Halman's just the same sort of genetic freak that Bo was, coming from a retarded baseball situation. Bo was never committed to baseball until the end. Halman is from that baseball mecca the Netherlands. *rolls eyes* Baseball more than any sport except perhaps golf is a game of repetition. You have to train your body and your brain to do one thing: put bat on ball, squarely and with force.
Halman runs like the wind, is built like a giant, has a great arm, strong hands, good batspeed...he's one of those long-lever hitters. He runs around looking like A-Rod in CF. He's absolutely huge and it's all prowling athletic prowess.
At the plate, he does a Bo Jackson: crushes mistake pitches, fans pitifully on effective breaking balls or unexpected pitches. He's also very emotional, and is still adjusting to not being the cream of the talent crop IMO.
Because of what Bo could have done if everything broke right, I think he was over-rated by those who wanted him to be a type of hitter he was never going to be. But if you accept that your slugger might just have a .310 OBP while putting up a .500 SLG as a CFer, you can start to appreciate what he can be, and not what you want him to be.
Halman has a lot of work to do. I can't see him making the leap at this point to being a .250/.310/.500 hitter in the bigs. But all the guys who watch him every day are gonna do everything they can to take his phenomenal physical attributes and craft them into a pro ball player. His swing doesn't look riddled with holes to me - it's mostly in his head, I think, and in the fact that with those long arms he's got a lot of space to cover. In that sense, the tools guys and teachers have enough to work with to make something of him if he'll hold up his end of the bargain.
But we're 1600 ABs in and he's still striking out at unheard of rates for an actual prospect while his ability to take a walk didn't increase one whit over last year.
If the light goes on, watch out. I don't expect it, but if I were the Ms I would be devoting extra coaches to light-switch-finding duties too (as they are by making him Hansen's next project).
~G
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