Does Adam Eaton make Chris Young expendable?
Sep 6, 2012, 5:32 PM | Updated: 6:53 pm
To say Adam Eaton dominated minor league pitching would be an understatement. He destroyed the pitchers he faced in the Class-AAA Pacific League.
Standing only 5-foot-8, Eaton’s size didn’t stop him from putting together one of the most dominant hitting seasons in minor league history. He led all of the minors with a .375 average, 198 hits, 47 doubles and 130 runs, and was second with a .456 on-base percentage. His stellar minor league season ended with him being named the MVP of the PCL and a call up to the big leagues. Now Diamondbacks fans will get to see firsthand what the diminutive outfielder can do for their team.
The Diamondbacks brought in the prospect and inserted him into the leadoff spot after center fielder Chris Young suffered a leg injury during Monday’s game in San Francisco. Eaton made an immediate impact the next day, singling and doubling in the Diamondbacks’ 8-6 extra inning win over the division-leading Giants.
“He just brings energy into the park,” Diamondback General Manager Kevin Towers told Arizona Sport 620’s Doug and Wolf. “He seems to be one of those guys that is always in the middle of something good. He’s been on winning-type ball clubs so I don’t think it’s a coincidence he shows up, gets in the lineup and we in a game that we haven’t been winning over the last couple weeks.”
Eaton’s emergence this season is among the reasons the D-backs may look to trade a veteran outfielder like Young this winter to create a spot for him and fill a position they lack depth in. However, Towers made it clear he is going to wait for the season to come to end before he even thinks about trade talks.
“We’ll have a much better idea about it in the offseason,” said Towers. “We’ll look at him next month and we’ll sit down with our baseball operation staff and evaluate who we have, what’s out there and what our needs are. We’ll approach that once the 2012 season is over. I don’t want to get in into predicting what our lineup is going to look like and who’s going to be here and who’s not going to be here in 2013 until this season is over.”
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