Mike Stanton was already one of the most dangerous hitters in the minors coming into the season. Now it looks like opposing pitchers have even more reason to be afraid.
마이클 스텐튼(Mike Stanton)은 마이너에서 가장 위협적인 타자로 성장하였고, 상대투수는 그를 피해야할 분명한 이유가 생겼다.
Stanton has 80 raw power on the 20-80 scale. He hit 39 home runs last year as an 18-year-old with low Class A Greensboro. He’s on pace for another 30-plus homers this season with 12 in 47 games. He’s hitting .290/.383/.580 in the high Class A Florida State League, which doesn’t take too kindly to power hitters. He’s the best athlete in the Marlins’ system, with the arm to play right field and enough speed for now to occasionally spot up in center field despite checking in at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds.
20-80 scale(스카우터들이 선수의 평가를 매길때 일반적으로 쓰는 방식이며, 평가는 80 : Outstanding, 70 : Well-above-average, 60 : Above-average, 50 : Major league average, 40 : Below-average, 30 : Well-below-average, 20 : Poor 이런식입니다)에 따르면 스텐튼의 파워수치는 80이며 작년 18살의 나이로 하위 싱글 A에서 39개의 홈런을 쳤고 올해는 47경기에서 12홈런을 치면서 또 다시 30홈런 페이스다. 스텐튼은 말린스 팜에서 최고의 운동신경을 자랑하며 우익수로 뛸만큼 좋은 어깨를 가지고 있지만, (6-5, 225파운드가 나감에도) 때론 CF로 뛸 만큼 좋은 스피드를 보유하고 있다.
But forget about Stanton’s physical abilities for a minute. What’s remarkable is what appears to be tremendous improvement in his approach at the plate and his ability to make contact, which has been the primary concern clouding his forecast.
스텐튼의 운동신경에 대해 잠시 미루고 주목해야할 점은 타석에서 엄청 개선된 모습과 컨택능력이다.Stanton struck out in 28 percent of his trips to the plate last year, racking up 153 strikeouts in 540 plate appearances. Players who strike out in more than a quarter of their PAs in low Class A tend not to turn into good big leaguers. Ryan Howard, Bill Hall and Travis Hafner are the exceptions, but more often they end up like Wily Mo Pena, Calvin Pickering and Ruben Rivera, all
former Top 100 Prospects with K rates above 25 percent in low Class A. Even the players we think of as strikeout machines—Adam Dunn, Mike Cameron and Sammy Sosa, all of whom have at one point led their respective leagues in strikeouts—never struck out that frequently against low Class A pitching.
지난 해 스텐튼은 540타석에서 153개의 삼진을 당하면서 28%의 삼진율(정확하게는 29.9%)을 기록했다. 하위 싱글 A에서 총 타석의 1/4이상을 삼진당하면 결코 좋은 빅리거가 될 수없을 것이다. 물론 라이언 하워드(Ryan Howard)나 빌 홀(Bill Hall), 트레비스 헤프너(Travis Hafner)를 제외하면 하위 싱글 A에서 25%이상의 삼진율을 기록하면 윌리 모 페냐(Wily Mo Pena), 켈빈 피커링(Calvin Pickering), 루빈 리베라(Ruben Rivera)같은 꼴이 된다. 우리가 익히 알고있는 삼진머신들(아담 던, 마이크 카메론, 새미 소사)들도 그 레벨에서는 그런 삼진을 당하진 않았습니다.
But Stanton is proving to be an unusual case. He was raw coming out of high school, having split his prep years between baseball, basketball and football, a sport he considered playing at the Division I level before signing with the Marlins in 2007 as a second-round pick. Growing five inches between the end of his sophomore year and the beginning of his junior year in high school made for some adjustments with his coordination as well.
In most cases, month-to-month trends are nothing more than misleading noise in small sample sizes. But with Stanton, scouts who saw him in high school or early last year—and then saw him again either in the second half last year or at some point this season—have filed reports on the strides that Stanton has made with his approach.
그는 07년 2라운드로 픽되기 전까지만하더라도 대학에 가서 농구, 야구, 미식축구를 하기로 했지만, 고딩때 5인치나 자라는 바람에 그의 계획을 수정했었다. 그를 고딩때 눈여겨봤던 스카우터들은 최근에 그를 다시보고 달마다 바뀌는 그의 모습에 새로운 리포터를 작성해야했다.
Here are the raw numbers, keeping in mind that his 2008 numbers were all in low Class A, while the 2009 data is all from high Class A :
아래가 스텐튼의 작년부터 올해 5월까지의 성적입나다.
MIKE STANTON, MONTH-BY-MONTH
|
| PLAYER |
PA |
K |
BB |
K Rate |
BB Rate |
| April ’08 |
98 |
33 |
7 |
33.7% |
7.1% |
| May ’08 |
107 |
36 |
3 |
33.6% |
2.8% |
| June ’08 |
121 |
32 |
10 |
26.4% |
8.3% |
| July ’08 |
87 |
21 |
14 |
24.1% |
16.1% |
| August ’08 |
122 |
31 |
20 |
25.4% |
16.4% |
| April ’09 |
86 |
24 |
10 |
27.9% |
11.6% |
| May ’09 |
110 |
19 |
15 |
17.3% |
13.6% |
And for the more visual-based folks :
Stanton spent the first two months of the 2008 season striking out in one-third of his trips to the plate. But since then, he has shown steady improvement, and scouts have taken notice. Stanton, who didn’t turn 19 until November, started striking out less and walking more. Part of the improved walk rate has nothing to do with Stanton’s approach but with the way opposing pitchers have been approaching him lately. But scouts say the young slugger also has been waiting for better pitches to hit, allowing his power to manifest itself in game situations.
작년 첫 두달동안 삼진은 1/3에 다달았지만, 그는 점점 개선되었고 11월에 19살이 되었을때쯤 삼진을 줄어들고 볼넷이 늘어나기 시작했다. 물론 늘어난 볼넷 비율은 스텐튼에게 해당되지 않을 수도 있으며 스카우터들은 보통의 어린 슬러거들은 자신의 파워를 과시하기 위해 치기 좋은 공을 기다리는 경향이 있다고 합니다.
He’s never going to have a short swing—when your arms are as long as Stanton’s are, it’s usually just not going to happen—so he’ll probably always be a high strikeout guy. But the Marlins have helped his bat take a more direct path to the baseball, which has helped him make contact with greater frequency.
스텐튼의 팔은 길어서 짧은 스윙을 하지 않습니다. 아마 그 녀석은 항상 많은 삼진을 당할 겁니다. 그렇지만 말린스는 그의 컨택을 개선시키기위해 더 많은 관심을 드러낼 겁니다.
"When he first signed, his stride was very linear, he was heavy to his front side and he would commit to a lot of balls," Marlins hitting coordinator John Mallee said before the season. "And then being 6-foot-5, there’s so much length, so we tried to make him more compact and spread him out. (We) got him in his legs better, and then try to get those long levers short to the ball and long through the ball. So we lowered his hands a little bit in his launch, just made all his movements smaller and made the big long levers more compact."
처음 그가 왔을때 스텐스는 1자였지만, 타석에서 전혀 공에 대처하지 못했습니다. 그래서 스텐스는 넓히고 팔을 더 낮춰 스윙쾌도를 최소화했고 공을 오랫동안 보도록 수정했습니다.
On top of that, scouts say Stanton also has shown more restraint against offspeed pitches outside of the strike zone.
스카우터들은 스텐튼이 스트라익존바깥으로 오프스피드피칭을 하는 투수의 공에 많은 참을성을 보이고 있다고 한다.
"The more at-bats he got, the more experience he got, the better he got,” Mallee said. “From an approach standpoint, his pitch recognition, he struck out a lot in the first half, and as the season went on, his identification of the strike zone improved just from reps and just from playing. Once he got more into the strike zone, then the power really showed up."
"타석에서의 경험이 많아질수록 더 좋아지고 있습니다. 작년 전반기에는 많은 삼진을 당했지만 시즌이 진행될소록 그는 점점 좋아지는 모습을 보여주고 있습니다. 그가 스트라익존에 더 많은 접근법이 생긴다면 진정한 파워를 보여줄겁니다."
Last month, Stanton walked nearly as often as he struck out. At this time last year, that would have been unthinkable. Smart money is on some regression there going forward, but he’s shown the aptitude to make adjustments and become a more well-rounded player.
지난 달 스텐튼은 그의 삼진만큼 볼넷이 증가했고, 이는 작년 기준으로는 상상할 수도 없는 일이었다. 똑똑한 사람들도 때론 삽질을 하지만, 스텐트의 경우는 자신의 약점을 끊임없이 수정하면서 더 좋은 타자가 되려는 경향을 보여주고 잇다.
If Stanton can maintain this improvement in controlling the strike zone (or perhaps even improve upon it), then one of the game’s best young hitting prospects has become even more dangerous.
만약 스텐튼이 지금의 삼진율을 억제하거나 더 좋아진다면 그는 어린 히팅 프로스펙터에서 더 위험한 타자로 진보할 것이다.
스텐튼은 올시즌 상위 싱글 A에서 시작했지만, 6월에 더블 A인 잭슨빌 선즈로 콜업되었습니다.
콜업되어서 10경기동안 아직 홈런이 없지만, 이 부분에 대해서는 감수해야할 겁니다.
Southern League가 워낙 투수리그이면서 잭슨빌의 홈구장이 투수구장이기 때문이죠.
하지만 적응만 한다면 스텐튼에게 전혀 문제될게 없을거 같습니다.
