Hey, Amembah Me?
To say that former Yankees 2003 first round pick (and 27th overall selection) Eric Duncan has fallen off the prospect watch grid would be an understatement.
In fact, Duncan was not listed among the Yankees prospects by John Sickels in his Baseball Prospect Book 2008 and he was not mentioned, at all, anywhere in the book, in the Yankees section of Baseball Prospectus 2008.
However, Eric is still young – as he won’t be 24 until this December. And, at the moment, he’s not doing a bad job at Triple-A.
In his first 25 games at Scranton this season, in 74 AB, he’s batting .270 with an OBP of .382 and a slugging percentage of .459. In his last 10 games, he’s batting .321 (in 28 AB) with 5 walks.
Now, there are some numbers inside the these numbers, of course. All of the “damage” that he’s done with the bat has been against right-handed pitching. His OPS against RHP is .903 and it’s only .664 against LHP. And, he’s struggled with runners in scoring position – so far this year.
But, on the whole, he’s not getting the bat knocked out of his hands on a regular basis – which is more than acceptable for a 23-year old in Triple-A.
Duncan still has a ways to go before he gets himself back on the full-blown prospect watch – as it’s still early in the season. But, if he keeps up his current pace, he’ll post his best season in about 4 or 5 years.
Heck, if he keeps it up, and Giambi continues to fail in New York, could we see a “Duncan” platoon at first this season in the Bronx – Shelley Duncan against lefties and Eric Duncan against righties? Wouldn’t that be funny?
