Borchard's Debut

[poorme]

Switch hitting Joe Borchard was called up by the White Sox for yesterday's game. He started in RF after playing CF for the past two years in the minors. He swung at 7 of 8 pitches thrown to him, popping up a couple of times and drilling a liner over the CF fence. Borchard was surprised at being called up and Kenny Williams said he had decided to do so at the last minute. Borchard has limited experience playing baseball and at 23 is a little behind schedule. He has been striking out at an alarming rate - 139 times in 438 AB's in AAA. He hit .272 with 20 homers and 35 doubles, but had been hitting better as of late - his average had been hovering around .250 for much of the year. More than likely he'll play in AAA again next year much like Joe Crede did this year. There's a chance the Sox will deal Carlos Lee if anyone offers anything decent, which would open a spot for Borchard next year.

[poorme]

why didn't this get put in the Elephant Graveyard?

anyway, borchard got rugburn on his hand and missed the last 4-5 games. he's scheduled to play tonight.

[Max Power]

Only cause I missed it and the mods are napping!

[soxfan121]

If he has limited experience, how is that he has developed as a switch-hitter? I've always considered that a difficult skill to master - especially for someone who doesn't have a lot of experience at the plate.

Also, does KW have any long-term plan? Why not deal Lee and any other extraneous parts for AAA pitching prospects and allow Borchard, Crede and Harris to play next season? Ordonez, Konerko, etc. will be good enough to keep the Soc from being horrid and will allow the kids to develop with a lot of pressure. Then make another run starting in 2004?

[poorme]

Originally posted by soxfan121

Also, does KW have any long-term plan? Why not deal Lee and any other extraneous parts for AAA pitching prospects and allow Borchard, Crede and Harris to play next season? Ordonez, Konerko, etc. will be good enough to keep the Soc from being horrid and will allow the kids to develop with a lot of pressure. Then make another run starting in 2004?

Sounds like a good plan to me. I think KW and Manuel might be at odds somewhat over who plays. The kids will definitely play next year as the Sox are going to lop off about $20 million in payroll - not that easy to do. I think Ordonez could be had in the right deal.

Borchard was always a football player first and foremost. He played baseball at Stanford, but only half the season and played football full time. He was going to be a 2-way player, but $5.3 million from the Sox convinced him otherwise. 2001 was his first full season of baseball and he did pretty well, like .290, 27 hr's at AA. This season he missed spring training and the first part of the year with a broken foot. He hit like .270 and 17 hr's in about 400 AB's. The sox are still preoccupied with his strikeouts so I wouldn't be surprised if he played in AAA again next year.