Behold, The Power Of Park

Totally agree.  Park looks like the real deal.  I've watched a lot of his at bats this year and he seems to be very confident and patient at the plate (his strike out numbers don't reflect that) but I think he will only get betters the season progresses.  

If nothing else he hits some shots that are very impressive!  Loooooong!

I wonder how he does driving the golf ball?

In my eye tests, it seems Park has cut down on the awkward check-swings. He's seemingly caught up to the game's speed. The sky's the limit for him.

Homerung Byung!!

What has impressed me as much as Park's hitting is his overall maturity as a ballplayer. Park is a complete professional in all aspects of the game, including fielding and base running. He has an excellent glove at first base, a good arm, and always understands the game situation. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers, but even more of a power hitter. As a hitter Park uses all areas of the field, and can punish a pitcher's mistakes with tape-measure homers in all directions. On top of all that, Park is a selfless player willing to forego his own stats to help his team win. With a runner in scoring position in a close game, he is perfectly willing to rap a single rather than looking for a less probable home run pitch. 

Is Byung Ho Park becoming the unspoken leader of this team? He certainly is leading by example.

He moves well at first, but I have noticed he has an odd habit of leaning back into the baseline when receiving off target throws rather than stretching and playing the short hop or stretching to meet the throw.  (letting the ball play him rather than playing the ball).  He fields it well enough which shows remarkable hand eye coordination, but it's not the most sustainable way to catch a ball without getting run over.  
 

At the plate I've really liked watching him play the chess game.  On more than 1 occasion Dick has called him a "guess hitter".  I'd say that's partially true.  But what that really shows me is that he 1) has the confidence to sit on a particular pitch and adjust off it, and more importantly 2) that he's anticipating how pitchers are going after him.  That's a veteran approach we haven't seen from hitters in this organization who have typically been taught outright aggression from early on.  For all his brawn, he seems to be a very cerebral player.  I can't wait until we see some more of his personality show through.  Reminds me a bit of David Ortiz when he first came up.

very similar to Jose Abreu, which is awesome...

His defense at first base has been both impressive and surprising.

Thanks for a much appreciated ray of sunshine amidst the clouds!!!

If--sorry, when--the other prospects get back on track, we can add one more position of strength to our future (fantasized) playoff contender than we had last year!

We've gotten a bitter lesson this year in the dangers of focusing on upside and ignoring downside. But surely the lesson is not to stop dreaming at all!

So let's see...

In a few years, the dream team consists of:

CF: Buxton

RF: Kepler

LF: Rosario/Arcia/Walker

3B: Sano

SS: Gordon

2B: Polanco

1B: Park

C: Free agent

SP: Berrios, Duffey, May, Meyer, Jay

RP: Burdi, Chargois, Reed, Bard, Melotakis, Hildenberger, Rogers

Is that lineup good enough to win the World Series? Probably not. But boy, is it CHEAP!!!  Leaving plenty of dough to supplement them with genuine free agent STARS who could push the team over the top. 

If this team ever  starts to win again the owners will owe us, bigtime, from their subsidized stadium windfall.  If we can get above .500 on homegrown talent alone, once we get all the expensive, mediocre veterans off the books, I hope the lesson is, don't mess around with expensive, mediocre veterans any more, just to try to be "respectable." Pool all that  Nolasco/Hughes/Santana money into buying a smaller number of genuine stars, to support the talented youth.

Hey, it's my fantasy, and in this future, the vaunted farm system is finally bearing fruit.  We don't need five expensive, mediocre pitchers, and five expensive, mediocre hitters.  We need two ace pitchers, two shut down relievers, and two or three big, scary hitters.  And the payroll is above the league median, so we buy them. And not to prop up a thin, shabby team. They're the big guns on a well-oiled machine, manned at all positions by talented, up-and-coming youngsters.  Wake me up in three years when we're there!