Player Spotlight: Elvis Andrus

Elvis Andrus was born is Maraacay, Venezula. He bats and throws from the right side and is listed as 6'0 and 185 lbs. He was signed by the Atlanta Braves as a non-drafted free agent on Jan.26, 2005

The Rangers are so confident in Elvis Andrus that they moved gold glove SS Michael Young to 3B and Hank Blalock to DH. Andrus is a shakeydefender as he committed 32 errors last season in 109 games as Young has only committed 81 errors in 787 games at SS. They brought in Omar Visquel to teach this young lad how to catch the damn ball and toss it over to 1B. His biggest asset is his speed but he gets caught stealing a ton (maybe they should bring in Rickey Henderson).

In 2006 he hit .265 with 3 HRs, 50 RBI, scored 67 runs, and compiled a poor OPS of .681. He had 23 SBS but was caught 15 times (60.5%).

In 2007 he hit .257 with 5 HRs, 49 RBI, scored 78 runs, and posted a .673 OPS. He had 40 SBs and was caught 15 times (72.7%).

In 2008 he had his best season hitting .295 with 4 HRs, 65 RBIs, scored 82 runs, and had an improved OPS of .713. He did swipe 53 bags in 69 attempts (76.8%)

He seems to be getting better on the bases as he rose through the ranks and gained experience, but in 2008 Winter Ball he only stole 6 bags in 10 attempts in 50 games. In my opinion, he projects like Jason Bartlett with a little more speed. The question is how much opportunity will he get to run with that line up with a stadium that plays like a little league park?

Other News:

MLB.com discussing prospects in Spring training
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200902043797922

MLB.com discussing prospects in WBC
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200902253963187

MLB.com on Wieters
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200901223763510