The outfielder was assigned to AAA Columbus and will likely be given a chance to enter a possibly crowded outfield picture in Tucson for spring training.
Choice showed top notch power potential in the minors after being picked 10th in the draft by the Oakland Athletics,but was unable to make enough contact in Texas as he hit nine homers in eighty-six games,but did it hitting just .186 in a hitters ballpark in Arlington.
Players like Michael Choice tend to get a extra chance or two on their draft pedigree and every once in a while,a prospect that has seen their star fade at a few stops will put things together somewhere,but more often than not,the flaws of the player generally doom them to be more of a AAA player that becomes a hired gun for that level that will occasionally get called up to provide depth after an injury has occurred.
Being around the game,scouting a lot of players and looking closely at the numbers,I've focused in on a few numbers that at the Low A level tend to tell me whether a prospect could struggle at higher levels whether that is at the big league level or even just AA.
For hitters at low A,there are two numbers that tell a huge tale for me-
Number one,above almost all is this-strikeouts.
If you are striking out at a large rate in low A against the inexperienced and often lacking in command pitching-there is a massive red flag.
Choice started at High A and hit 30 homers,but whiffed 134 times.
That can be lived with when you hit 30 homers,but the progression to AA saw the foreshadowing struggle-88 whiffs in 91 games and the homers fell to just 10.
When you strike out a lot at the A level,you either show that you have adjustments to make or need to develop discipline at the plate.
The stat is not the be all and end all and some hitters have overcome that,but the numbers are against them.
The other number that can tell a contender from a pretender is OPS (on base plus slugging).
However,I weigh OPS a little differently in judging a prospect than I do when evaluating a major leaguer.
I tend to look at OBP as more important in a prospect than slugging (usually) at the lower levels.
Here is why-Most prospects have the ability to drive the ball against the lower quality of pitching,so slugging can be downplayed (just a hair for the purposes of this argument),so I look at these questions-Can this player get on base enough to not be one dimensional?
Will this players be able to continue to hit with extra base power at the higher levels?
Choice's on base percentage was pretty consistent as he moved through the minors (.376 at high A and a high of.390 as he moved up through the minors),but as his homers dropped so did his slugging which moved from a high of .542 at high A and would not go higher than .460 there after.
The drop in Choice's slugging numbers showed just what he was about to become-a player that would occasionally hit for power,but more often than not be a liability at the plate.
Michael Choice could perhaps make the adjustments needed for success,but the odds are against him.
The time for those adjustments were when he was at the lower levels.
Instead,Choice was a one dimensional bomber and now he's on the verge of being considered a bust of a high draft pick.
Hope you enjoyed this,perhaps I'll do a version of looking at the most important evaluating tools for pitchers,if enough are interested....
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