Jason Dubois

Well as the off-season moves along, the Cubs still haven't solved their outfield problem. So, I decided to write about a guy we might be seeing a lot of next season Jason Dubois. In every level of his 3 year minor league career he has displayed power and the ability to hit for a high average. Though in 2003 he had a little slump in Tennessee, but he recovered well last season. When Jason was recalled last year I was hoping that he would have a bigger role than water boy, but with Dusty Baker as manager I expected it (as we all know Dusty favors veterans over rookies). Due to this I dismiss his 25 PA's with the Cubs last year as just fodder though he did do well in the last game of the year when Sammy decided he was too good to be bothered to be at the park.

Jason Dubois decided to go to Mexico this off-season and work on his game (with encouragement from the Cubs). Jason has been in Mexico with the Mazatlan Deer and in early December, MLB.com wrote and article about him and how he was doing. In the article it said he was hitting for a lot of power and was red hot, what it didn't say was that he was striking out about once in every 3 pa's (thanks to Basebaball America). This is an alarmingly high rate to strike out at and though it would be nice to see his power on the team, if he doesn't cut back on the k's, major league pitchers will have a field day with him.

In Bill James 2005 Handbook it predicts Jason to have a very productive season for a rookie. By no means is it a spectacular .277/.343 /.522, but it is better than the ones forecasted for Alou whom signed an expensive deal in SF. If by some chance he is to be the Cubs opening Day LF, and he could bat this well as a rookie, I'd be very happy, the problem is I don't think he can. I do think in the very near future he can be very productive OF, but until those strikeouts are reduced I don't think the above numbers are achievable.