Todd Linden

Linden appears to be your classic quadruple-A player, dominating Triple-A but never sustaining that success in the majors. Last season his numbers weren't quite as good as usual in the minors, but he did manage an .811 OPS in 77 at-bats with the big club. He's 26 years old and is as ready as he's ever going to be. Destined to be a fourth outfielder at best in San Francisco, he could fall into 250 at-bats since his teammates are so old, but he's never going to be a star.

Minor-league performance, properly translated, usually is a good reflection of a player's major-league potential. Some guys, however, just don't make it over the hill. Linden, who owns Fresno and can't do anything further north, may well be one of those guys. He has no role on the '06 Giants. Like Dave McCarty, he may eventually surface and have some decent platoon years.

Linden's hot numbers in the minors faded a bit when he was promoted to Triple-A Fresno. Although the sample was small, he looked overmatched in his brief time as an outfield platoon player for the Giants. His batting average in Triple-A is promising, but he hasn't shown he can hit for power and will likely begin at Fresno to start the 2005 season.

Linden is what passes for a hitting prospect in the Giants system. His minor-league record suggests he'll hit .270-.280 without enough other stuff to make him more than an average corner outfielder. The Michael Tucker signing ruins his chance to get playing time and whatever limited fantasy value he might have had.

Linden, who turned 22 last summer, wowed ‘em at Double-A last year, going .314-12-52 in 111 games (101 K's but 61 walks and an OPS of .910). He followed that up with .250-3-10 in 29 games at Triple-A (but 20 walks; good plate discipline) and .269-3-13 in 36 games in the AFL (again, 16 walks, OPS of .803). He projects as potentially San Francisco's starting right fielder by opening day 2004, and maybe sooner, although he'll almost certainly start 2003 at Triple-A. Watch Linden's progress in the spring, and keep him on your watch lists for a possible midseason debut.