Not sure if this it out there, but, pretty good info: By John Sickels Special to ESPN.com Frank K. from Houston writes: Now that Carlos Beltran has signed with the Mets, what is your opinion of the outfielders in the Astros' organization, especially Jason Lane, Willy Taveras and Josh Anderson? All three players have put up good numbers in the minors. Anderson is probably 2-3 years away, but what do you think of Lane and Taveras' performance abilities in the majors? Let's take a look. Lane Lane: He saw action in 107 games for the Astros last year. But he received just 136 at-bats, being used mostly as a pinch-hitter and platoon player. Despite his small amount of playing time, his numbers (.272 BA, .348 OBP, .463 SLG) are right on target with what his MLEs (Major League Equivalent averages) indicate. He has 232 career at-bats now, with a .280/.351/.526 line, and I don't think that's a fluke. If someone gave Lane 500 at-bats, he'd hit .275-.290, with a .340-.360 OBP and a SLG in the upper .400s at least, perhaps right at .500. He's a fine player, and while he is not Beltran, the Astros could do a lot worse than give Lane a full-time job. Taveras: He hit .335 with 55 steals last year for Double-A Round Rock. He has much less power than Lane, contributing just 16 extra-base hits and a .386 slugging percentage. Numbers like that in Double-A do not translate well to the Show. But Taveras' speed leaves Lane and most other outfielders in the dust. He is also an excellent defensive outfielder, at least in terms of range. If Taveras has a future as a regular, it would be as a Juan Pierre type, but at this point I'm skeptical about his ability to put up numbers like that. I think Taveras projects as a .260-.270 hitter in the Show, with a mediocre on-base percentage. His speed and defense would make him useful on the bench, however. Anderson: He was a fourth-round pick in 2003, from Eastern Kentucky University. Like Taveras, his best tool is speed. Anderson swiped 78 bases combined at two levels of A-ball last year, being caught just 13 times. But it is unclear if he'll hit enough at higher levels. He hit .324 in 73 games in the Sally League, but just .268 with a .317 OBP after promotion to the Carolina League. He has more power than Taveras, but still has to show he can handle the bat at higher levels. Like Taveras, I think he's destined to be a reserve outfielder. Overall, I think Lane has the best balance of skills and is the most likely to help the Astros in '05, if they don't sign a veteran. Taveras and Anderson offer impressive speed, but may not do enough other things to play regularly. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?id=1966118
I agree with all of this. Lane will be fine in the OF. He's the one Astros outfielder I don't have any questions about.
I'd like to see Sickels assessment of Mitch Einertson and Todd Self. I think Self is going to be a good player, at least from what I saw of him in Round Rock last season. He's got a good arm and hits for power. I guess we'll know more after a season in AAA.
All of this can change if we get Jose Cruz Jr. He would most likely start in CF and Lane would start in RF while Biggio would start in LF. Now if we sign Burnitz, fine but if that impacts getting Cruz Jr thewn I say no way!!! If we have to trade Lane and a pitcher for Cruz then we need to sign Burnitz. If we trade for Cruz, keep Lane, and get Burnitz, I would assume that boggio would be starting back at 2B until Burke gets his feet wet.
I am really interested in seeing what Einertson does after the season he had last year. He looks impressive.
The steroid testing may very well bring the speed back to the game. it will be interesting to see if it does.
I'm going to remember this DD when you're complaining about having another infielder in the outfield.
Lane can rake....I don't have much doubt with him. .280/.351/.526 despite getting to play once a week is very very impressive. His RH power fits well in MMP.
My understanding was that he was another converted first basemen that was moved to the outfield. Of course after searching for an hour I can't find anything to support that.
I think he was in college and maybe even in rookie ball. He has been an outfielder for long enough that it doesn't matter any more. Put it this way, Jason Lane has been an outfielder longer than Brandon Backe has been a pitcher.
I think Lane is like the Nachbar of the Astros, he needs to get a lot more playing time so he can show what he can do.
except Nachbar blows, if you've seen what he's done in NO with the pt. Lane has already shown something on the bench, and therefore it is easy to predict at least moderate success next year, if not better than that.
he got 14 pts. a while back, and last game he had 12pts. 7 rebounds, if thats blowing, well that's your opinion on blowing. he's had some crappy games but who in the league hasn't.
Reece Gaines put up 14 points in a game last year. Dan Langhi put up 17 pts in a game. He's shooting below 40% from the field, and below 30% from the arc while in NO- and more than 6 fouls per 48 mins. Lane, on the other hand, has actually produced reasonable MLB numbers. He has a small sample size, but a pretty solid career OPS of .877 covering 272 PAs (around half a season)- for comparison, Jeff Kent put up an .880 this year, while Chipper Jones, Jeff Bagwell, and Sammy Sosa were all in the .840s. He's also produced well at every level of the minors. Nachbar, meanwhile was a 13-14 ppg scorer in the Euroleagues; their play is a little different, but 13-14 ppg is certainly not guaranteed to carry into the NBA. The only reason Lane is not a "studly" prospect is because he had to follow Berkman through the system, and has been blocked by the traditionally strong Stros OF- especially at the corners. I think Sickels is a little early in slotting Taveras and Anderson as .260-.270s bit players.
