Alex Presley has been a big surprise this year, not only having a breakout season in Altoona, but carrying that success over to Indianapolis in his promotion to AAA. After putting up a .257/.313/.379 line in 704 at-bats between two seasons in high-A, Presley surprised everyone with a .350/.399/.533 line in 246 at-bats in AA this year, earning him a mid-season promotion to AAA. Presley has only seen 14 at-bats at the AAA level, but that was enough for him to hit for the cycle last night, going 5-for-6, and accomplishing the cycle by the 5th inning.
Despite the accomplishment, it’s too early to call Presley a success at the AAA level, but one has to wonder whether his offense is legit, and what kind of player he could be at the major league level. For obvious reasons, I’ve seen that conversation a lot on several Pirates forums in the last few weeks, with a big topic being a question on his defensive abilities.
I saw Presley a lot during the 2009 season in Lynchburg, and while I wasn’t impressed with his skills at the plate (no surprise considering his numbers), I was impressed with his defensive abilities. I went through my video recaps and found a few highlights from Presley. I skipped over the routine fly balls, the fielded base hits, and just went with a few web gems. Granted, these four plays are a very small sample size, but maybe this will give you an idea of what he’s capable of on defense.
