Anthony Hewitt to centerfield?

Hewitt, Anthony

From a source who got in touch with me, Anthony Hewitt was in CF during a recent instructs game and hasn’t played 3B, possibly at all during the Instructional League. This makes sense, its something we’ve discussed here before. Hopefully it allows him to focus more on the offensive side of his game, which obviously needs a lot of work.

40 thoughts on “Anthony Hewitt to centerfield?”

  1. It would be awesome if it all clicks for him at some point…simply awesome. As an organization, we seem pretty good at developing outfielders so maybe this works out.

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  2. As you and others suspected. I guess it had to be done.
    Is there any way / reason to try to convert any of the recent draft picks / signees to the infield?
    Dugan played 1B, why not try him at 3rd?
    Altherr played SS though even his HS coach said he was really a CF, just was needed at SS. Maybe to 2B?
    Can Santana be tried somewhere in the infield?

    It will be very interesting where the Phillies place all these players to get them enough at bats to continue their development. By my count there are now 5 CF below A ball:
    Dugan, Hudson, Altherr, Hewitt, James. Also Gose to A+, ?? to AA, and Berry to AAA.

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  4. Hewitt, Dugan, Altherr, Santana are so raw and young, I don’t see the point in making IF out of them. Let them just continue to develop their hitting and OF skills. We’ll get a 3B a lot quicker if we draft a few college 3B or SS/2B who can convert to 3B. Ultimately, may just have to trade an OF prospect for 3B.

    I don’t think the outfield logjam in the minors is that catastrophic. Altherr definitely in SS. Hudson should be in SS.
    CLW — Gose, Collier, Myers
    Lakewood — Hewitt, Dugan, Castro, James
    Williamsport — Hudson, Altherr, Santana

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  5. I can’t see Collier going to CLW after struggling at Lakewood and not doing much better at Williamsport. So there will be at least 8 prospects between LKW and WMP but they should be able to get ABs by DHing and rotating in the OF for defensive reps. Then if one of them really does well then he can go to CLW.

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  7. hewitt is trade bait. they are pushing him to vindicate RBI , if he indeed was in it. he is nowhere near a major leaguer nor will he be. just hope that taylor, brown, drabek have what it takes, since theyve already been annointed to the hall. i hope. there are probably 5 guys in our entire system who will ever see the light og day.

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  8. Talking about Anthony Hewitt is a waste of time. He’ll never make the majors, especially with those periferals. You guys should know better by now. Hewitt makes Greg Golson look like a Hall of Famer.

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  10. Re Hewitt. He has tools, he needs to find a toolbox. He is still a teenager. Let’s give him another year before we cut him loose…

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  11. Jumpin’ —
    No, Hewitt is not still a teenager. He turned 20 on April 27th, prior to the start of this past season.

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  12. There’s no reason to cut Hewitt loose, at least until he becomes Rule 5 eligible.

    That said though, has any player with an 8:1 K/BB ratio in the minors ever panned out in the majors? I’m genuinely curious. Miguel Olivo is as hacktastic a player I’ve seen this decade and even he showed better discipline in the minors.

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  13. Sound like they are doing the same thing with Hewitt that they tried with C.J. Henry when they moved him from SS to 3rd and then to left field before releasing him in 07. C.J. had a similar K/BB ratio as Hewitt does and showed a little power when he hit 9 home runs with Lakewood that year before they gave up on him.

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  14. How does one say he’s trade bait but in the same post essentially says he’s worthless. Make up your mind!

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  16. they ain’t going to give up on hewitt any time soon they have such high hopes and spent to much on him already. he didnt hit well often but when he did he hammered it he’s a great player they just need to work on his consistency.

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  18. bill —
    When he hit it, he hammered it … just needs consistency. So common. We’ve been there and done that. I’m not just talking Jeff Jackson and Reggie Taylor. I’m thinking Harman, who hit about .200 in his second Reading season, but got ample extra base hits. All it takes is swing hard and uppercut. A prescription for lousy overall results, but your hits on average going far. I don’t see better results for Hewitt unless he tries to be more of a hitter and less of a power hitter. Pitch recognition, patience, pitch selection, mastery of the strike zone. Even Howard had to go through this transition before he became a successful hitter/power hitter and he has the physique for it. One of the many problems with Hewitt was that he was both beyond average rawness for a solid HS prospect, while at the same time being a year older than average. Old enough that he has one season less development time before Rule 5 eligibility than your average HS draftee. He is on the same Rule 5 schedule as a college draftee.

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  19. Having some fun with Baseball-Reference here. Baseball America’s writeup quoted scouting director Marti Wolever in saying that Hewitt could hit .250 with 30 home runs in a realistic scenario. I searched for players who had similar seasons (.240-.260 batting average with 25-35 home runs). Five players had four such seasons in their careers.

    Pat Burrell
    Ron Gant
    Joe Carter
    Lee May
    Joe Pepitone

    These are not predictions mind you, just an indication of style. Joe Carter is probably a great comp for Hewitt’s upside, actually.

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  20. joe carter, leemay, etc. give me a break. as far as trade bait for a nobody thats why gm,s get fired. ill give you larry jackson for fergison jenkens.al catraz said it perfectly. im still laughing over the hewitt comparisons.

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  21. I think the organization made a smart decision in moving him to the outfield now rather than waiting until spring training. Its very apparent to everyone that’s seen him that he’s not going to make it as an infielder. I have no idea whether he’ll ever make it but it would be very premature to give up on an athlete of this caliber so soon. You just never know, he might hit better with less stress caused by his errors in the infield. He’s only 20….

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  22. murray- that is so true every body was constantly on him about his errors i mean can u imagine a fan cuming up and saying hey u suck and aint going to make it but can i have ur autograph ive seen some one do that i thin itl take a lot of stress off of him now since he played a little outfield in high scool

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  23. It’s where he belongs. No harm,no foul in playing him at third for two half seasons but the draft day consensus that he would play the outfield will prove to be accurate.

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  24. I mean, come on now, how can you comp. Hewitt for anyone at this point? He’s about as far away from being a major league player as a physically talented person can get. When he becomes the best player in AA (which will probably never happen), we can all starter preliminarily discussing comps. Until then, it’s so premature that it’s almost comical.

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  25. I am NOT comping ability, just style. I’d frankly be stunned if he turned out to be as good as those players.

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  26. I have no idea why anyone would even mention the “cut him loose” or “trade him” ideas. First of all I’m not sure he wouldn’t have ANY trade value – I mean BA DID just put him in their top 20 and we can all agree/disagree on the likelihood of it but they see potential upside, and please not I wrote POTENTIAL.

    On the cut him loose idea – ummm – really? Come on. They’ve paid his bonus and I think it was Schwim who said they now basically get paid less than minimum wage. So why would they cut him loose?

    I really don’t get what feels like anger on this site from some people. He’s a Phillies prospect, he has some upside (per professional folks like BA) that he may or may not reach, and he’s a sunk cost. Also, there seems to be a general feeling on the site that the Phils have drafted well overall so what’s there to be SO upset about.

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  29. John, what do u mean by only 5 phils prospects will see the light of day? do you mean a cup of coffee in MLB? I think we have at least 10-15 virtual locks for at least that. Bastardo, mathieson, carpenter, zagurski, escalona, mayberry, drabek, savery, galvis, rosenberg, schwimmer, brown, taylor, and probably susdorf and berry +several younger guys.

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  30. I like this move as it maximizes his trade value if we don’t need him. if he hits .250-25-80 in clearwater in 2011 with ok defense we would get nice value. Of course this is assuming increased plate discipline evidenced by more walks and less k’s. These #’s seem highly unlikely at this point though. My point is that these #’s are not as valuable at 3b.

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  31. It does nothing for his trade value really. If Hewitt stayed at third base, other teams’ scouts would write that he couldn’t handle the position long term. I think information has progressed to the point where you’re not likely to fool other teams when trading your prospects.

    (Certain cellar dwellers excluded of course.)

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  32. Alan, I’m not talking about fooling other gm’s. A Center fielder with 25-35 hr potential have more value then a 3b man w/ the same. of course good fielding would be very important as well or he would be moved to a corner of spot.

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  33. The same is Hewitt as a 3B. Hewitt is kind of old for the amount of projection going into his ‘potential’. How confident are you that trading for a 3B with Hewitt’s potential as a CF but also Hewitt’s actual stats and age, would be the solution to our 3B problem. Let’s see, you’re talking about a guy who’s athletic and really fast and has a great arm, so people project he’ll make the satisfactory move from SS to 3B, but like Hewitt he hasn’t actually played that position yet. Might as well assume that Mattair will turn into a great major league 3B. The sort of trade you are talking about, failed potential in a number one draft pick with potential, is pretty much a reprise of the Golson for Mayberry deal. I’m not counting on Mayberry to ever be our starting major league RF.

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  34. Hewitt is a very bright guy and while he’s 20 already, because he’s from New England, he doesn’t have anywhere near the game experience of the kids from the warm states. Everyone knew that meant that he would have to play catch up (like Mattair by the way who is from Wash) and he’s doing just that. However, Hewitt has something you can’t teach. The ball jumps off his bat when he makes contact. Will he ever make enough contact? Its still too early to know. In Mayberry’s case, I think you’re looking at the final product.

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  35. i saw him play numerous times he showed that he can hit he just needs a better approach MT was 23 when he finally got it so u can’t use his age as an excuse that he’ll never make it. im not sayin i think he’ll make it but he’s got potential they drafted him to be a project. he’s a work in progress.

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  36. Taylor was a star high school player, a fair hitter at Stanford, and started really hitting last year at 22. If you look at his college/pro lines at Baseball Cube, his Williamsport line (which is all of 66 games) is the outlier. Apples to oranges. Agree with the rest though. The bottom line is that Hewitt has raw power. The thing is though that the numbers are so bad. I’ve honestly never seen a minor league hitter with BB/K ratios like Hewitt’s who ever amounted to anything. I hope I’m wrong.

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  37. marky, i dont mean a cup of coffee. i mean regulars. imo taylor, brown, drabek, mathieson d,arnaud . yeah i,ll give you maybe 10. hopefully 5 fulltimers. mathieson should be being groomed as a closer. i would give up alot to get coughlin, he,s some player. maybe taylor and drabek, actually brown being lefthanded and drabek.

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  38. Hey john i agree w/ the 5 you mentioned but i’m kind of hoping 2 of the 6 other relievers make an impact ie. escalona, bastardo, rosenberg, schwimmer, zagurski, chapman. if 1/4 of dugan, hudson, santana, singleton, gose, collier, valle, hewitt, shreve, cosart, colvin, may, pettibone, correa, sampson, sanchez make it we would be in line for a dynasty, but so much can happen in 3-5 years who can really project with any amount of certainty?

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  39. I am a little disappointed by this news of Hewitt playing OF. Not because it may indeed be the right move, but because I just want to see one legit 3B prospect in this system. This really concerns me. There is time of course (to add some perspective), but it is a concern.

    I still think he is worth the time and effort and patience to see what we have here.

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