• Bones, Back In The Day

    Posted by on December 21st, 2010 · Comments (2)

    A slice of Steve Balboni’s minor league stats when he was a youngster in the Yankees system:

    Year Age Tm Lg Lev G PA R HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG
    1980 23 Nashville SOUL AA 141 613 101 34 122 82 162 .301 .399 .553
    1981 24 Columbus IL AAA 125 498 68 33 98 55 146 .247 .337 .532
    1982 25 Columbus IL AAA 83 359 57 32 86 38 68 .284 .359 .652
    1983 26 Columbus IL AAA 84 378 72 27 81 48 91 .274 .373 .574
    Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
    Generated 12/21/2010.

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    The dude had serious minor league power back then, eh? Dare we say “Jesus Montero-like” power? Of course, the difference here is age. Montero just turned 21 last month and is already playing at AAA.

    Filed under Yankees History · ·

    Comments on Bones, Back In The Day

    1. MJ Recanati
      December 21st, 2010 | 12:05 pm

      Of course, the difference here is age. Montero just turned 21 last month and is already playing at AAA.
      ——-
      Bingo. Montero’s first season in AAA was .289/.353/.517 with 58 XBH (34 2B/21 HR) as a 21 year old. It took Balboni a full year of AAA pitching as a 24 year old to get his slash stats up to Montero’s level.
    2. Raf
      December 21st, 2010 | 12:22 pm

      IIRC, Balboni was ahead of Mattingly on the organizational depth chart. You’re right, he had tremendous power, he just couldn’t seize the opportunity when he got the call.

      From what I’ve heard, he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet.

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