201412 yr QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 11:14 AM) Didn't he play the end of the season at Birmingham as an 18 year old in his first season? I don't think it's unrealistic that he thought he had a chance to get back there. I think it's unrealistic. But I'm not a teenager. No in 2012 he was in Kannapolis, and they moved him to W-S for their playoffs, and he was very good. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be a good assignment last year.
April 6, 201412 yr Why is it such a big deal that kids exude confidence? I'd rather have Hawkins thinking he should be at AA than to be pouting about last year.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 06:18 PM) Why is it such a big deal that kids exude confidence? I'd rather have Hawkins thinking he should be at AA than to be pouting about last year. Because there aren't just 2 extremes on the confidence scale.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 07:13 PM) Because there aren't just 2 extremes on the confidence scale. Anyone who doesn't want their ballplayers to have extreme confidence has no idea what they are talking about. It is a game that is 70% failure, and will eat you up if you are soft at all.
April 7, 201412 yr ^^ Until a player is in Paulie's position, I want a guy that thinks he should be at the next level AND is willing to work to get there.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) ^^ Until a player is in Paulie's position, I want a guy that thinks he should be at the next level AND is willing to work to get there. Konerko is a great example. He would go through slumps and just eat himself alive over ABs. It wasn't until he got past that stuff that he really because a consistent player.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 07:49 PM) ^^ Until a player is in Paulie's position, I want a guy that thinks he should be at the next level AND is willing to work to get there. And then you can point to the cockiest player in the MLB, Brett Lawrie, who outside of a very good rookie season (sound familiar?), hasn't put up a good season. I don't want a soft headcase, but I also don't one a cocky kid who things the game owes him something. Fortunately there is a TON of middle ground where nearly the entire cast of MLB players reside.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 7, 2014 -> 01:34 AM) And then you can point to the cockiest player in the MLB, Brett Lawrie, who outside of a very good rookie season (sound familiar?), hasn't put up a good season. I don't want a soft headcase, but I also don't one a cocky kid who things the game owes him something. Fortunately there is a TON of middle ground where nearly the entire cast of MLB players reside. First of all, I don't believe that to be true about Lawrie, but I do believe he is uber confident in himself. Second, the cockiest player in history is probably Barry Bonds. I think we saw how that turned out.
April 7, 201412 yr Leaving confidence vs overconfidence aside for the moment... his htting approach is now not only quieter, but his swing is also shorter and quicker. These are encouraging things, as is the return of power. And the adjustment to breaking pitches noted by Josh Norris is very encouraging. But - and this is a very small sample size at this point - he's still striking out an awful lot. We'll see after a month or so, but if he's still striking out in the 30's or higher as a K/PA percentage, that does not bode well for how he'd do at AA. Or even A+, once pitchers adjust to him again. The adjustments are a positive, but I'm still skeptical.
April 7, 201412 yr QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 6, 2014 -> 07:33 PM) Anyone who doesn't want their ballplayers to have extreme confidence has no idea what they are talking about. It is a game that is 70% failure, and will eat you up if you are soft at all. Ahem....Buddy Bell
April 7, 201412 yr An NL scout on aggressive assignments: ""What you're trying to avoid is something like the [2012 White Sox first-round pick] Courtney Hawkins situation; a situation where you put a kid at a level that he's not ready for -- injured shoulder or not -- and you have no choice but to have him repeat the level again. There's nothing inherently wrong with having a kid spend two years in the same place, but it's less than ideal, especially for the player's confidence." "
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