Keith Law on Xavier Avery

[DougDE]

Last night, Fri the 19th, Keith Law was a guest on Ken Weinman's show on 105.7 FM. I texted Ken and asked him if he could ask Keith about Avery and he obliged. Keith obviously knew exactly who he was and immediately started gushing about his "explosive" speed. He said it is speed that a lot of players lose some of when they move into their 20's but Xavier doesn't seem to be losing it. He said he was surprised he went as low in the draft as he did. Thought he had enough talent to go higher. He said his biggest weakness is his ability to recognize offspeed pitches and that ability is well below average for a player who has played a couple years of pro ball now but there is still plenty to be excited about with this kid

[Jordan Tuwiner]

He said his biggest weakness is his ability to recognize offspeed pitches and that ability is well below average for a player who has played a couple years of pro ball now but there is still plenty to be excited about with this kid

Thanks for asking, Doug. While his ability may not line up with the amount of years he's spent in pro ball, it's important to remember that he played mostly football in high school. He's only been focused strictly on baseball for about 2 and a half years.

[Don]

While Avery might be having issues, he can mask it with pure athletic ability until the rest of his game starts to shape up. A great comparible is Kenny Lofton. Lofton had a bit more experience playing for the Wildcats in college, but he had a rough time at the plate until age 23 and 5 years in proffessional baseball.

I think Lofton is a high goal to compare, but Avery should follow a similar curve. He is still way to young to judge and he should see another 800-1200 at bats before you really know what type of player to expect. His hand-eye coordination is steadily improving, but it will take that ability to recognize the off speed pitch to become the type of player.

He will still see the majors one day because of his speed and defense. Depending on his ability to improve at the plate, you could be talking about a player from Doug Glanville to Carl Crawford.