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Minor leaguer Cody Decker disputes scouting report, offers to provide shirtless photo evidence
When the baseball news cycle slows down over the holidays, we start scratching and clawing for every bit of information we can find to satisfy our thirst.
That includes scouring the rumor mills with regularity, checking in with the beat writers on Twitter almost hourly, and even searching for scouting reports to learn a little bit more about the up and coming talent around the game.
That’s what some San Diego Padres were fans doing this week when they came across a piece written by Rich Wilson of Prospect361.com, where he ranked the organizations top ten prospects. When one reader noticed the name of Cody Decker missing from the list, he asked Wilson for an answer, which he received.
‘Well at least you didn’t say Jaff Decker. Cody will be 26 next year and struggled in AAA before moving back to AA where he hit for a lot of power. Not a physical specimen at 5-foot-11 and 240ish but has a highly leveraged swing that when he makes contact, goes a long way. Bat speed is really slow though and he struggles against breaking pitches. Right-handed 1B really need to hit and he doesn’t. Poor man’s Matt Adams?
Not really a prospect for me but could be an extra bat off the bench in the big leagues. Statistical profile is similar to Sands but I like Sands bat better. Mind you, I don’t see Jerry Sands as a regular big league outfielder, but I put him a notch above Decker.’
Another person who read Wilson’s less than encouraging response was Decker himself, and let’s just say he had a little problem with Wilson‘s weight guesstimation and the breakdown of his swing. Take a look.
Decker confirmed his response via Twitter on Friday, just in case you wondered if someone may have been posing as him.
On his baseball reference profile, Decker is listed as 5-foot-11 and 220 lbs, which matches up with his side of that story. And having never seen him play, I can't really say whether or not Wilson's other findings are completely inaccurate. I can look at his numbers though and see he has slugged 87 home runs in four seasons while posting a healthy .895, so the ball does indeed travel when he squares it up.
I don't know if that's enough to make him a real prospect, and that's really not even the point of why I'm writing. I just thought Decker's response was humorous and even a little refreshing since you know he's not the only player who's ever disagreed with a scouting report.
Good for him for standing up for himself. Also, I hope he's prepared to deal with the endless stream of shirtless photo requests he's likely already receiving.
Big BLS H/N: Eye on Baseball
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