Congratulations to Dynasty client, Robert Lara, for being named to the Arizona Rookie League All-Star Team. Robert has definitely made Padres executives very happy about selecting him in the nineteenth round. In a post made yesterday on Paul DePodesta’s blog, he had this to say about Lara:
Round 19 – Robert Lara, signed, Arizona – A 6′2″ catcher from the University of Central Florida, Robert has absolutely raked in Arizona. He has hit .344 with a .492 obp and a .483 slg. He has more walks than strikeouts, is 2nd in the league in obp (behind Decker), and 5th in average. Overall, he’s had a tremendous start to his career.
Nice words coming from the special assistant for baseball operations for the San Diego Padres. Besides Lara, the AZL Padres have two other all-stars: Jaff Decker (who was also named league MVP) and Stiven Osuna. Congratulations to all, and super props to our boy, Robert Lara.
2 Comments
Darren
Just curious how you feel about Lara being left off the Top 20 AZL prospects list…
Regards,
Bobby
Good question. First, for reference, Bobby is referring to this article published by Baseball America: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/league-top-20-prospects/2008/266853.html
I am not disappointed that Lara was left off. Most of the time, a prospect is somebody who is younger than Lara and often straight out of high school. Additionally, prospects are usually higher round picks. Lara was not listed as a Top 20 prospect, but that has no bearing on his future success and does not reflect the great numbers he put up this year.
Here is a Q&A from BA’s chat following the release of the list:
Q: Marco from San Diego asks:
Bill, What were your impressions on Robert Lara? Granted he was a little old for the league, but he is he a future ML catcher?
A:
Bill Mitchell: The projection that I generally got around the league is that if Lara makes the big leagues it will be as a backup. Interesting hitter, but he’ll soon be 22.
I have faith in Lara and believe that he has the potential to be a starting catcher for an organization. Only time will tell.