And finally, we welcome 19-year old shortstop Jonathan Villar from Lakewood. Villar (sometimes apparently spelled "Villan" - which is way cooler) has hit .270/.345/.352 in his three-season career, making the jump from the DSL in 2008 to Rookie ball in 2009 to Single-A in 2010.
The first thing that jumps out about Villar(n) is the stolen bases. He has 82 in his career, and 38 of those so far in 2010. He's also posting a .272/.332/.358 line, which means he doesn't have much power.
Like Gose, his average is propped up by a .387 BABIP, with a 60.7% groundball rate. He's able to get the ball in the air against lefties (34.9%, as opposed to 20.7% against RHP), but he has steadily declined this season in OPS:
April: .750
May: .723
June: .694
July: .670.
Again, we won't say much because he's a 19-year old prospect, but Baseball America says this:
Scouts rave about Villar's range and easy actions, saying he could play defense in the big leagues right now. "Defensively, it's all there—60 arm, very good range," one scout told us recently. Villar runs very well and is aggressive in terms of stealing and taking extra bases. Like Gose, he'll need repetitions to refine his offensive game. Villar likes to swing at fastballs early in the count and rarely walks. The switch-hitter has fared marginally better from the left side this season, batting .270/.333/.363 with both of his home runs.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
