09 February 2012

Cup of jO's: Joe Mahoney is Tall

Sexson shows the benefit of size.
Joe Mahoney is 6'6.  That is pretty tall for a first baseman.  How tall is it?  In the history of the game there have been 10 first basemen who have been 6'6 or taller.  Here is that list:
Richie Sexson 14.4 rWAR, 1367 games
Tony Clark 11.8 rWAR, 1559 games
Damon Minor 0.2 rWAR, 136 games
Ron Jackson 0.2 rWAR, 196 games
Cotton Nash 0.0 rWAR, 13 games
Julio Zuleta -0.3 rWAR, 79 games
Desi Wilson -0.4 rWAR, 41 games
Brad Eldred -1.3 rWAR, 85 games
Don Gile -1.3 rWAR, 58 games
Howie Schultz -2.7 rWAR, 470 games
This list in and of itself does not impart a great deal of information about how successful Joe Mahoney could be.  Nick wrote this on Mahoney this past fall:
Joe Mahoney is a bat-first corner defender likely to end-up at first base or designated hitter, full time. He has some length to his swing, a not-insignificant leak entering his weight transfer and a moderate to heavy backside collapse, depending on the at bat. Prognosis? It's unlikely contact will be Mahoney's strong suit, and he could be quickly exposed at the Major League level, if not Triple-A. He projects as a bench bat or Four-A player.
In discussions about Joe Mahoney entering his age 25 season and how he has not yet been able to tap into his power potential, it has been argued that players with such immense height require extra development time in order to be able to successful control the strike zone.  However, I am not so sure about that.  Richie Sexson established himself as a big league player at the end of the 1998 season at the age of 23.  He really did not harness his power stroke until he was 22.  Tony Clark established himself in 1996 as a 24 year old.  Clark's power emerged as a 22 year old.

I think it is fair to say that of the players of his dimensions who have been successful, Mahoney is two to three years behind them.  That said, I am not sure that grouping players on the extreme ends of height is a useful exercise.  It is more prudent to stick to traditional scouting on this one and it pretty much says something similar, which is that Joe Mahoney is likely to have more in common with Julio Zuleta than Richie Sexson.

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2012 at 9:08 AM

    Hate to repost the same comments but I felt compelled..
    "I appreciate the insight but I would take Mahoney's potential over Xavier Avery any day. Physical ability aside, there are just some guys that "get it" and some that don't. Don't get me wrong, I hope they both pan out, but when AA fielding coaches needed to spray paint an "X" in CF to show Avery where to stand, I'm not holding my breath."

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  2. Jon ShepherdFebruary 9, 2012 at 9:34 AM

    Perhaps most true is to say neither of them are likely to do much more for the team than being bench players.

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  3. Jon ShepherdFebruary 9, 2012 at 9:35 AM

    To add to that...it is important to understand how much Mahoney's bat has to come around to work out at first. Avert has a much lower bar to cross to be useful.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2012 at 10:43 PM

    Big Joe is the next Orioles first baseman! Wake up people. He knows the game better than anyone. He just needs the opportunity. Just look at last years spring training numbers. Stay healthy Joe!!!!

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  5. Jon ShepherdFebruary 10, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    Right in line behind Jake Fox.

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  6. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2012 at 11:47 AM

    When will the day come when Dave and John Stockstill are dismissed from the front office? If I was that bad at my job, I would have been fired a looooong time ago, not constantly promoted over 16 years.

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