Overview-After struggling mightily with the bat in 2006, Hu put on weight before the 2007 season and ended up having the best year of his career. This year, he was forced into an early starting role with the big club. He hit miserably in his trial run, but will look to rebound later. Universally acclaimed for his defensive prowess, his value to the Dodgers will eventually lie in the development of his bat.
Hitting-A line drive hitter with good bat speed, Hu usually makes decent contact. He's never going to hit a ton of home runs, but there's good gap power lurking in his skill set. While he has positives, the negatives were very apparent in his stint with the Dodgers. His plate discipline is not especially good, so he hits pitches outside of his comfort zone and it results in a disturbing amount of weak ground balls. Mechnically speaking, his left shoulder flies open far too often. This bad habit leaves him swinging at pitches with little more than his hands to provide the pop. He was constantly doing this during his stint in the majors, which explains his complete inability to drive the ball. Unless he develops a better approach and corrects his mechnical flaws, his hitting may stagnate completely.
Fielding-Defensively, Hu is a Gold Glove waiting to happen. He's a combination of arm strength, arm accuacy, quick feet, soft hands, and great instincts. He can make almost any play on the field, from the routine to the spectacular. For a young player, he is amazingly consistent as well. Any criticism would be bordering on nitpicking.
Baserunning-While Hu gets good jumps and runs the bases well, he's not a burner. His speed is better than average, but he will have to rely on his first step to steal bases at the major league level.
Mental-His approach at the plate needs to be refined, and he needs a plan everytime he goes up to the plate. He seemed to lose confidence in his hitting stroke as his struggles in the majors continued, but there have been no concerns about his makeup so he should bounce back fine.
Health-Hu has no injury concerns that i'm aware of.
Performance-2007 was really the only year in his career that he flashed solid ability to hit. Hu retained his gap power while moving up a level, and he maintained a solid average all year. Unfortunately, he's prone to years like 2006 because he's reliant on his batting average to carry his prodution. Believe it or not, I had always wondered whether Hu's 2007 showing was more of a fluke than development. For most, the performance was enough to send him rocketing up the prospect rankings, but I would like to see at least two good years until i'm ready to say he'll be a contributor with the bat.
Other-Nothing.
Projection-His current ability would probably put him at .230-.240, 3-5 HR, and great defense. Still, his ceiling is quite solid, as he could eventually become a .280-.290 hitter, with 6-8 HR, and lots of doubles.
At this point, however, Chin Lung Hu resembles the shortstop of yesteryear. He has a great glove, but can't seem to hit major league pitching. Unfortunately for him, the game is such now that teams can't afford to have an offensive vortex in their lineup, regardless of how good a player's defense is. If Hu does manage to meet his ceiling as a hitter, he should be a very solid regular, but unless he shows progress, he's going to be stuck as a defensive replacement on most quality teams.
The Dodgers would be wise to keep him at AAA for the full season, letting him refine his offensive approach. Depending on his progress with the bat, he could be ready by next year, but it's much more likely that he'll need another year to develop, if he ever does.
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