Quincy Latimore

QUINCY LATIMORE
CORNER OUTFIELDER
Born: February 3, 1989
Height: 5′ 10″
Weight: 175
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Drafted: 4th Round, 128th Overall, 2007 (Pirates)
How Acquired: Minor league free agent
High School: Middle Creek (Apex, NC)
Agent: N/A

WTM’S PIRATE PLAYER PROFILES

At the time he was drafted, Baseball America characterized Latimore as very athletic, with good but not great speed.  Despite not being a big guy, he takes a big cut at the plate and looks to drive the ball.  He tends to swing at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone.  He’s probably limited to the corners in the outfield and doesn’t have great range even there.  He’s had pretty high error totals for left field, which is where he’s played the last several years.  His arm is decent.  Latimore had a commitment to North Carolina State but signed quickly.

2007
R:  257/352/386, 171 AB, 9 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 16 BB, 25 K, 13-17 SB

Held his own in the GCL, stealing bases, showing some power and a decent eye, and keeping the Ks within reason.

2008
A-:  244/285/394, 221 AB, 14 2B, 5 3B, 3 HR, 13 BB, 53 K, 6-10 SB

Latimore’s plate discipline disappeared at State College.  In June and July, he drew three walks and fanned 30 times.  He batted only .184 in June, then hit 316/341/494 in July before slumping again in August.  He had a large platoon split: .978 against LHPs and .576 against RHPs.  He played mostly left, with five games in center.

2009
A:  251/295/411, 479 AB, 24 2B, 10 2B, 11 HR, 23 BB, 116 K, 3-6 SB

Latimore played mainly left for West Virginia, with a few games in right and one in center.  He committed fourteen errors, an awful lot for a corner outfielder, although he did throw out a dozen runners.  He had an odd season, starting very slowly, getting hot in the middle part, then finishing in a bad slump.  His monthly OPS was as follows:

April: .490
May: .836
June: .695
July: .943
August: .566
September: .346.

It’s possible he wore down late in the season.  It’s also possible pitchers took advantage of his poor plate discipline.  He had a reverse platoon split: .662 against LHPs and .721 against RHPs.

2010
A+:  266/323/444, 518 AB, 31 2B, 2 3B, 19 HR, 30 BB, 136 K, 11-12 SB

The inconsistency continued at Bradenton.  Latimore started off hot, slumped, then finished hot.  Monthly OPS this time:

April: .810
May: .652
June: .747
July: .704
August: .942
September: .760.

Latimore’s plate discipline remained poor.  He drove in 100 runs, but Brad Corley a had 100-RBI season, too; by itself it’s not a repeatable skill, as Corley showed.  In fact, Corley is an interesting analogy, because he was remarkably similar to Latimore.  Corley, of course, hit a wall at AA due to his poor strike zone judgment.  Latimore had no meaningful platoon split, but like many Bradenton players had a big home/road split:  .889 vs. .652.

2011
AA:  239/297/411, 457 AB, 32 2B, 1 3B, 15 HR, 33 BB, 140 K, 7-15 SB

At Altoona, Latimore continued in the same vein.  He put up his usual low average, low OBP and decent slugging average.  He also continued to swing at many pitches out of the strike zone, leading to a career-high in strikeouts and not many walks.  The inconsistency also continued:

April:  .737
May:  .551
June:  .580
July:  .823
August:  .779
September:  1.222

He had a large platoon split, .863 against LHPs and .657 against RHPs.

2012
AA:  252/321/433, 413 AB, 24 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 38 BB, 105 K, 10-18 SB

Latimore returned to Altoona and got off to a very bad start, hitting 179/225/254 in April.  He hit consistently well the rest of the year, with an OPS between .790 and .842 every month for a 266/338/468 line after April.  Overall, he increased his walk rate and cut his K rate from nearly one every three ABs to about one every four.  He continued to have a large platoon split, although not nearly as large as the previous year, at .822 against LHPs and .719 against RHPs.  After the season, the Pirates traded him to Cleveland for Jeanmar Gomez.

2013
AA:  231/306/353, 295 AB, 16 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 26 BB, 66 K, 5-8 SB
IND:  232/308/371, 151 AB, 3 2B, 6 HR, 15 BB, 29 K, 5-9 SB

Latimore’s hitting dropped off in AA with Cleveland and the Indians released him in July.  He latched on with Washington with the independent Frontier League for the rest of the season, but hit almost the same as he had in AA.

Latimore no doubt will head to Altoona, where the Pirates figure to have a need for outfielders.

STATS
Baseball Reference–Minors
Fangraphs
MiLB.com
CONTRACT INFORMATION
2014: Minor League Contract
PLAYER INFORMATION
Signing Bonus: $220,000
MiLB Debut: 2007
MLB Debut: N/A
MiLB FA Eligible: 2014
MLB FA Eligible: N/A
Rule 5 Eligible: Eligible
Added to 40-Man: N/A
Options Remaining: 3
MLB Service Time: 0.000
TRANSACTIONS
June 8, 2007: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 4th round, 128th overall pick; signed on June 18.
January 9, 2013: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Cleveland Indians for Jeanmar Gomez.
July 17, 2013: Released by the Cleveland Indians.
January 30, 2014: Signed as a minor league free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates.