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whose better smith or hill

Your not a blue jays fan if you are asking this question.

Our first Blue Jays ballboy thread in every sense of the word, how cute.

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whosthebosh? wrote:Our first Blue Jays ballboy thread in every sense of the word, how cute.

and you didn't even lock it eh...



Anyway, Smith is obviously better. Future HOFer

I'm not locking this because as our first real ballboy thread I think this needs to be celebrated. Drinks all around!

...and Hill is clearly better than Smith.

I decided to not waste this thread so..
anyways, am I the only one who is really impressed with Aaron Hill?

what do you guys think his ceiling is? Do you think he can increase his HR? avg?

simarjeet wrote:whose better smith or hill

Didn't you mean to ask between Smith and John McDonald?

Ong_dynasty wrote:I decided to not waste this thread so..
anyways, am I the only one who is really impressed with Aaron Hill?

what do you guys think his ceiling is? Do you think he can increase his HR? avg?

I think every Jays fan is...

I'd rather see Hill concentrate on hitting for average, and acquiring some more quicks on the base paths. Solid quality contact hitters who play solid defense at 2nd base aren't rare, but neither are they plentiful.

What's really interesting to watch is Hill's progression in his defensive game, for a guy who's yet to play a full season at one position he's turning into a top notch 2nd baseman.

He's streaky in his offensive game at this stage in his career, though he's at that point where we should start seeing his average increase as well as his quality at-bats increase.

Hill's not streaky offensively. He had one slump to start the year last year and tore it up after mid-May. He hit .291 in his first full season in the league - not exactly someone we need to worry about offensively.

whosthebosh? wrote:Hill's not streaky offensively. He had one slump to start the year last year and tore it up after mid-May. He hit .291 in his first full season in the league - not exactly someone we need to worry about offensively.

I disagree. If he doesn't start showing some semblance of power this season we should be worried. He's not exactly a speedster, so it'll be hard to maintain a batting-average driven offense like his. Unless he begins to develop a more well-rounded game he'll become more of a stopgap at second base rather than a solution.

SmallTownJournalist303 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-I disagree. If he doesn't start showing some semblance of power this season we should be worried. He's not exactly a speedster, so it'll be hard to maintain a batting-average driven offense like his. Unless he begins to develop a more well-rounded game he'll become more of a stopgap at second base rather than a solution.

Speed has very little to do with batting average hitters. Hill has a quick bat and doesn't strike out a lot. That type of approach is very conducive to maintaining a high batting average.

He hits for average, draws a good amount of walks, and was showing good progress in the power department before being called up in 2005. He's only 25 so that part of his game is far from being done (as he's shown to this point).

Hill is not a concern. At worst, he'll be a solid MLB 2B. At best, he'll be very good for a long time.

Godly topic.

A 30 year old fringe player or a young .300, 10 hr player...hmm?

Michael Bradley wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Speed has very little to do with batting average hitters. Hill has a quick bat and doesn't strike out a lot. That type of approach is very conducive to maintaining a high batting average.

He hits for average, draws a good amount of walks, and was showing good progress in the power department before being called up in 2005. He's only 25 so that part of his game is far from being done (as he's shown to this point).

Hill is not a concern. At worst, he'll be a solid MLB 2B. At best, he'll be very good for a long time.

I'm in no way implying that I don't expect Hill to develop into a very well-rounded baseball player; I'm just saying that if he were to flatline at this level - which, lets be honest, has happened in the past to players with his skillset - then we'd need to start looking for a better option at second. I see this as a make-or-break season for him, in my eyes at least.
I don't buy the "he's a good on-base guy" argument, at least not yet. He's squarely average at drawing walks, and without developing some power it'll be almost impossible to improve in that category.