Post by Fish Troll on Mar 5, 2007 16:54:22 GMT -5
Marlins' Abercrombie eager to take on a bigger role
By Juan C. Rodriguez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 5, 2007
JUPITER -- Mike Jacobs proved he could hit for power. Hanley Ramirez established he could score runs. Dan Uggla showed he could knock them in.
Reggie Abercrombie demonstrated he could take one for the team.
Most of last season's rookies flourished in their learn-by-doing introduction to Major League Baseball. That approach didn't work for Abercrombie.
Prepared to sacrifice a season for the sake of player development, the Marlins eventually found that wasn't necessary. They recovered from an 11-31 start and became a wild-card contender. Then manager Joe Girardi determined the team had a better chance of staying one with someone else in center field.
Why not send Abercrombie to the minors at that point? The Marlins didn't have a better alternative at Triple-A Albuquerque. It also made no sense to burn an option year on a player that had the makings of a late bloomer.
Players on the 40-man roster have three option years during which they can be reassigned to the minors. Once he is out of options, a player must clear waivers before a team can reassign him.
However practical, that didn't facilitate Abercrombie's development. His three option years are in tact, but Abercrombie isn't much closer than he was this time last year to proving he's a starting big league outfielder.
"I'm not going to say if that was good or bad," Abercrombie said. "It was a wonderful thing to be in the big leagues the whole year. Working with Andre Dawson helped me a lot, seeing the atmosphere, watching the game and learning the game up there. But I would love to just get at-bats and play every day. You can't fight learning at that level. It was a learning experience and I hope later on in life it helps me."
What Dawson and some others in the organization believe was that Abercrombie required a playing experience. The "sabbaticals" Abercrombie took from the lineup, as Girardi described them, weren't devoid of value. He just might have been better served with more hands-on and less theoretical training.
"I would have much rather seen him play so he could find himself," Dawson said.
"He was kept in the big leagues probably to be developed at that level, but if you're not playing you're not really being developed. I won't go as far as to say it was a wasted year, but I would just like to see him play. That's how you're going to judge whether he's going to be able to stick at that level."
Abercrombie last season totaled 255 at-bats, 58.4 percent of which came in April and May. He had averaged 472 at-bats over the previous five minor-league seasons.
The Marlins eventually told Abercrombie he was staying put. That peace of mind didn't translate into production when Girardi did play him.
"It was hard because when you're up there and you're struggling, you're looking over your shoulder every day," Abercrombie said.
Added Dawson: "When you're a young ballplayer and if you're not playing, you want to know why. ... That was a huge factor because of the uncertainty. It's tough to play under those circumstances, not knowing what's going to happen from day to day."
Abercrombie, who turns 26 in July, acknowledges his day has to come soon. Teams give tools-rich players like him plenty of shots, but he realizes they don't get much better than this one.
He is one of three primary candidates along with Eric Reed and Alex Sanchez for the starting center-field job.
"To myself, I know I can play at this level for a long time," Abercrombie said. "You have to sit here and learn a lot of things, a lot of things you have to bounce back from."
Like how to get back up after taking one for the team.
By Juan C. Rodriguez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
March 5, 2007
JUPITER -- Mike Jacobs proved he could hit for power. Hanley Ramirez established he could score runs. Dan Uggla showed he could knock them in.
Reggie Abercrombie demonstrated he could take one for the team.
Most of last season's rookies flourished in their learn-by-doing introduction to Major League Baseball. That approach didn't work for Abercrombie.
Prepared to sacrifice a season for the sake of player development, the Marlins eventually found that wasn't necessary. They recovered from an 11-31 start and became a wild-card contender. Then manager Joe Girardi determined the team had a better chance of staying one with someone else in center field.
Why not send Abercrombie to the minors at that point? The Marlins didn't have a better alternative at Triple-A Albuquerque. It also made no sense to burn an option year on a player that had the makings of a late bloomer.
Players on the 40-man roster have three option years during which they can be reassigned to the minors. Once he is out of options, a player must clear waivers before a team can reassign him.
However practical, that didn't facilitate Abercrombie's development. His three option years are in tact, but Abercrombie isn't much closer than he was this time last year to proving he's a starting big league outfielder.
"I'm not going to say if that was good or bad," Abercrombie said. "It was a wonderful thing to be in the big leagues the whole year. Working with Andre Dawson helped me a lot, seeing the atmosphere, watching the game and learning the game up there. But I would love to just get at-bats and play every day. You can't fight learning at that level. It was a learning experience and I hope later on in life it helps me."
What Dawson and some others in the organization believe was that Abercrombie required a playing experience. The "sabbaticals" Abercrombie took from the lineup, as Girardi described them, weren't devoid of value. He just might have been better served with more hands-on and less theoretical training.
"I would have much rather seen him play so he could find himself," Dawson said.
"He was kept in the big leagues probably to be developed at that level, but if you're not playing you're not really being developed. I won't go as far as to say it was a wasted year, but I would just like to see him play. That's how you're going to judge whether he's going to be able to stick at that level."
Abercrombie last season totaled 255 at-bats, 58.4 percent of which came in April and May. He had averaged 472 at-bats over the previous five minor-league seasons.
The Marlins eventually told Abercrombie he was staying put. That peace of mind didn't translate into production when Girardi did play him.
"It was hard because when you're up there and you're struggling, you're looking over your shoulder every day," Abercrombie said.
Added Dawson: "When you're a young ballplayer and if you're not playing, you want to know why. ... That was a huge factor because of the uncertainty. It's tough to play under those circumstances, not knowing what's going to happen from day to day."
Abercrombie, who turns 26 in July, acknowledges his day has to come soon. Teams give tools-rich players like him plenty of shots, but he realizes they don't get much better than this one.
He is one of three primary candidates along with Eric Reed and Alex Sanchez for the starting center-field job.
"To myself, I know I can play at this level for a long time," Abercrombie said. "You have to sit here and learn a lot of things, a lot of things you have to bounce back from."
Like how to get back up after taking one for the team.
www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-spmarlins05mar05,0,2914711.story?coll=sfla-sports-front
I hope Reggie get the job. Might as well have another laughing year if we are just going to struggle all year long.
