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BP Annual Player Comments

Year		Comment
2003		A good defensive corner outfielder who once had a gun for an arm, Ochoa is not going to kill you if he’s a starter. He could even actually break out with some pretty good numbers. However, he’s not going to hit like he did for those few weeks in Cincinnati a couple of years back, but he could be around or slightly above league average. The Angels decided league average wasn’t enough, so they didn’t offer him arbitration. He’ll likely end up somewhere that harbors unreasonable expectations for his performance, and overpays him as another step in a franchise death spiral. But he could end up somewhere other than Baltimore, too.
2002		When Ochoa was traded to the Rockies, it was hard to not think of Dante Bichette. Both were 29 upon arriving in Denver, both were toolsy corner outfielders with good arms, and neither had been much of a player to that point. Unlike Bichette, Ochoa didn't hit in his first exposure to the thin air. That, the return of Hollandsworth, and the acquisition of Encarnacion are going to make it difficult for Ochoa to replicate Fonzie's career. Moving to Milwaukee pretty much ends his bid for park-inflated stardom.
2001		He's a tremendous fourth outfielder. Some good fourth outfielders stay that way and have careers as good players on winning teams, making money and generating good memories. Others end up as marginal starters on bad teams, making more money and playing more without ever having to worry about not being free on Columbus Day. I have a sneaking suspicion that Gerald Williams,...er, Alex Ochoa will fall among the latter.
2000		Milwaukee is becoming for fourth outfielders what Montreal used to be for washed-up pitchers: a place where you get a chance to save a career. Some don't make it--Marc Newfield and Chuck Carr, for example--but others, like Ochoa or Rich Becker or Darrin Jackson or Gerald Williams, recover their livelihoods. Ochoa still has the strong arm that helped propel him to monster prospect status with the Orioles and Mets, but he's hit his ceiling.
1999		Stiffer than John Holmes on a Viagra binge. Ochoa is a poor-hit, poor-field player who parlayed physical tools, including a strong arm, into prospect status. Tools are overrated. Strike zone judgment isn't. Ochoa brings nothing to the table you can't find in better players, and should be sent back to Triple-A.
1998		His last name still sounds like something Jabba the Hutt might say...O-Cho-Aaaahhh. Another tools player that hasn’t had a lot of success playing ball yet, but he’s a better bet than Everett to finally harness some of that athleticism on the field. Defensively, he’s erratic—brilliant some days, Kingmanesque on others.
1997		He was taken from the Orioles for a year and a half of Bobby Bonilla. He has one of the best arms in the game. On top of that, he has raised his offensive level every year he’s played. What’s not to like about him? I think Vlad’s got the power and walks right, but expect his batting average to be closer to .300 than .275.
1996		Think "Mark Whiten". A .280 hitter, Grade B power, good baserunner, one of the strongest arms in the game. Ochoa's the definition of a "good" player; he's a little above average in every phase of the game. He isn't a "great" player, and probably never will be. Starts the year at AAA, he'll probably move Everett to left this year, with Payton waiting in the wings for an opening.

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