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I was looking through some of the A's minor leaguers the other day and came across his line. Thaaaat's the kind of 1B prospect I'd get excited about. They got him out of high school with the 47th pick. Big 6'4" kid, hit's lefty. Strikes out a decent amount, not obscenely so, but also is walking 20% this year in high A. He's the kind of dude that if he improves his contact rate a little bit, watch out. He's only 20 too. That's why I think taking a 1B 12 overall is a bad pick, unless he's an absolute special hitter, which we all seem to agree that DJ might or might not be. Maybe the Mariners thought with some pro coaching he might stick at 3rd, in which case you could justify the pick a little easier. Either way, if I could choose which kid to have in my system, I'd be hard pressed to pick against Olson.
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Regarding that 15% K number I was throwing around, I was saying because he has posted below average walk rates, and because he doesn't have HUGE power, that he has to get that K number into the upper echelon to be a guy you want hitting 4th or 5th. If you see him a a 6-8% BB guy and a 160-200 ISO in Safeco, then that puts pressure on him to get that K rate down under 20 for sure, and probably lower still.
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I'd love to see DJ get that BB rate up around 10%, and maybe once he settles into pro baseball he has some of that in his game. I hope they don't rush him up next year because they're incapable of finding some ML 1B kicking around that could put up a league average line. I'd like to see him finish out the year in AA, and start him in AAA next year and leave him there. Maybe he does have that special contact ability and can keep the K's under 18%. If he does, that'd certainly raise his status a little. I think in Safeco if you can get 800 out of your 1B, you're doing pretty well. Here's to hoping.