Monday, December 7, 2009

Top 15 Hitters: #12 Cody Rogers

Cody Rogers
6"2" 175 lbs DOB: 9/13/1988
Outfielder
Bats: Left | Throws: Right
2009: Princeton
Acquired: 2009 Draft, 7th Round, 229th Overall

The Rays took Cody Rogers out of Panola College, a two-year school in Texas, in the 7th round and assigned him to Princeton. He was arguably the P-Rays best offensive player, leading the team in triples, homeruns and RBIs(6, 6, and 37, respectively), and finishing second behind Ryan Wiegand in batting average(.303) and behind Ty Morrison in stolen bases(14, and Rogers was only caught once).

Rogers has an open stance and a pull-heavy approach from the left-side, which lends itself to his power numbers but also makes him prone to the strikeout(he fanned 54 times in 52 games). The high strikeout rate is off-set somewhat by a good feel for the strikezone. His on-base percentage was approaching .500 with Panola in the spring, and he finished with a healthy .364 clip at Princeton.

Rogers projects to have average(or slightly better) power as he fills out his skinny frame, while maintaining his plus speed. He'll need to cut down on the strikeouts to maintain a high batting average, as his .303 in 2009 was helped a lot by a high .391 BABIP. He has the range to play any outfield position, but his below-average arm limits him to centerfield or, ideally, left field.

Rogers has a nice mix of across-the-board tools to go along with his nice statline, and the combination could help him get skipped over Hudson Valley and make his full-season debut with Bowling Green in 2009. He turned 21 in September, so if he does get sent to extended spring training and then Hudson Valley to work on his contact rate, he'll be a little bit old for a NY-PL prospect.

4 comments:

  1. I like Cody a lot too, can't ask for much more than a .395 wOBA in your first pro season. Only thing I noticed was the second half decline:

    July: .360/.414/.562 in 89 AB
    August: .268/.327/.433 in 97 AB

    He also was much better at home:

    Home: .352/.412/.538 in 91 AB
    Road: .262/.322/.449 in 107 AB

    I'd also like to see him at Bowling Green, but he's going to have win a starting job (the Rays wouldn't want him being a 4th OF) over some of the guys moving up from Hudson Valley (Dustin Biell, Gabe Cohen, D.J. Jones, Chris Murrill, Brett Nommensen) and any '09 Hot Rods OF's who don't get promoted to Charlotte. It'll be a numbers game, but I'm rooting for him.

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  2. let's go cody you got this!!!

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  3. What happened to him. Did he fill out? Or is his extreme power now fluky?

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  4. This kid has been on a tear the past two weeks!

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