OF Jarrod Dyson quite simply is a sleeper. He was a 50th round draft choice out of SW Mississippi Community College. He also is an absolute burner and many feel the quickest player in the organization(just don’t ask Derrick Robinson) He is one of those great success stories that makes the late rounds relevant. The negative part of his story is 2 suspensions. Although, the last one I feel he was more of a victim of circumstance . He was suffering from a abscess tooth and had little or no insurance to cover the pain (minor leaguers are not as fortunate with the perks of players on the 40 man roster which is very unfortunate) so his grandmother gave him some of her medicine to relieve the pain (which is awful btw) and in turn this medicine had something in it that brought him a failed drug test and a 50 game suspension to start the 2009 season.
His positive story begins on a trip from Royals executives to Northwest Arkansas in July. Dyson showed Mickey Rivers range in CF and the buzz started. To this point (in my circle) he was thought of a guy that could fly but maybe he would have a shot as a September call up at best. However, now the Royals have shortened his swing to take advantage of the blazing speed and he looks like a legitimate big league OF. I don’t think he is a starting type player but i think his ceiling is a guy that will cause havoc on the base-paths and give you stellar defense in CF. A source from the Rangers told me that in the Arizona Fall league he was a leader in the “wow” category as he consistently ran down balls and made amazing catches in the OF. One of which was one of the best catches he had seen. I will have to ask Dyson about this.
Statistically his numbers are not pretty in the minors. In fact the current player he is comped to by some is Joey Gathright. However, Gathright was a very good minor league player. But, for me in defense of Dyson he is a much, much better defensive player than Joey G. (who was all speed and not a superior defender ) Dyson has 22 db’s, 11 tp’s, 0 home runs in over 800 pro at bats and has a .270 avg and .343 OBP. But, he has 107 career stolen bases. Even though some believe the stolen base has gone the way of the wool uniform I still love it. I also think the game is getting back to the way I loved it growing up.
Even though I would prefer David Lough to be the CF at Northwest Arkansas I am anticipating seeing Dyson back there to start the season. (i think he and Lough both start at AA and will be on the quick call to Omaha during the season)
video of him in the AFL
and a great and funny interview of Jarrod Dyson with Derrick Robinson by Fox Sports’ Joel Goldberg
http://www.foxsportskansascity.com/pages/video?PID=k_fiiEdKEHf3WQjAVxSklOHqZJffdLW4
If NWA starts D. Robinson, Dyson and Lough that would be one fast outfield. I thought that Lough would start in AA also since Omaha OF seems full with 4A types like Costa and Coats and Parraz will get consistent ABs.
How about Jose Duarte? Is this the year his career ends?
I think D Rob goes back to High A for the third year in a row. I don’t think he stays there long…eventually I see all 3 moving up a level. Think about Wilmington’s OF last season of Dyson, D Rob, and Orlando…that is some speed