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Tommy Manzella Exiled to Dominican
By Editorial Staff
Tommy Manzella has played exactly 81 games this season which is perfect for lazy guys like me because I can simply double his stats to find his yearly numbers if he were to play a full season. Here it goes…
34 runs, 2 HRs, 38 RBI, 0 SB, .217/.258/.257/.515
110 hits in 506 at-bats, 14 doubles, 0 triples
These numbers would probably qualify Manzella as the worst offensive everyday shortstop in the history of baseball over the course of the season. Of those 110 hits, 94 would be singles. That’s over 85% of his hits, hence the .257 slugging %.
Manzella has never showed much reason in the minors to expect he can handle an everyday major league role. I’m not sure he can handle a backup major league role. Manzella hit just .270 over 3 seasons in Triple-A and similarly showed a lack of plate discipline with a career minor league OBP of .322 since being drafted in the third round in 2005. The young shortstop never seemed to develop much power or speed managing a measly 10 homeruns and 12 steals over 200 Triple-A contests and 785 at-bats. But despite his struggles, the organization isn’t giving up on him yet.
The Astros announced today Tommy Manzella will play in the Dominican Winter League to get some of the reps he missed due to injury this season. Manzella will play a 50-game season from October to December. This is a do-or-die type of situation for the guy. Angel Sanchez isn’t a world-beater but the line he’s put up with the Astros this season, .283/.319/.352 far outperforms anything Manzella has shown. Barring a breakout in the winter league and strong play in Spring Training next year, I can’t see Manzella filling anything more than a backup middle infield job in Houston.
Sanchez has yet to hit a homerun or steal a base in 73 career major league games. For the record, Houston Astros shortstops Angel Sanchez and Tommy Manzella combined this year: 155 games, 1 homerun, 0 stolen bases. The best option is probably to go outside the organization to fill the starting shortstop role in 2011.