Sunday August 26th, 2012

Sam Evans: When Toronto Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos traded away both Travis Snider and Eric Thames at the trade deadline, it created an opportunity for unheralded twenty-three year old outfielder Moises Sierra. Sierra has a chance to show Toronto that he should be part of their future in these final couple months of the season. With his 70-grade arm and his ability to produce runs at a solid pace, Sierra could have a job in the majors for years to come. However, Sierra has a lot of work to do to become a candidate for playing time at Rogers Centre in 2013.

Moises Sierra was signed by the Blue Jays out of the Dominican Republic back in 2005. This was before the Blue Jays dominated the scouting world, so Sierra has never been an “Anthopoulos guy”. From 2006 to 2008, Sierra had some rough numbers for different teams, but he showed enough to be promoted from the DSL, in 2006, to earning a starting job in High-A for the 2009 season. Sierra had a 122 wRC+ at High-A in 2009, but he missed most of the 2010 season due to a stress fracture in his leg and a couple of other minor injuries.

In 2011, Toronto smartly kept Sierra in Double-A for the entire season. In 551 plate appearances, Sierra hit for a .342 wOBA and considerably lowered his strikeout rate from previous seasons. This led to a 2012 promotion to Triple-A, where Sierra hit as Las Vegas hitters usually do (well). The only encouraging news coming from Sierra’s time in Triple-A was that he was starting to learn how to hit with two strikes.

Sierra currently has had sixty plate appearances for Toronto this season. In those PA’s, Sierra has hit .283/.306/.417. Those are some fine numbers, but his 3.2 BB% and 25.8 K% aren’t too hot. Sierra is a very talented baseball player, but you need a lot more than that to be successful in the majors. I am not convinced that Sierra will know how to respond when major league pitchers start learning where to pitch to him and what to throw to him. Also, his defense in corner outfield is overrated just because of his arm. He needs to take better routes to balls off the bat.

With Rajai Davis, Colby Rasmus, Jose Bautista, Anthony Gose, and possibly Jake Marisnick, all competing for playing time next season, Sierra needs to keep hitting in order to earn consideration for a starting job next year. Just looking at quotes from Blue Jays manager John Farrell, it doesn’t sound like Sierra has made a great impression in Toronto so far. On the bright side, Sierra has a very real chance to end up being a fourth outfielder or platoon outfielder. Although it is a small sample size, Sierra has hit much better against left-handed pitchers this season than righties.

Despite his average speed, Moises Sierra might be one of the worst baserunners in the majors. Blue Jays’ fans saw this first-hand when Sierra ran straight past a stop sign from third base coach Brian Butterfield after his first major-league hit. Sierra’s main problem with base running is that he thinks he is a lot faster than he really is. While this is very common among teenage Dominicans, it’s not as cute when the player is twenty-three and costing a major-league team runs scored. While this might not sound like a huge issue, outs given away by stupid mistakes on the base paths can affect the game just as much as anything.

In a recent CBC article, Alex Anthopoulos was quoted saying that he thought Sierra has the upside to a Nelson Cruz type of player. First of all, he didn’t say Sierra is going to be Nelson Cruz, he just said he thought Sierra had the upside to be a Cruz-like player. For once, I have to disagree with Mr. Anthopoulos. Whenever Cruz has stayed healthy he’s been on-pace for thirty homers and a 140+ wRC+. If Sierra ever develops that kind of power…. well, he won’t develop that kind of power.

There is a high chance I could be wrong about Moises Sierra. If he taps into his raw power and develops his plate approach, he very well could be an everyday outfielder for years to come in Toronto. However, unless Sierra can make some of these difficult improvements, he’ll probably become a fourth outfielder or second-division starter in the majors.

(*The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com*)

***Today’s feature was prepared by Sam Evans, Baseball Writer.  We highly encourage you to leave your comments and feedback at the bottom of the page and share in the discussion with our readers.  You can also follow Sam on Twitter. (@RJA206)***

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