Will Pete Kozma Plouffe?

Looking at two similarly-drafted shortstops from two different organizations.

Factoid #1: On Thursday night, Springfield Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma committed his 16^th error in just 39 games this season. The Cardinal Nation’s 14^th-ranked prospect was given Friday off, replaced by Aaron Miles.

The most nondescript of transactions appeared on the wire on Friday:

Factoid #2: “The Minnesota Twins recalled shortstop Trevor Plouffe from the Rochester Red Wings.” (pictured)

In support of one or the other of these apparently unrelated items or perhaps both, I offer this scouting report.

Batting and Power. (He) has shown a good batting eye at the plate the past couple of seasons, and looks like he could be a serviceable hitter in the Major Leagues. (He) has shaken off some tough seasons in the beginning of his career, and now is very confident when he gets to the plate. He does not have much power, but he is a great gap hitter, and looked very good in Spring Training this year.

Baserunning and Speed: (He) has average speed, and is not really a threat on the basepaths. He is a smart baserunner though, and is not a liability when he gets on. He also has enough speed to leg out triples, and in some cases, turn singles into doubles. His career-high in stolen bases is 12, meaning he does not run much, but he could get you around ten a season.

Defense. Here is where it gets tricky, because (he) has all the tools to be a top of the line defender. The problem is, he has not shown those kinds of results since coming into the organization, and has committed way too many errors so far in his professional career. However, he is still rated as one of the best defensive infielders in the organization, mostly due to his soft hands and a rocket for an arm.

Only remembering vaguely about Plouffe, I pulled up the above, written about him by my peer at TwinCitiesDugout.com, Brad Weiss, a little over one year ago. The similarities between the two shortstops, Plouffe and Kozma, struck me, down to the same career season high-water mark in steals at a dozen each, a point I did not need to edit from the above text.

Alright, so Kozma has yet to prove he can be a serviceable hitter at the major league level, but Plouffe had a head start. His encouraging report was posted after he had put in a half-season at Triple-A, a level Kozma has yet to achieve.

Looking back, both were highly-touted high schoolers, taken just two picks apart, though in different years. Plouffe was number 20 overall in the 2004 draft out of California, while Kozma was selected 18^th in 2007 from Oklahoma.

Draft	DOB	Hgt	Wgt	Age	Year	Rd	Pick	Bonus
Plouffe	6/15/1986	6-1	175	18	2004	1	20th	$1.5 M
Kozma	4/11/1988	6-0	170	19	2007	1	18th	$1.395 M

The career comparison is interesting, as Kozma has been moved ahead about a half season earlier than was Plouffe in relation to their respective draft dates, though that is offset somewhat by the fact the Cardinal was 10 months older than the Twin when signed.

The bottom line is that both players reached Double-A at the age of 21. Plouffe accomplished it in his fourth professional season and Kozma in his third.

Plouffe
Season	Year	Age	Level	BA	OPS	E
1st	2004	18	Rookie	0.283	0.719	16
2nd	2005	19	A	0.223	0.645	35
3rd	2006	20	A+	0.246	0.681	39
4th	2007	21	AA	0.274	0.736	32
5th	2008	22	AA/AAA	0.262	0.723	13
6th	2009	23	AAA	0.260	0.720	26
7th	2010	24	AAA	0.303	0.860	8
Kozma
Season	Year	Age	Level	BA	OPS	E
1st	2007	19	Rk/A-	0.233	0.655	22
2nd	2008	20	A/A+	0.258	0.701	22
3rd	2009	21	A+/AA	0.231	0.625	34
4th	2010	22	AA	0.245	0.718	16

Like Kozma, Plouffe endured several seasons of thirty-something error totals. He has played 90 of his 687 minor league games at second and third base, mostly in the last few seasons as the Twins apparently looked to make him more of a versatile type of player as he aged.

Plouffe appeared in his first major league game Friday evening, just one month short of his 24^th birthday. He singled, doubled against former Cardinal Jeff Suppan and drove in two.

2010 is Plouffe’s seventh professional season. For a first-round pick, even as a high schooler, that lengthy time of development has to be considered a disappointment, but the right-handed hitter potentially still has a number of baseball years ahead.

If Kozma continues in “Plouffe form,” he would make his own MLB debut late in the 2012 season, in the midst of his sixth pro campaign. That doesn’t sound too far-fetched, does it?

Brian Walton can be reached via email at . Also catch his Cardinals commentary daily at The Cardinal Nation blog.

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