As Beerleaguer points out, the preeminent publication on minor league baseball, Baseball America, published the rankings of the Phillies top ten prospects. Absent from the list is Mike Costanzo, the left-handed batting third baseman the Phillies drafted in the second round of the 2005 amateur draft out of Archbishop John Carroll and Coastal Carolina.
The 2006 list included Costanzo as the sixth best prospect in the Phillies farm system. For the season he would go on to hit just .258/.364/.411 with 14 home runs in 504 at-bats playing for the Clearwater Threshers in the Florida State League (high A). His season was salvaged by a hot August as his season OPS stayed below .700 until then when it jumped to .990 for the month.
Costanzo's struggles in pro ball are surprising given his resume as an amateur. He was named an All-American by Baseball America in 2005 and tore up Big South Conference pitching with regularity.
Given his fairly high on-base average in comparison to his batting average, it appears as if Costanzo is at least exhibiting some patience at the plate. Perhaps his high strikeout rate (22.5%), low line drive rate (9.9%), are indicative of a lack of bat speed. Contributing to that theory is that Costanzo -- a slugger by trade -- put almost as many balls in play to the center and left side of the playing field combined as he did to the right side of the field.
Heading into 2007, Costanzo's career is likely at a crossroads. Twenty-three year olds typically perform well at the AA level if they are going to become stars at the big league level.
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Not to be callous, but if the Phillies hadn't botched the Scott Rolen affair, there wouldn't be such high hopes for Costanzo.
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Speaking of walk rates and strikeout rates, both of Mike Schmidt's curiously spiked in 1983 at the expense of his batting average. Was he pitched around a lot that year?
Since the idea of batting order protection is in the forefront of our minds lately, I took a look and often, it was Tony Perez who batted behind Schmidt, while the previous year, it had been primarily Bo Diaz. In 1983, Perez had an OPS+ of 91 while in 1982, Diaz's OPS+ was 116.
Food for thought, no more, no less.
