I saw a few games later in the Altoona season and some of the World Cup stuff that was televised. He looks great coming in on the slow roller down the line. Really strong arm and a very quick release. He’s able to get the ball off on the odd angles sometimes required when barehanding and making a quick throw. That would probably be his biggest strength. He also made a couple highlight reel type plays on hard hit balls right at him. The few balls I saw that would require him to range either left or right he didn’t get to, but it’s hard to say if the average 3Bman would have gotten there either.

You probably have to watch over a much longer stretch to know what he’s really capable of, but that’s what I saw in limited exposure.

he’s got a solid ML arm, good motions, knows how to play the position, but his range will always be limited

They’ll play him there till he can’t do it effectively anymore. It sounds like it will be a constant battle for him as far as his range is concerned. But if the rest of his attributes (hands, arm) are decent or above-average, he’ll be good enough to stay there, at least awhile. Hey, he wasn’t drafted #2 because of his glove.

Yes. I saw him in AA.

After hitting a mammoth double that hit (and almost broke) the wall, he went to play the field the next inning. Shortly after, a high pop fly was hit that was about 3 feet from home plate. The catcher lost the ball in the sun, and said “I lost it” and then everyone in the crowd heard Pedro. “I GOT IT. I GOT IT.” he yelled, the entire population of Blair County could hear him. He slid feet first, then flipped over and the ball hit his glove. Pedro dropped the ball, and was charged for an error (although I blame the catcher).

Point is, he seemed to have decent range on pop-flies, and if he works hard this off-season, he could at least be able to slide properly and catch the tough balls.

I like the Thome comp. Seems reasonable.

How about Miguel Cabrera? He and Pedro seem to have similar body types, and Cabrera didn’t end up sticking at third very long despite starting out in the minors as a shortstop. Is Pedro more athletic?

with fringe-average defense at third and the same at second (assuming LaRoche moves there) is that our pitching staff really needs good infield defense. None of our starters strikes anyone out, and our best ones induce a lot of grounders. I’m really hoping that the FO believes that LaRoche and Alvarez can be good at 2b and 3b, respectively, rather than merely adequate.