J-Sizzle Movin On Up

The Yankees have just called up OF Justian Christian. After I got done cursing the Yankees for bringing up Justin over Gardy, I did some research on him for you guys. Justin was undrafted out of Auburn University and couldn't find a home, so he headed out to the Independent League for a season. He did decent work in the independent league, most notably hitting .301 with 18 stolen bases. He only had 2 homers that season and didn't hit too many RBI's or score too many runs. He was a second baseman and wasn't actually converted to the outfield until recently. In the midst of his second I.L. season, Christian signed with the Yankees and started out with the GCL Yankees where he had outstanding numbers in his 3 games hitting .501. He then moved up to Staten Island, where he struggled a bit at the plate hitting a mere .274, but did show a streak of power with 7 homeruns. The next seaon, despite some plate troubles, he moved up to Charleston and then the next season to Tampa posting Just above and just below .300 in the respective seasons. He was then promoted the next year to Trenton where his switch began and he moved to the OF. He had mediocre numbers once again hitting aroung .275 and 6 HR's. The next year in Scranton he hit .271 with 4 HR's. He began the season in Scranton hitting .309 with 4 HR's.
Here's the General Scouting Report on J-Sizzle (his nickname) - He is a hitter that hits for average not so much power, all though he has shown flashes of power. He will never hit much more than .300 and hit more than 10-15 homeruns in a season. He has a below average arm that was better suited for the infield. He is below average in the defense department, but is extremely fast and will steal alot of bases, making him an ideal leadoff or #2 hitter. He steals bases at an incredible 85% rate. He is only 25 years old and still has time to shore up his D and learn to hit the gaps better. The good news is with his short consistant swing, he should be a decent hitter. His stongest OF position is CF, which means this should be a short callup and likely he wont see another anytime soon, his worst postion is RF. I am very surprised he made it to the bigs before Gardy, but hopefully he'll do some good work there and give us another option in the OF.

Pinstriped As Always,
Laura