Jaff Decker might be the most disagreed upon player in the minor leagues. Is he, “Among the best pure hitters in the minors...”? But with tools that “…will never impress,” according to Kevin Goldstein. Baseball America thought so and rated Decker only 7^th in the system saying, “He’ll never be more than playable on an outfield corner.” ESPN’s Keith Law isn’t as negative and rated the left-handed power-hitter 3^rd in the organization (behind Boston imports Casey Kelly and Anthony Rizzo) and #46 in all of baseball. Law said, “He’s surprisingly athletic for his body type.”

In Moneyball, author Michael Lewis quotes Billy Beane as saying, “We aren’t looking to sell jeans,” when describing Oakland’s penchant for drafting non-Adonis-type physical specimens to play baseball. The truth is, baseball is full of guys who succeeded despite lacking the physique of a Greek god: John Kruk, Tony Gwynn, Matt Stairs, to name just three (admittedly Gwynn was more athletic when he was younger but he was never a physical specimen).

However, while there is disagreement about Decker’s fielding ability, everyone thinks he’ll hit enough to be a starting corner outfielder. I already mentioned Goldstein’s opinion (“Among the best…”). Baseball America says, he has a chance to hit for average and he generates, “power to all fields.” They also note that the new Padres front office realized Decker was better than they thought, “Decker’s bat will play bigger than [they] initially expected.” Keith Law was even more effusive, “His plate discipline has been off the charts since his first day in a pro uniform,” and compared Decker to Daric Barton with more power.

Goldstein once said that Jack Cust, “…was a lawn ornament at first base and something less as a left fielder.” Is Decker that bad; as some suggest? Or is Decker more like Khalil Greene (the one-time Padres farmhand the national baseball media also derided for his defense)? Or is the bat so good that it won’t matter?

Humorously enough, when the Padres minor leaguers were modeling jeans – well, okay, not jeans, but new uniforms, they asked several top minor leaguers to model them for potential season ticket buyers. Jaff was not among them.