By The Way

Hit Tracker doesn't have info on it for some reason (it doesn't have any info for Beltre's homer, either), but last night the scoreboard at Petco measured Franklin Gutierrez's home run at 426 feet. Which sounds about right. It's difficult to tell exactly where the ball landed, but after looking at the dimensions and having a general idea of where it came down, yeah, I'd estimate 425-435. It's about time someone split Branyan up.

That distance is why I'm so optimistic about Gutierrez's power development. Over the last two years Franklin has posted a lower HR/FB% than Jose Lopez, but while Franklin has a few of these mammoth dingers to his name, Lopez doesn't have any. Which means that Lopez is kind of maxing out his power potential, while Gutierrez has a lot of room to grow. Will he get better? Not necessarily. There are any number of reasons why he could remain the way he is. But his moonshot last night is proof that he has the physical ability to blossom into a 20-30 home run hitter.

As of this writing, Franklin Gutierrez is good. If he starts hitting balls like he did yesterday a little more consistently, he's going to be great.

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Note: also read this! I think you'll be fascinated by how Dave and I have such different insights into things.