QUINCY
LATIMORE
2/3/89; '07 4th; Middle Creek (NC)
HS
R/R; 5-10, 175
| Level |
BA |
OBP |
SA |
AB |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
| 2007 R |
.257 |
.352 |
.386 |
171 |
9 |
2 |
3 |
16 |
25 |
13 |
4 |
| 2008 A- |
.244 |
.285 |
.394 |
221 |
14 |
5 |
3 |
13 |
53 |
6 |
4 |
| 2009 A |
.251 |
.295 |
.411 |
479 |
24 |
10 |
11 |
23 |
116 |
3 |
3 |
At the time he was
drafted, Baseball America characterized Latimore as very athletic, with good but
not great speed. He had a commitment to North Carolina State but signed quickly.
He held his own in the GCL, stealing bases, showing some power and a decent eye,
and keeping the Ks within reason. He moved up to State College in 2008 and his
plate discipline quickly disappeared. I saw him play several exhibition games in
March and he was swinging at a lot of bad pitches. That evidently continued into
the season. In June and July Latimore drew three walks and fanned 30 times. He
batted only .184 in June, then hit 316/341/494 in July before slumping again in
August. He had a large platoon split: .978 against LHPs and .576 against RHPs.
It was good to see him hitting for decent power because he played mostly LF,
with just five games in center.
Latimore spent 2009 at West Virginia,
playing mainly in left, with a few games in right and only one in center. He
doesn't have good range in the outfield and committed fourteen errors, which is
an awful lot for a corner outfielder, although he did throw out a dozen runners.
He had an odd season, starting very slowly, getting hot in the middle part of
the season, then finishing in a bad slump. His monthly OPS was as
follows:
April: .490
May: .836
June: .695
July: .943
August:
.566
September: .346.
It's possible he wore down late in the season.
It's also possible pitchers took advantage of his poor plate discipline. He had
a reverse platoon split: .662 against LHPs and .721 against RHPs. He seldom
tried to steal. Latimore is interesting because he's shown the ability to hit
for power, but he won't put it together as long as he won't take a pitch. He
should be in the Bradenton outfield in 2010.
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Outfielders