• Scouting Johnny Giavotella, Matt Wieters

  • By Jason Grey | August 9, 2011 10:20:49 AM PDT
The youth movement in the Kansas City Royals' infield continued last week, as second-base prospect Johnny Giavotella joined former Omaha teammates Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas.Giavotella, the Royals' second-round pick in the 2008 draft, hit .322 with a .395 on-base percentage in the Double-A Texas League in 2010, and followed it up with .338 and .390 marks (albeit in a great hitter's league) at Triple-A this season to earn his promotion.A stocky, strong 5-foot-8, Giavotella's ability to hit for batting average and shoot the ball to the gaps is going to have to carry him at the big league level. He has a short swing with good bat speed, which allows him to regularly square up a lot of balls. He just seems to have a good feel for getting the barrel of the bat on the ball. He has good pitch recognition and controls the strike zone well.In the past, the 24-year-old would get too enamored with tinkering with his swing and approach, even from at-bat to at-bat. But the past few seasons, Giavotella has shown more consistency, sticking with what works well for him, even when he gets in a rut. The righty-hitting Giavotella is never going to hit for much power (even though he homered in his third major league contest), maybe pulling enough balls out of the yard to reach double-digit homers in a full season. He'll have occasional problems with his swing getting too big as he tries to pull the ball for homers. That's something he must be careful of at the major league level because he's at his best when he's using the whole field and taking outside pitches the other way.As a runner, Giavotella is just average; he lacks the good acceleration to post a high steals total. I see him maxing out at about 10 steals per season. Defensively, Giavotella has an average glove at best, but as he told me earlier this season while playing at Triple-A, "my defense has drastically improved since I came into pro ball." It's true, he has made himself into a more sure-handed defender, one who can at least consistently make the routine plays and catch what is hit to him. However, he lacks range (especially to his right), and his arm isn't anything special. Simply put, his bat has to carry him, because he doesn't have the defensive abilities to be a utility player.I do think Giavotella can stick as a regular and hit for batting average and some doubles in the big leagues, but he won't offer enough homers or stolen bases to really entice fantasy owners. As such, he's more of an AL-only play (because of the at-bats he's going to get), as opposed to a mixed-league option.

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