How good does a glove need to be to make up for a weak bat? Sweet fielding shortstop prospect Eric Stamets puts that question to the test.
Eric Stamets
In 10 words or less: Angels future Utility Infielder. Defensive Whiz. Use your speed.
Position: SS Born: 9/25/91
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6’0″ Weight: 185
Last Year Rank: #14
2014 Season Stats
[table id=45 /]
OFFENSE
Contact – B. Stamets is what I’d characterize as a “pure” contact hitter. He’s up there to do one thing, put the ball in play. There’s no involvement of power or focusing on getting a pitch to drive, it’s just see the ball, hit the ball and run like hell.
Power – F. He runs into one on occasion but Stamets doesn’t have any real power to speak of.
Discipline – D. Just as we said last year, this is probably why Stamets isn’t projected into a starting lineup. Despite his excellent contact profile and blazing speed, he just can’t be a top of the lineup type of hitter because he doesn’t reach base often enough. Much of this probably has to do with the fact that pitchers don’t fear him and thus won’t pitch around him, but Stamets himself could show more patience.
Speed – A. This is the part of Stamets that I don’t understand. He has elite speed. Yet he isn’t a base stealer and I can’t figure out why. Even if he doesn’t get a great jump he still has the speed to make up for it. Yet Stamets only swipe 11 bases in AA last season and just one during the AFL.
DEFENSE
Arm – B+. Stamets has a great arm for a shortstop, a good arm for third baseman and an otherworldly arm for second base.
Fielding – A+. This is why Stamets is the future utility infielder. He makes defensive specialists look like butchers in the field. Watching him field a baseball and throw is like watching poetry in motion. It’s a beautiful thing.
Range – A+. There isn’t a ball that any major leaguer or minor leaguer can get to that Stamets can’t. I mean that. His first step is so fast, his path is direct, his glove is sure.
OVERALL
Performance – D+. He just wasn’t good in his first go-around at AA. He saw advanced pitching for the first time and they were able to get him out and keep him off the bases in ways that pitchers in A ball never could. Stamets’ home park also had a lot to do with the suppressing of his numbers. It’s where all fly balls die, regardless of how well struck, as evidenced by his home-road splits. What’s also encouraging is that Eric made the adjustments as the season progressed. He hit .211 in the first half and .252 in the second half, which means he went from embarrassing to about average. He even hit over .300 in his final 30 games. His hot-streak carried over to the AFL where he hit .279 against some of the top talent in minor league baseball.
Projection – C. Stamets is still pretty young at age 22 in the high minors, and judging by the adjustments he made this season, there is some room for growth and refinement in his game. There is still hope that he’ll hit just enough to be a regular in the Angels lineup due to his immense defensive value. But for now, utility infielder looks like the most likely of outcomes, and that really isn’t a bad thing at all. Stamets is faster and better defensively that any utility infielder in the majors right now, so even at that, he’s something special and a sure-fire future major leaguer. I think it says a lot about him that the Angels, rather than accepting him as the elite shortstop that he is, have encouraged him to learn the other infield positions because they intend to have him break into the lineup in a variety of roles.
Grade as a Prospect – C+. Sure, there are light-hitting defensive specialists in every system, which is why he gets the “C” grade. But he gets the “plus” because he’s the best of them all.
Estimated Time of Arrival – 2016/2017. The Angels have a ton of options for utility infielder this season in Grant Green, Josh Rutledge, Taylor Featherston, and possibly Gordon Beckham if he signs. This means Stamets will either likely spend an additional year at AA, or move up to AAA with his platoon partner Alex Yarbrough. Regardless, he has at least one more season in the minors if not two before he breaks onto the Angels roster.
2014 in Review*
Stamets lost a big chunk of the season due to a finger injury. It is tempting to use that as an excuse for his poor offensive performance, but he was struggling well before he got hurt. Stamets just doesn’t have much going for him with the bat. Yes, he makes a lot of contact, but he is almost exclusively a singles hitter. Dickey-Stephens is a tough place to hit, which was a factor as Stamets did have a .314 wOBA on the road, but there are bigger concerns about Stamets’ offensive profile that popped up this year.
Eric had a pretty significant platoon split in 2014 with a .358 wOBA against lefties and a .265 wOBA against righties. This is reflective of his career numbers and not just a one-year aberration. It is great that he can handle (by his standards) lefties, but if he just keeps getting mowed down by righties, it is going to be very hard to ever see him playing an everyday role in the majors.
What really annoys me about Stamets is that he just doesn’t use his speed. He has shown to be a very efficient base stealer… when he chooses to steal, which isn’t nearly often enough. This is a guy who should be able to steal 30+ bags, but he has never even had more than 20 attempts in a season. But that’s almost an ancillary concern compared to his batted ball profile. Stamets just doesn’t hit the ball on the ground enough. Last year, he was at 38.8% grounders. That is awful for a guy with great speed and now power. Stamets should be adjusting to hit a ton of grounders, but he has only been trending in a more flyball-heavy direction. Actually, that’s not true, he’s actually hitting more and more infield flyballs, which is even more concerning.
Looking Ahead*
The glove is always going to be there for Stamets. He’s so skilled defensively that he will see the big leagues at least once before his time in baseball is over. In fact, that might happen this year if things go wrong in the majors for the Angels. The Halos really don’t have a shortstop behind Erick Aybar right now. If he ever does have to miss extended time, the Angels could be forced to call up Stamets just to make sure they have defensive coverage, even if he doesn’t get in the game much.
That concern is why it is likely that Stamets will start getting moved around the infield a bit in 2015. If Stamets can get a little bit of experience at third and second, he could evolve into a quality bench player as his defense would be top notch at three infield positions and his speed makes him a nice pinch-running option, even if he doesn’t become a more aggressive base stealer. If that bat shows some signs of life in Salt Lake, where he is likely to start the season, all the better. At this point though, it seems pretty clear that Stamets is what he is: a great glove guy who just isn’t going to hit nearly enough to ever be a regular.
*As we do every year, the scouting reports and grades are provided by Scotty Allen while Garrett Wilson provides the 2014 in Review and Looking Ahead sections.
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