Leury doesn't get a lot of love around here and, I mean, that's not an insane stance to take. The thing I thought about since we traded for him is that, looking at his MiLB career, he always appeared to be promoted too aggressively. I wonder if there are some reasons for optimism.

 

 

I've annotated his FanGraphs profile to kind of illustrate my argument. You can click to embiggen.

 

Basically, Leury was rushed through the minors, being promoted in spite poor production, often high K rates, and always playing young for the level. Even so, he did hold his own in AA as a 21 year old, which probably convinced the Rangers to keep pushing. And we're not talking about a low talent player here. Here's a snapshot of his Baseball America "awards":

 

 

We're talking about a big time guy when it comes to speed, arm, and defense. We saw these things when he played for the Sox. Of course, we also saw two glaring deficiencies: contact and power at the plate. And, at least as far as contact is concerned, I think the Rangers and to a lesser extent White Sox failed him. My personal, I'm-not-a-baseball-executive-just-a-guy-on-the-internet philosophy with prospects is that you can't expect a guy to succeed on a high level if you haven't permitted him to excel at lower levels. His career stats make it clear that for the majority of his career, he's been just trying to survive at the plate.

 

The guy is 5'8" and has never really shown any flashes of power, so it would be way too optimistic to say he'd find his power stroke if treated correctly. But with that said, his other tools are good enough that he doesn't need to be a great hitter, just an adequate one. We're seeing some of what might be the "real" Leury in AAA this year.

 

.291 AVG/.339 OBP/.361 SLG (.070 ISO) - 1 HR, 33 R, 17 RBI, 23/33 SB, 103 wRC+. Maybe most important is this single stat: 16.9% K%. Compare to the 30.8% K% in MLB and 25.5% the last time he was in AAA, two years ago. It's relatively simple: if he is putting the ball in play, he's going to be at least okay. At the AAA level, he's not only making more contact but making higher quality contact. His AAA numbers in isolation aren't amazing, but this is a guy who can play nearly any position and appears to be a pretty good defender in several of them. If he could post something like an 80-85 wRC+ in MLB, he'll play for 10 years.

 

So I just wanted to start a discussion and see if anyone else saw reason for optimism with Leury. I'm not talking about a guy who we should envisioning as a surefire part of the future, but moreso a guy who shouldn't be written off. Look at what a guy like Jarrod Dyson has meant to the Royals after spending years on their bench as the no-hit pinch-running guy. Leury isn't as much of an ace base stealer but also plays more defensive positions (even pitcher! ).

He was patently awful last year in the majors at the plate - like, the worst bat in the majors with that many PAs. And frankly I thought his defense, while passable at multiple positions, wasn't great at any of them.

 

I'd much rather see Saladino up.

 

He was patently awful last year in the majors at the plate - like, the worst bat in the majors with that many PAs. And frankly I thought his defense, while passable at multiple positions, wasn't great at any of them.

 

I'd much rather see Saladino up.

 

Well, you may not be surprised to hear that I don't mind Leury staying down and maybe finding a half-ass decent gap stroke. I do have worries about whether his defense could be oversold.

 

I don't know what to take away from his MLB numbers beyond what should have been obvious when we called him up: he was in no way prepared to hit MLB pitching.

Well, you may not be surprised to hear that I don't mind Leury staying down and maybe finding a half-ass decent gap stroke. I do have worries about whether his defense could be oversold.

 

I don't know what to take away from his MLB numbers beyond what should have been obvious when we called him up: he was in no way prepared to hit MLB pitching.

Leury was treated as an expendable utility guy by both the Rangers and the White Sox in order to allow their roster to do more important things (Have other bats on the bench like Konerko). There was virtually zero chance he would be successful in the position he was put in. It will be extremely impressive if he's able to work hard enough to salvage his career. I wouldn't rule it out, but I wouldn't count on it.

Take a look at Carlos Sanchez' career path vs Leury Garcia. Pretty similar in terms of age per level, with Leury getting to A and A+ slightly faster but Sanchez to AA and AAA faster. Then note that Sanchez did substantially better offensively at all levels. I'm not sure Leury was promoted so quickly it was damaging, at least not until the MLB jump.

 

That all said, I think the Rangers and Sox treated him as a utility guy because that was his ceiling anyway.

 

Take a look at Carlos Sanchez' career path vs Leury Garcia. Pretty similar in terms of age per level, with Leury getting to A and A+ slightly faster but Sanchez to AA and AAA faster. Then note that Sanchez did substantially better offensively at all levels. I'm not sure Leury was promoted so quickly it was damaging, at least not until the MLB jump.

 

That all said, I think the Rangers and Sox treated him as a utility guy because that was his ceiling anyway.

 

And he has the skillset you look for in a utility guy. He is fast. He is versatile. He is more a contact hitter vs power hitter.

he's not a contact hitter nor a power hitter! Not sure how good his defense it, but I wouldn't mind giving him a 60 game trial at SS just to see what he is. Saladino too. Quit wasting ABs on Beckham, Ramirez, and Gillaspie.

I've never been more surprised by anything than Leury's meh defense last year. Usually scouting doesn't miss on that.

I've never been more surprised by anything than Leury's meh defense last year. Usually scouting doesn't miss on that.

 

Playing consistently helps with that...

Speaking of old rankings, take a look at Baseball America's ranking of the top 1 Angels prospects from 2010:

1. Hank Conger

2. Peter Bourjos

3. Mike Trout

Playing consistently helps with that...

 

He played a good enough amount. He had every opportunity to succeed last year.

I'm marginally confident he will eventually stick as a decent utility guy somewhere. May or may not be with us

I had posted about him awhile back. If we sell, I wouldn't mind seeing him get one spot for 20 plus games and see if being in every day helps his hitting. He appeared to hit in minors better when playing regular which isn't shocking for a youngster.