Brian Dopirak

I have big hopes for Cubs 1st base prospect Brian Dopirak. Last season he put on a clinic in Lansing by hitting 39 hr's and having an OPS of .956. So it was nice to see that John Sickels on ESPN answer a question about him. In it he talks about how he has shown his power throughout the minors and the only major flaw in his game so far has been his strikeouts. He says Brian needs to get better command of the strike zone or in future he will be a very containable slugger. He also says that Brian is not just a hacker and has a nice swing so if he gets a better command of strike zone that he will be dangerous. I agree with this. I think that if Brian can reduces his k amount by 25 and increase his walk amount by 10-15, he won't lose as much power as expected because pitchers will have to start throwing more strikes.
Next season Brian will more than likely start in West Tennessee and probably find the pitching more difficult and not hit 39 hr's again. I think that he will have a nice OPS this year, but his main concern should be his batting eye while he is there. With the trade and the big extension to Derek Lee last season, means that for this season and next season Brian will not be seeing much of Chicago unless it is in September. So he has 2 years at least to work on his batting eye and making adjustments for his power. I fully expect to see him on the Cubs opening Day roster in 2007.