DOB: 5/25/80, Age: 22, Bats/Throws: R/R,
Height: 6’0’’, Weight: 190. Acquired: Diamondbacks - Drafted in the 3rd
Round of the 2001 Draft (Central Arizona JC). 2001 Stats: (Rookie -
Missoula) .347 AVG, 291 AB, 16 2B, 6 3B, 14 HR, 2 SB, 38 BB, 50 K, .422
OBP, .588 SLG. 2002 Stats: (Low-A - South Bend) .332 AVG, 394 AB, 35 2B, 4
3B, 16 HR, 9 SB, 58 BB, 74 K, .426 OBP, .563 SLG; (High-A - Lancaster)
.405 AVG, 79 AB, 11 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 1 SB, 6 BB, 16 K, .442 OBP, .797
SLG.
Scott Hairston must be a
lower echelon minor league manager’s dream: a pedigreed player that is a
year or two older than the competition with great offensive talent, and he
plays in the middle infield to boot. Scott will likely become the fifth of
his extended family to play in the majors at some point, and he does play
like he has been around the game for quite some time. He is at his best on
offense, where he is fairly close to being a complete player. He won the
JC triple crown in 2001, nearly followed that up with the Pioneer League
triple crown a few months later, and then led the minors in extra base
hits this year. His last four batting averages have been .503, .347, .332,
and .405, so it is safe to say that he has the ability to hit for a high
average. He is a bit more mature than many A-ball players, so he may not
develop a lot more power, but he should be above average in that category
at the very least. Although he did steal ten bases last year, he is not a
burner. He is a better baserunner than a base stealer, but he is at least
average in both areas. His batting eye is probably the weakest part of his
offensive game, but it is not to his detriment this far down in the
minors. He will need to develop a bit more patience as he climbs the
ladder, a task at which I expect him to succeed. With the glove, it is
another story entirely. He made 30 errors between the two levels in 2002,
and it is not a case where you say, “well, most of them were mental
mistakes or lapses of concentration.” Hairston is simply not a good
fielder at this juncture. He does not have a good arm at all, which (after
10 games or so this year) probably eliminated all thought of having him
replace Williams at third in a few years. He has some range, and is a
fairly athletic individual, so you might expect some improvement if he
works on it. He might be able to become a league-average second baseman
defensively, which with his offense would be plenty.
The Snakes can afford to
be patient with Hairston to some extent, even though he is already 22,
because of the depth of prospects in their infield. Erubiel Durazo and
Lyle Overbay are available at first, Junior Spivey looks like a solid
player at second, and Tony Womack and Alex Cintron are around to battle
for shortstop. There isn’t really a good young option at third, but that
doesn’t appear to be an option for Hairston, plus Chad Tracy is on his way
up as well. Opportunity is indeed important, but performance forces spots
open, so if Hairston continues to hit like this he will make a spot for
himself (perhaps Spivey can play third?). Whatever the D-Backs infield
looks like in five years, it will probably be fairly solid. Now if they
could only find a catcher and some starting pitchers younger than 38,
they’d have a good foundation for future success. I know it is a large
gap, but he should fall somewhere between Randy Velarde and Jeff Kent: an
average to good offensive player with defensive shortcomings. I would
expect him to hit AA early next year, if not at the start of the season,
but be held back from the bigs until late 2004 at the soonest. I’ll leave
you with an interesting thought: if you combined Scott and his brother
Jerry into one player, you’d have one heck of a second
baseman.