I do appreciate his value to get on base and his defensive prowess, but his terribly high K totals, for me, tend to drag down his value a little. Right now I’d settle him in the Mid-to-Lower 20′s in a list of the top prospects in baseball.

Also, his firstinning.com profile,/a> shows that he’s hitting 52% of his balls in play to LF, 44% of which are on the ground (8.7% in the air) and 28.4% to RF (14.4% on the ground and the air) and 10.6% in the air to CF. I haven’t seen him play and regret not getting a chance to go to Grand Rapids to see him in Low-A ball, but I’m hoping it’s more his trying to pull everything that’s resulting in what are alarming groundball rates.

I guess, the only reason i’m slightly concerned (though I’m sure it comes across as a 5 alarm worry, haha) is he was touted as having all 5 tools. Even if he doesn’t develope that power, he’ll be a very good leadoff hitter with his increasing BB totals and his speed. That’d allow Granderson to move down in the order where, at his peak, I think he should be (I feel the same for Grady Sizemore. Both he and Grandy are No. 3 hitters in my opinion, in their prime).

Even if his power never develops – and he’s only 20, so there’s lots of time – he will play a premium defensive position well, get on base, and run like the wind. That has value, too.

As for the power, Firstinning.com recently had a story looking at who goes the opposite way the most and Maybin was among the leaders. I don’t know this to be the case, but it’s possible he’s working on his swing and not just looking to yank the ball out of the park every time he goes to the plate.

I can understand making an argument that he may not be one of the top prospects in baseball, but he is looking like a player that could have real value to the Tigers very soon.