Looks like everyone is hunting for info on Mike Costanzo. Well, thanks for stopping by. Here’s the profile I wrote on him last year. He showed the power was for real, but other flaws still exist.
I did interviews with Keith Law and Bryan Smith, who both talked about Costanzo. I also wrote a piece back in June looking at his struggles against LHP, which you can read here. My readers here voted on our Top 30 prospects, and he ranked 4th
You can also use the search feature on the right side of the page to find mentions of Costanzo here. If you have specific questions, ask away in the comments section of this post and I’ll do my best.
Phuture Phillies 
I’m certainly no O’s fan, but I’m glad for Mike and his family to be back in the “area”. I do find it interesting that the O’s would be after a Costanzo type guy with Billy Rowell waiting in the wings.
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I think it’s almost a certainty that Rowell is going to end up at 1B.
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…and Costanzo could still end up in left!
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…by the way, are the Phils getting the Giants 1st or 2nd rounder next year?
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2nd rounder- top 15 are protected and the Giants are 15th…sigh
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I think the Giants are actually 5th, so it’s not quite so heartbreaking.
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hmmm… Costanzo has had a busy winter. I wonder what it says that the Astros were willing to part with him: Does it mean that they don’t think highly of him, or were the Orioles eyeing him up as a key piece in the trade? Either way, I hope it works out for him – if his power is legit, then the AL may be better for him because he could DH (although I still think that he will make a nice outfielder due to his cannon arm), and it’s nice that he will be playing close by
And is it just me or have the Phillies actually gone a little backwards this offseason. Yeah, they improved their bullpen, but Lidge is somewhat of a question make, and now they lost Rowand, and plan on replacing him with… um… (Yes, Victorino is certainly capable, but he won’t give you the offense and is not quite the leader that Rowand was)
– Jeff
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whoops typo
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Joe Sheehan in today’s PR calls what the O’s got from
Houston “junk.” Here’s part of his commentary:
“The problem for the Orioles is that Patton is the most valuable piece they got back. There’s no real upside in the rest of this package, from back-end starter types in Matt Albers and Dennis Sarfate to the same Ron Coomer-looking package Michael Costanzo was a month ago when the Astros got him for Brad Lidge. Other than Patton, there’s no one in this trade capable of being a championship-caliber ballplayer. The Orioles saved some money and added depth, but did little to stave off the Devil Rays or advance on the 11 teams better than they are in the AL. It was a waste of a key chip.”
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I like Joe Sheehan a lot, but he missed on this one.
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Well, I’m inclined to agree with him on Costanzo.
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Hey guys,
Is Costanzo the lumbering clod that Keith Law makes him out to be? There is lots of talk around town that Luke Scott may be packaged in a Bedard deal and that Matt Murton may be coming back in a Cubs package for Roberts. I think Costanzo could make a solid offensive platoon with Murton if he wasn’t falling all over himself out there.
Thanks much. Your site is very informative!
S
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Hey Steve. He’s not very agile at 3B, but he’s also not immobile there either. I think he could probably survive in an outfield corner, and he definitely has the arm strength to play either left or right. He crushes righties, can’t hit lefties, so he does seem like a decent platoon bet.
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Hey Phuturephillies….Costanzo can play 3rd and is not immobile. Look at every top Phillies player in the minors…Utley, Rollins, Howard, etc. They all struggled with errors and hitting against lefties-(except Rollins for the hitting). Constanzo skipped Lakewood from Batavia, and finished at Reading with some pretty impressive numbers that WILL NOT be matched by anyone in Reading anytime soon. What I am saying is that we traded our only possible Major League ready position player with any pop. I may be wrong but Costanzo hit .271 vs. righties and .269 vs. lefties in 2007. Everyone can say that Harmon or Donald can replace him but I totally disagree.
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Costanzo hit .257 against LHP, but with only a .328 OB%, compared to a .274 avg against RHP with a .383 OB%. The bigger thing is that he doesn’t draw walks with nearly the same frequency against lefties, and his power is sapped as well
BB%
v LHP: 8.2
v RHP: 14.3
K%
v LHP: 28.3
v RHP: 26.2
XBH%
v LHP: 22%
v RHP: 47%
He struggled against lefties. And my concern on his defense isn’t the errors, it’s the lack of range. That comes from talent evaluators who scouted him, not just me looking at his error totals. He’s likely going to be a below average 3B defensively, which means he’s ticketed for an outfield corner or 1B. His bat won’t play up as well at those positions, especially if he has to be platooned.
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