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March 1, 2007

Baldelli part of an outfield that's touted as baseball's best

A story in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times talks about the potential of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' outfield, which includes Cumberland's Rocco Baldelli, to be baseball's best.

Devil Ray manager Joe Maddon says he believes it can be - barring injury, trade or unexpected failure to progress.

”I think we could do a lot of good things,” Baldelli said. “And to do them at such a young age and to be together for a long time, it’s going to be fun to be part of it.”

Baldelli, who stared at Hendircken, roams the outfied with Carl Crawford and Delmon Young.

“It’s tough to find one player with the package these guys bring to the table, let alone three of them,” senior vice president Gerry Hunsicker said. “There really aren’t any glaring weaknesses in any of their games. They are still young and still have huge upsides, even from where they are today.”

Here's Crawford on Baldelli: "He’s not blazing fast or anything, but he has that long stride, which means he covers a lot of ground. And if there’s a short fence he can jump so high he can go over and get the ball. He’s got a strong enough arm to throw runners out at home plate; we’ve seen that time after time. He has kind of a nice line-drive stroke that turns into home runs at times. He looks even better this year. I wouldn’t see why he wouldn’t be hitting 20-25, maybe even 30, home runs at some point as long as he stays healthy. That’s the main thing with Rocco, just hoping he can stay healthy a whole season to play with us."

And here's Young on Baldelli: "He’s not as fast as Crawford, but he’s one of the fastest guys in the major leagues. He covers a lot of ground in centerfield and he’s got a good, accurate arm. I really hadn’t seen him play until last year; he’s very talented, too. He has the potential to hit 25-30 home runs, maybe more, playing a full season. He knows how to hit. He can bat first, second, third in the lineup. Wherever he’s batting he knows what he has to get done in that position."

Posted by Chris Venditto  at 6:41 PM to Pro Baseball | Permalink

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