ROBERT SPAIN
5/2/85; '07 19th; Oklahoma City Univ.
L/R; 6-4, 205
| Level |
BA |
OBP |
SA |
AB |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
K |
SB |
CS |
| 2007 NCAA |
.414 |
.470 |
.795 |
220 |
22 |
1 |
20 |
23 |
16 |
5 |
1 |
| 2007
A- |
.271 |
.323 |
.345 |
177 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
12 |
30 |
0 |
3 |
| 2008 A |
.312 |
.346 |
.460 |
250 |
22 |
0 |
5 |
15 |
40 |
0 |
1 |
Spain hit .321 with
two HRs as a freshman and .390 with eight HRs as a
sophomore. He then had a big power surge as a junior. Like 18th round pick
Marcus Davis, Spain's gaudy numbers didn't establish him as a top prospect. When
big numbers fail to capture a lot of attention from scouts there's usually a
reason. In this case, Oklahoma City as a team slugged .672 while their
opponents slugged only .342, so it's likely they were playing against weak competition.
Although he was only a junior the Pirates were able to
sign him. Once he joined State College in late June, he replaced Smelin Perez
as the primary 3B. Spain struggled early, batting only .205 in July,
but came on to hit .343 in August. His plate discipline wasn't good and he
didn't show much power, but college hitters will often improve after their draft year as
they adjust to wood bats. Spain batted .302 against RHPs but didn't hit LHPs at all,
posting just a .404 OPS against them, albeit in just 38 ABs. He had some
pretty serious problems with errors, committing 17 in just 44 games, leading to
an unsightly fielding percentage of .863. Spain opened 2008 as the
regular 3B for Hickory. He started slowly but got hot in May, hitting
.371. Unfortunately, a broken wrist in late June knocked him out for the
season. Although his overall numbers by then were good, some caution is
always in order for college draftees playing in low A, and in Spain's case the
poor plate discipline is a warning sign. Some of those doubles also would
need to turn into HRs for him to become a good prospect. He hit LHPs
better than RHPs, so that at least may not be a problem. The error
problems continued to plague him, as 16 in 62 games produced a poor .901
fielding percentage.
The Pirates may have
a
problem figuring out where to send Spain in 2009. He's in the same position as Matt Hague, having had a good half-season at Hickory, and Hague is a higher draft pick with much better plate discipline, and both are old enough that they need to move up to Lynchburg. There are also likely to be as many as three thirdbasemen coming up from State College, so keeping one at the new low A affiliate in West Virginia isn't a good option. The two could share 3B and DH or one could move to 1B. At any rate, it beats the Pirates' usual situation of having to fill all their minor league corner positions with free agents and organizational players.
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