Would You Care for Some Pie?
Much is written here about not wanting to rush Felix Pie, and some in the TCR community even question whether the Pie Man is even a top prospect.
A couple of days ago, Dusty Baker was asked by the Chicago media whether the Cubs might consider recalling Felix Pie from the minors anytime soon. According to Paul Sullivan in the Chicago Tribune, Dusty replied:
"Maybe. But at .270 Ö you guys have been talking 'Felix, Felix, Felix,' but Felix has to be the Felix you're all talking about if you're going to bring him up. I'd like to see him do a little more. I'd like to see everybody do a little more. I'd like to see everybody get here not only on name, but on merit at the same time."
You can quibble about whether Felix Pie should be recalled, and if you look at his aggregate numbers for the entire 2006 season, Dusty's probably right, they don't jump out at you. For the year, Pie is hitting around .270 with a .333 OBP and a very bad SB/CS ratio. But a lot of that goes back to his May-June slump, when he went into a funk and it looked like he might be on the verge of a demotion to AA.
You have to remember that Pie is a 21-year old playing at the most advanced minor league level (AAA), where the average age of the players in the league is about 25. Many of the pitchers in the PCL have MLB experience. And the idea in promoting a player to a higher level is to challenge the player, force him to adjust, and then hope for improvement. Well, Pie did struggle, but then he adjusted, and now he is showing improvement.
Since the end of June, Pie has been consistently good. Very good. Over his last 38 games (more than 1/4 of the AAA schedule), he has had one ten-game hitting streak, 15 multi-hit games, and has reached base in 31 out of 38 games. He also has improved his base-stealing over this stretch, with nine stolen bases in 11 attempts. He struck out about once in every six PA during this period of time (still not good), but it's a better K rate than at any time previous in his career.
Anyway, here are Felix Pie's numbers over his last 38 games (more than 1/4 of the AAA schedule):
38 GAMES
51-159 (.321)
.365 OBP
.453 SLG
.818 OPS
30 RUNS SCORED
3 HR
14 RBI
12 2B
11 BB
26 K
9 SB (2 CS)
4 OF ASSISTS
1 E
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