Giants Prospects du Jour - Brandon Hicks, Hit or Miss?

If the offense is going to improve, Sabean is going to have to work some trade magic. It doesn't look as if Gary Brown is going to be an impact bat, after a pretty good start at AAA. I still hold out some hope for Panik. Given Scutaro's demise, there may be some opportunity, but if Brandon Hicks cuts down the K's / picks up the average, the Brandon-to-Brandon-to-Brandon DP combo could be here to stay.

Baseball America Prospect Report

Compiled by Baseball America   May 01, 2014

SF		AAA		Brown, Gary CF		4		1		2		3		.279		BB (13)
SF		AAA		Panik, Joe 2B		5		1		1		1		.298		2B (3)

SF		AAA		Cordier, Erik		2.1		1		0		0		0		3		4.97		W (1-1)
SF		AAA		Hembree, Heath		1		4		2		2		0		2		1.74		Sv (5)
SF		HiA		Agosta, Martin		3		5		5		5		3		2		7.11
SF		HiA		Okert, Steven		1		0		0		0		0		1		1.35

Among the pitchers, Hembree continues to show well but Martin Agosta seems to be struggling at Hi-A. Not a good sign for an ex-collegian.

Hicks'  Oliver projections would an acceptable 15-75-.275 if not for the 200+K's per season projection. That's hideous and keeps the average in the .200 neighborhood.

Oliver 5 Year Projections

Projections  |  Minor Leagues  |  Regular Season

Season	Team	Age	G	PA	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB%	K%	ISO	BABIP	AVG	OBP	SLG	wOBA	wRC+	BsR	Off	Def	WAR
2014	Oliver	28	143	600	15	58	57	8	7.8 %	39.2 %	.134	.307	.195	.264	.329	.265	69	0.9	-19.8	8.8	0.8
2015	Oliver	29	143	600	14	57	56	7	7.8 %	39.2 %	.125	.307	.193	.263	.319	.261	66	0.7	-22.0	8.8	0.5
2016	Oliver	30	143	600	14	56	55	6	8.0 %	39.2 %	.125	.301	.190	.261	.315	.259	65	0.5	-23.3	8.8	0.4
2017	Oliver	31	143	600	13	55	53	6	8.0 %	39.3 %	.118	.298	.186	.258	.304	.253	61	0.9	-25.3	8.8	0.2
2018	Oliver	32	143	600	13	53	52	5	8.0 %	39.7 %	.118	.297	.185	.256	.303	.252	60	0.7	-26.2	8.8	0.1

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/the-projection-rundown-the-basics-on-marcels-zips-cairo-oliver-and-the-rest/

- Oliver – This system was created by Brian Cartwright and is available over at The Hardball Times. It’s a comparatively simple projection system – using weighted averages of the past three seasons of data, and adjusting for aging and regression – but it calculates its major league equivalencies (MLEs) in a different way than most systems, taking the raw numbers and adjusting them based on park and league. Since most projection systems simply try to adjust for the transition between each minor-league level, Oliver’s projections are better when showing how young players will perform at the major league level. This is also the only projection system to include a fielding and WAR component.