Cory Vaughn

[Frayed Knot]

Mets 4th round pick in 2010 is off and flying in Brooklyn (take that Keith Law!!) enough to place 6th in BA's 'Hot Sheet' for the week:

Team: short-season Brooklyn (New York-Penn)
Age: 21
Why He's Here: .517/.545/1.270 (15-for-29), 1 HR, 3 2B, 8 RBIs, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 SO, 4-for-5 SB
The Scoop: The son of former big league slugger Greg Vaughn�he of 355 career home runs�Cory has launched his pro career in style after quickly signing as the Mets' fourth-round pick. (At San Diego State, he was teammates with some Strasburg guy.) Vaughn is batting .326/.403/.620 through 129 at-bats, with a New York-Penn-leading nine home runs and 32 RBIs (17 of his 42 hits for XBs). And if he connects for seven more longballs this season, then Cory will match his father's output during his pro debut. A 21-year-old Greg Vaughn hit 16 home runs in 1986 for Helena of the Rookie-level Pioneer League.

[Ceetar]

Phillies drafted him two years ago. So he's already got a + in my book for snubbing them.

[Frayed Knot]

A bit more sobering news in the Q&A session that followed:

Q: Is Cory Vaughn better than most people thought heading into the draft, or is this just a hot streak that he doesn't have the tools to maintain?

A (Matthew Eddy): This is exactly the question I've been trying to answer, so I turned to college baseball guru Aaron Fitt for more. His response: "Vaughn has always had big tools ... and he's had hot streaks like this in his college career, but sustaining them has always been the issue. As pitchers adjust to him, can he make adjustments? He did not show a whole lot of ability to do so in college."

[MFS62]

FK, your kid has been lighting it up this year.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=RF&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=519377

That OBP is off the charts.

The questions I'd read about him concerned his ability to catch up to a real good fastball. He seems to have answered that question at this level. Can't wait to see if he can continue to do it once he gets promoted.

Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He's a fastball hitter-- like most hitters with success in college, he hits 'em hard. It's the offspeed stuff/good sliders (and, to a lesser extent, fastballs-with-movement) that were a question mark, no? (No matter-- he's hitting everything.)

Almost as important-- they're walking the hell out of him (a near-15% walk rate). But then, that might just be because they're pitching around him.

[Edgy MD]

I'm kind of surprised to see him in the Sally League. A guy --- especially one with a college pedigree --- knocks down buildings in Brooklyn, I expect him to open in St. Lucie the next year. Savannah seems like a lateral move.

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm kind of surprised to see him in the Sally League. A guy --- especially one with a college pedigree --- knocks down buildings in Brooklyn, I expect him to open in St. Lucie the next year. Savannah seems like a lateral move.

I think this may have been a reaction to the flak the prior regime took for promoting some of their top prospects too quickly. That said, I expect he will be promoted to PSL after the SAL All-Star break.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

From John Sickels:

"... slumping in June is New York Mets outfield prospect Cory Vaughn, hitting .163/.241/.245 with four walks and 11 strikeouts in 49 at-bats for Low-A Savannah. He'd been hot early, hitting .303/.413/.434 in April and .356/.496/.510 in May, so his overall season line of .297/.419/.428 is still solid despite the slump. His strikeout rate is a touch higher than ideal with 55 whiffs in 229 at-bats, but he's also drawn 35 walks.

The son of former major league outfielder Greg Vaughn, Cory has excellent tools but his erratic college performance at San Diego State dropped him to the fourth round in the 2010 draft. He has an especially sharp platoon split (1.066 OPS against lefties, .777 against right-handers), and has also been much more effective on the road (.946) than at home (.756). Even at this point of the season, the sample sizes with these splits aren't necessarily meaningful. Scouts were pleased with the improvements he made to his swing after signing last year, and while his isolated power is down in the Sally League, but I remain pretty optimistic about his chances."

[MFS62]

Guess he was just anxious to show them what he could do.
He went 3 for 3 with a dinger in his first game after promotion.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Tearing apart the Florida State League right now.

[Edgy MD]

Tearing apart the Florida State League right now.