The funny thing w Tork is he has a 50/60 hit tool, meaning upon assesment in the minors he had an above average hitting tool independent of power, and given his approach fron college(where he was often named the best hitting prospect in the decade) and the low minors, they expected it to be a “plus” tool, where a guy should compete.for a batting title during his peak.
Now, with 1100 PAs in the majors (an amount where hitting traits become enough of a sample size to start having valid oredictive outcomes) , it looks like a 40 tool, at best. Its weird though. He has swing and miss, but not egregious for The New Age of Analytics at 25% K rate, and a solid, above MLBaverage 9% walk rate.
Also this just in…he’s just now 24.
Age 21- 29 HR across low/mid minors. Hit about .270. Prospect profile 
Age 22- Power craters. ISO of a $3m glove first middle infielder. SOme at AAA, which he pounded in the same # of PAs the year before, but most in MLB.
Weird, maybe a “They got the book on you, now adjust” kind of experience.
Age 23- 1st full MLB year 31 HR, but like 22, reallly slow start. Over half his hits left the bat at 95mph+, but he undeperformed his expected value creation, somehow. Launch angle good, lotsa hard hit balls, pull/oppo numbers good. WEIRD.
Age 24- Slooow start with 1 week sample size.
ZIPS projection system, which is pretty conservative, has him the next 3 years hitting 250 with 105 HR. That’s probably the midpoint on his development curve…270/40-45/120 is peak IMO at age 26-27.
Still not a 60 hit tool result though. Scouts get it wrong or is there an issue with Tork’s approach or teachability?
Hmmm…
