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I know this will anger most people but I want to know how long do you give Aaron Hicks to live up to his 5 tool potential before you think about converting him into a pitcher? I have no idea how good of pitcher he was in HS, but I do recall that he supposedly has an upper 90's fastball. Not a choice you want to make but if they clearly think a few years down the road that he will never make the majors as an OF when do you try to convert him?
I swear we have talked about this in numerous different threads.
Granted his progress has been slow, but it has been fairly constant. He spent two years in Beloit, but last year was in Fort Myers and this year is in New Britain. I'd say wait until he stalls, then you can consider it. He's only 22; another couple of years will tell the tale on him.
I'd rather see them give up on his switch hitting.
I think he'd have to be doing a lot worse than he is to make that move.
Agreed. There is absolutely no reason to move him at this point. I'd end the switch-hitting before going the pitching route.
The Twins drafted Denard Span in the 2002 draft. He became a regular for the Twins in 2009.
The Twins drafted Torii Hunter in the 1993 draft. He became a regular for the Twins in 1999 and was famously sent back to the minors in 2000 and became a regular again late the year.
The Twins drafted Aaron Hicks in the 2008 draft. If he just goes on the Span/Hunter timeline, he could be a regular in 2014 or 2015. It's not like he's behind some schedule that it seems so many fans think that he should be one. I'm not saying he will or won't become Span or Hunter. Obviously we don't know. But he's shown, at times, as much as those those did at this stage of their development too.
What would make anyone think Hicks will never be a major league OF? He's 22 and it's not like he's been awful.
It's not like he's Sergio Santos and flat-out wasn't going to make it in the majors as a position player. He'd have to suffer an injury that kept him from swinging a bat or running to see a conversion to pitching.
His OPS has increased slightly from last year while moving up a level.
Throwing upper 90s doesn't make you a major league caliber pitcher. If that were true, baseball would be overrun with capable pitchers and the Twins would make it past the 5th inning with their starters more than 20% of the time (too lazy to look up the actual percentage). I think Hicks has a MUCH, MUCH greater possibility contributing as an outfielder than learning a new skill at age 22.
I agree he's an OF'er all the way, if something major happens, big set back than maybe he can go Rick Ankiel on us... (opposite way) but thats doubtfull...
Span in RF and Hicks in CF in late 2013 sounds great to me, even if Hicks ' ends up being spans = as a hitter with a little less contact and a twitch more power.
Seems like people aren't giving Hicks enough credit. Sure, a guy with his talent could have, and maybe should have, been at the majors by now. But how many really good players have just taken a little longer to develop into major leaguers? His development schedule isn't ideal, but let's face it: there is no schedule.
I think Hicks is a guy who will produce at roughly the same level no matter where he is right now. He has improved this year in the movement upward, and could benefit from a full season plus 2012 August at Rochester instead of waiting at AAA. I like this approach with him.
Agreed with the other posters. There's no reason to give up on him. It's clear that he isn't a phenom, but this is plenty of time for him to become a productive MLB player.
His AA numbers are by no means terrible. Nothing to suggest he's close to the big leagues, obviously. One thing I notice which sort of concerns me is that his SB success rate is not all that good. Maybe just a timing thing with jumps, but if he at least had elite basestealing speed, that could give him some value as a reserve player while he figures out how to hit.
Let him stay in the OF, but if he and Butera can both hit 90 on the gun they can be our future #13 and #14 pitchers, for those emergency circumstances.