Val Pascucci: Not the Answer

I read with amusement Tim Marchman's article on the Mets "Outfield Solution", an article that appeared two weeks ago and still has uninformed Mets fans buzzing.

"Pascucci! He's our answer," they say when shown his overly inflated minor league stats in the PCL.

So what about Val Pascucci, Tim Marchman's purported Mets savior? How good is this guy? How good can he be with the Mets?

He has a solid .980 OPS in the PCL, which led to a Marchman translation of an .850 OPS in the big leagues (saying it is a Baseball Prospectus number).

Marchman said Pascucci "can be our Vlad Guerrero!"

Aint gonna happen folks, and here's why...

The PCL, for the uninformed, is the hitting haven for mid-20s to mid 30s has been's, or never will be's.

Take a look at the top 20 players, sorted by OPS--you'll find Pascucci in there.

Name	Team	POS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	TB	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Nelson Cruz	OKL	RF	99	366	93	126	17	3	37	98	260	56	84	24	8	.434	.710	.344	1.144
Dallas McPherson	ALB	3B	103	359	78	106	15	3	39	86	244	67	131	13	6	.405	.680	.295	1.085
Jamie D'Antona	TUC	3B	92	343	58	126	31	1	17	67	210	24	53	0	0	.407	.612	.367	1.019
Josh Whitesell	TUC	1B	107	396	71	130	29	0	21	86	222	60	113	1	2	.424	.561	.328	.985
Valentino Pascucci	NOZ	RF	89	311	62	89	15	0	24	65	176	64	85	3	0	.411	.566	.286	.977
Terry Tiffee	LVG	3B	87	363	69	136	37	3	8	62	203	27	39	0	2	.415	.559	.375	.974
Matthew Brown	SLC	3B	93	384	74	125	32	4	21	67	228	30	74	4	2	.377	.594	.326	.971
Brian Myrow	POR	1B	87	299	56	97	21	1	10	53	150	71	63	0	1	.455	.502	.324	.957
Brandon Wood	SLC	3B	79	315	68	91	17	2	25	61	187	29	83	4	3	.354	.594	.289	.948
Scott McClain	FRE	1B	111	394	76	120	31	1	22	85	219	56	78	5	2	.389	.556	.305	.945
Chip Ambres	POR	CF	86	322	71	95	25	5	17	64	181	41	68	8	2	.377	.562	.295	.939
Chris Aguila	NOZ	OF	92	329	58	97	14	1	23	59	182	42	79	10	3	.380	.553	.295	.934
Nate Schierholtz	FRE	OF	88	331	58	104	20	10	15	65	189	21	45	9	2	.360	.571	.314	.931
John Lindsey	LVG	1B	107	398	68	122	31	1	20	84	215	44	64	0	0	.387	.540	.307	.928
Tug Hulett	TAC	2B	87	324	70	99	22	5	14	47	173	47	70	10	5	.386	.534	.306	.920
Victor Diaz	TAC	OF	100	367	52	106	29	0	22	88	201	46	123	7	3	.371	.548	.289	.919
Freddy Sandoval	SLC	3B	105	419	72	140	35	2	14	72	221	42	63	6	3	.391	.527	.334	.919
Andres Torres	IOW	OF	95	321	71	97	24	6	11	42	166	48	84	16	3	.397	.517	.302	.914
John-Ford Griffin	LVG	LF	94	319	56	99	19	4	14	67	168	36	60	1	1	.386	.527	.310	.912
Joe Koshansky	CSP	1B	94	352	58	96	31	2	22	88	197	42	125	1	0	.351	.560	.273	.910

The average age of those players is 27. Moreover, many have major league experience, and for the most part, they have been putrid in the big leagues.

To whit:

27-year old Nelson Cruz, a PCL superstar and the likely PCL MVP, has a major league OBP of .282 in 442 at-bats with 119 Ks. He has a .434 OBP in the PCL.

27-year old Dallas McPherson, PCL slugger extraordinaire, has a major league OBP of .294 in 360 at-bats with 121 Ks. He has a .409 OBP in the PCL.

Remember Victor Diaz? He is now a PCL superstar, but in the big leagues he had a .309 OBP in 446 at-bats with 135 Ks. He has a .370 OBP in the PCL.

Chip Ambres? PCL superstar. ...he currently has a .371 OBP in the PCL with solid power numbers. In the big leagues he hit .230 with 104 Ks in 418 at-bats.

So yeah Marchman, how do the numbers for the players above tranlate to the big leagues, and why has no one put the numbers up when they get the call?

Anyway, next time you feel like blowing smoke up the collective rear ends of Met Nation, please do a little more homework.