"The Astros believed Lane’s future was at the plate rather than on the mound, so he began his professional career as a first baseman. He was later moved to the outfield because of Jeff Bagwell, who plays first base." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Lane Whose bright idea was that anyway? They screwed him up for life. And if we're not going to get rid of him, why can't he go back to pitching? He pitched in the College World Series. He must have been semi-decent.
... for a A ball pitcher? How many A ball pitchers make it to AA? AAA? MLB? IIRC Lane won some MVPs with his bat as he progressed through the Astros farm system. The unfortunate truth appears to be that Lane's skill level topped out at AAA.
obviously he was not a real talent at pitcher if he was moved to outfield/1b the enigma is solved. lane sucks
He never pitched in the minors. Like I said, his skill level topped out at AAA as far as hitting, but who knows how good he could've been at pitching?
He was good at both in college, and they thought he would excel more as a hitter. That doesn't mean he wouldn't have had a career as a pitcher.
The guy was on Roids when he hit 24 or 25 homeruns in limited playing time. Look at him now. He's so much smaller. No doubt in my mind.
If anything, he's slightly larger now. Besides, that's not the point. His power didn't go anywhere. He's still hitting home runs at a comparable rate, particularly since his recall. It's his average that has dipped. It's his patience that has gone down even further. It's a lack of making consistent contact and consistently hitting the ball on the screws, so to speak.
Which is why we should give up on him being a hitter and have him go back to pitching. It's not like he's doing anything else these days.
The loyalty Pupura and Garner had to this guy is scary. Essentially, their flawed evaluation signed their pink ticket out of here. Too bad because I thought that Garner was an excellent manager. An overall swell guy. But Pupura, I recall a story about some FA wanting to come to play for the Astros this past spring training, and he told his Agent to call the Astros. However the Astros never returned their phone calls. I've noted, however I don't know how true it might be, but that Pupura was very unorganized. And the Tavares, Hirsh, and Bucholtz for Jennings and X player was highway robbery by the Rookies. Puppura got taken to eschool!!!!
You're completely wrong. His SLG is 140 points lower than it was 2 years ago. That's the measure of power. It's really common for guys to have awful numbers across the board once they get off the juice. Look at Giambi and Boone. Even if he has hit a few homers since he got back, he isn't hitting the ball hard when he gets contact. He has only 2 doubles since he has been back . And the guy is smaller.
With respect to HRs, Lane is hitting them at roughly the same rate as he did in 2005. It's the doubles where he is waaaaay behind.
The real measure of power, and power alone, is isolated power, which is calculated by subtracting batting average from slugging percentage. Lane's isolated power this year is .177. In '05 and '06, his best years, his ISO was .115 and .183, respectively. He's still hitting for power... when he hits. Which isn't often.
Jason Lane is an enigma? Since when? All the guy ever does is hit 1 hr for every 20 strikeouts he has the past 2-3 seasons.
The Kennedy assassination is an enigma. The enduring popularity of Elvis is an enigma. The causes of World War I is an enigma. Jason Lane is no enigma. He's not even a riddle. At best he's a limerick.
