2008 Stats: .264, nine homeruns, 52 RBIs
2008 Analysis: Well, for a kid who was mostly expected to play no higher than AAA in 2008, playing in 117 games at the big league level and starting at 2nd through the entire playoffs was a bit of an upgrade. And for a kid who had that low expectations coming into the season, how he performed was above and beyond the call of duty.That being said, DeWitt was a lot less impressive over an entire year. He was solid in April, excellent in May (.322, five homeruns, 18 RBIs, .896 OPS), then dropped off for the rest of the year. Following May, until the end of the year, DeWitt batted .235 with only four homeruns and 23 RBIs. His OPS over that span was .649.
DeWitt's fielding at 3rd was solid, even though his fielding percentage was an average .969. DeWitt's percentage wasconsiderably better at 2nd (.981) though in less chances. He did look uncomfortable there at times, though.
2009 Outlook: So what are we to make of DeWitt's numbers in 2008. Can he play more like a May-DeWitt or will he play more like a 2nd-half-DeWitt? Baseball is always said to be a sport about adjustments. Can DeWitt make those adjustments? Scouting reports must have come out after May, because pitcher started hitting him with breaking balls low and in that DeWitt could neither hit nor hold off on.Here's what I feel. DeWitt is good baseball player. He's not going to hit well enough to warrent a third base job (you'd ideally like someone with a little more power over there), but he could be our 2nd baseman for years to come. If he can make the adjustments he needs to, he could hit maybe somewhere around 15 homeruns and bat in the high-.200's for a whole season. If we get that kind of production out of him at 2nd, I'll be happy.
I hope to see him shore up his defense at 2nd base and come into Spring Training 2009 ready for the job.
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