Shawn Green RF, Dodgers

Sporting News, The, July 28, 2003 by Lewis Shaw

Age: 30

Height: 6-4 Weight: 200

Throws: Left Bats: Left

2003: Was batting .257 with 10 homers and 46 RBIs going into this week.

2002: Hit 42 homers, his second straight 40-plus-homer season. Drove in 114 runs and batted .285.

Approach: He stands upright, deep in the box, well off the plate, open toward right field against righthanded pitchers, open toward second base against lefthanded pitchers. His stance is slightly more closed against righthanded pitchers with a three-quarters arm slot. He drops his hands to just below the letters on high pitches and to his ribs or below the ribs on low pitches.

Tendencies: This season he has become a mistake hitter and is trying to pull everything; he appears unable to do much with good pitches. He is not as patient and does not work the count as well as he has in previous seasons. He shows enough bat speed to muscle average inside four-seamers to right field. He will try to pull average four-seamers in on the fists. If a pitcher challenges him hard and in, he is likely to chase. Lefthanders can tie him up inside with a cutter or four-seamer. On breaking balls away from lefthanders, he moves toward the outside in an effort to see the pitches. He looks for pitches from the middle in. Shows a little dive and a stiff front side on below-average to average four-seamers in, especially from righthanded pitchers. He almost always swings at the third or fourth pitch in an at-bat, no matter the count or the situation.

Areas of concern: He is not showing enough plate discipline, bat control or body control when swinging. He is impatient, which leads to a lot of bad hacks. He pulls his bead off average cutters, four-seamers and sinkers away, trying to yank the pitch to right field. will hitch on average backdoor sliders and slurves, swinging over the top of them and pulling his head off them. The result often is a fly ball to left-center off the end of his bat. He does not seem to get a good look at breaking pitches or sinkers at night. In late afternoon sun, he flinches slightly on down-and-in four-seamers or sinkers. His bat speed, formerly plus, looks average. He loses bat speed because of the way he draws his bat back in order to try to pull pitches. Because he is constantly moving his feet toward where the ball is pitched--especially off-speed or breaking balls away--he strides inconsistently toward the middle of the mound.

Bottom line: He is having so many problems with his approach and mechanics that he may not be able to pull out of his struggles this season, though the arrival of Jeromy Burnitz could help Green relax and regain his confidence.

By Lewis Shaw, a professional scout who analyzes players for the SPORTING NEWS.