Oswaldo Navarro: Past and Present Assessments of the newest Astro
by Evan Hochschild on May 22, 2010 6:00 AM CDT
in Player Profiles
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PrintGoing back and researching a minor league player like Oswaldo Navarro leaves you with a certain sadness. At this point Navarro is probably giddy at the thought of joining a major league team, especially one where he is sure to see some playing time. I doubt the Astros organization has prepared Navarro for the call up, and it's not as if he is the next big thing on the farm and expecting a promotion at any time. On the contrary, Navarro has already been jettisoned from the Seattle Mariners' organization and is trying to make a go of things with the Astros this time around.
How successful he can be at the major league level is up for debate, though at this point the best we can probably hope for is production which is better than Tommy Manzella. Baseball Prospectus has Navarro as a respectable .275/.370/.463 hitter at this moment in the majors, as translated from his .312/.418/.506 line from Round Rock. We can expect to see some degree of fall off from that line, as Ozzie's career OPS of .649 indicates that not only is he playing a ways above his true ability, but he is playing at a unsustainable level even for AAA. Eight of his 24 minor league hits have gone for extra bases, and his walk rate is a not too shabby 13%. Bottom line: Ed Wade didn't have much to choose from, but at least with Navarro we have reason to be somewhat optimistic.
So how did Navarro make it to the Astros' organization? He is a 25 year old who the Mariners plucked from Venezuela in 2001. He never amounted to any sort of high graded prospect, but in 2005, Dave Cameron, touted Navarro's defensive abilities as being above par. Baseball Analysts seconded the scouting report of Cameron, as Navarro was a highly touted defensive shortstop during the 2006 season. As the article notes, the men on that list of glove minded shortstops were in the mold of future utility infielders, though only Ramiro Pena (Yankees) has been successful in that role with a major league team.
As Ed Wade acknowledged in his recent comments to the media, Navarro has a healthy minor league career under his belt but is just 25 years old and offers a greater degree of flexibility on the roster than did Matsui. It looks as if Jeff Keppinger is going to continue to get the lion's share of time at second base, with Manzella and Navarro most likely sharing time at shortstop. Wade has hinted that even more changes could be on the way which in reality won't boost our W-L %, but could stand to purge the roster of under-performing talent in favor of young options from the farm. At the quarter-season pole, the Astros' biggest issue is lack of production from the 3-4-5 hitters and unfortunately there is nobody in the minors who can help in that regard.
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Navarro has strong splits: he is a switch hitter who hits much better from the left side. He had a huge split at Round Rock (.237 BA vs. lefties; 1.05 OPS vs. righties), but that is a small sample; over his career, he has a reasonable split between left and right (OPS in low .600’s vs. lefties, almost .700 vs. righties). So, he may have a useful role if he can reduce the number of starts that Keppinger makes against righties, plus spell Manzella against righties sometimes.
It’s hard to judge Navarro’s defense based on Total Zone. The sample sizes and inconsistencies from year to year aren’t enough to tell us much. For guys who play multiple positions, TZ often isn’t very helpful because the sample size at any given position is too light. It may not mean much, but my recollection is that Navarro looked good in the field during spring training. And that would be consistent with the earlier statements about his defense. If I recall, ZIPS had Navarro listed as a plus defender at 2d base.
You have to be happy for the guy, because he may have gotten the call up of his lifetime. It looks like he could have the kind of skill which could make him a decent utility infielder. If he has some luck, he could have career in that role.
Navarro used to be considered a top defensive shortstop prospect by scouts. He was listed the best defensive infielder in the Mariners system by Baseball America in the past. So I imagine he at least has the glove to play at short and it’s not surprising that ZIPS thinks he’s a plus defensive second baseman.
It’s good to hear that he splits in favor of hitting off righties, that makes him a good platoon candidate with Manzella.
switch-hitter?
Where are you getting that information? He’s listed as bats right, throws right on the team webpage.
Hmm, MinorLeagueSplits lists him as switch hitting, but other places list him as batting right-handed. I don’t know which is true. Regardless, clack is correct that he splits in favor of hitting off of RHP for whatever reason. His career minor league wOBA against RHP actually isn’t that bad for a shortstop.
That's strange, isn't it?
Yes, I saw the switch hitter label at minorleaguesplits.com, and didn’t question it, given his actual platoon splits. If he is a RHB, his strong reverse split over 3000 plate appearances in the minors is very unusual. If he actually is a RHB, and not a switch hitter, that’s unfortunate because it’s less likely that the Astros will use him properly (i.e., consistent with a reverse platoon).
Only option?
Heck no, Chris is proving that he has figured out AAA pitching. Now is the time to bring him up and see if he can contribute at the major league level. He hasn’t had a real chance to get constant playing time and its not like Feliz is really lighting it up over there at 3rd base either. Feliz should be that right handed power hitter of the bench and Johnson should get his shot to prove whether or not he belongs.
The trouble with sitting Feliz is that benching a veteran like that, who had been promised he would start, can cause clubhouse problems. Also, it’s still early for Johnson and the sample size is small. I want to see what he can do over the next couple months and hopefully the Astros can find a buyer for Feliz (although I doubt it unless he starts hitting a lot better).
You know, honestly, if feliz complains about playing time then he should do something about it like, hit the ball? Hes not doing that right now and has never actually done it consistently throughout his career. Whereas, with Johnson, we don’t know what he can do because he hasnt been given a chance and this isn’t a sample size hes been in AAA ball already last year. He hit .288 last season in AAA ball his first season in AAA i believe too. This has nothing to lose by letting Johnson play, they are more inclined to gain more from playing Johnson by figuring out what it is they have in him.
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A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on May 22, 2010 1:05 PM CDT up reply actions
The Astros knew that about Feliz’s offense when they got him. There is no way to have both Feliz and C Johnson on the roster unless you let either Keppinger or Blum go. Navarro needs to be on the roster because he is the only true back up shortstop. I don’t see the Astros letting Keppinger or Blum go at this point—nor Feliz for that matter. If there was a way to rearrange the roster to keep both Feliz and Johnson, I would be in favor of some kind of sharing of 3d base time between CJ and Feliz.
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