Bay Area Baseball

Milwaukee’s Matt LaPorta dominated the minor leagues hitting .288 with 20 HR in just 84 games. The powerful righthanded hitter was cruising towards the big leagues when he ran into roadblock. Laporta was traded to Cleveland in the CC Sabathia trade and suffered a concussion in the Olympics shown above. He finished by hitting just .233 in 17 games for Cleveland’s AA Akron club.

LaPorta should be fully recovered and has been invited to spring training for the Indians. He, much like fellow big bats Matt Wieters and Evan Longoria, should see an early season callup and have an impact on the big league club. There has never been a doubt about his power - rated as a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale. While he may not hit for exceptional average, he certainly looks like a cornerstone RBI man in the mold of a better Pat Burrell.