I have generally believed the AAAA player is a jackalope, rather than an actual subclass of players. (No, Petagine’s 7 plate appearances with the M’s didn’t convince me otherwise.)

I will neither write Clement off, nor raise him exalted to the heaven’s based on the past month and a half. As I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to do.

Other sources of evidence: would a player with a slow bat hit more to the opposite field, because he wouldn’t have time to pull the ball, or is that overthinking it?

I think the scout is a little off base and is defending his previous position as much as anything. Clement can hit LH and RH and his bat will play in MLB.

His other double against Fresno that won the game in the bottom of the 9th was against a reliever, righty Brian Wilson….does he throw hard? .

I must be missing the plot. The scout and the stats are both saying Clement can’t get around on a good fastball, and the stats say he’s not hitting well against RH pitching. You’re saying (I think) that the two are related (i.e., he’s sucking against RH pitching BECAUSE they’re largely throwing him good fastballs he can’t get around on).

Then in post 10, you’re like ‘we (and everybody else) need LH power hitters’ (paraphrased), as if that has anything to do with Clement.

But isn’t the point of having a LH power hitter that LH generally hit RH pitchers better than LH pitchers – which Clement isn’t doing? I’m unclear how that makes him ‘LH sock’ that us or other teams want… I mean, isn’t the definition of ‘LH sock’ = LH batter who tears up RH fastball pitching? And we always want it because the majority of pitchers are RH. Isn’t that what we’re always looking for (and that we never find)?

As an aside…Carl Everett is playing Indy League ball for the Long Island Ducks.

Whether or not that’s just par for the course in thinking about the AAA –> MLB transition is an interesting question though.

Of the elite arms named in post #1, only Gallardo and Lincecum played in the PCL, and Gallardo was called up relatively recently. Tacoma has yet to play New Orleans this year, and Clement held his own against Lincecum– 2 for 7 with 2 doubles, a walk, and two strikeouts.

Furthermore, there are a number of prospects with major league arms still in the PCL: Ubaldo Jimenez, Humber and Pelfrey from New Orleans, most of the Round Rock rotation, a good number of arms from Omaha, and Eric Hurley just got added to Oklahoma.

I’m just not sure we should buy the underlying assumption– that AAA generally experiences a depletion of pitching quality from June through August. It’s a narrative that seems to make sense on the surface, but does the evidence support Scout Friend’s assumptions here?

Bit early to say that. And you need another “o” in too.