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| What You Need to Know About Cody Decker |
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| On the Farm - Lake Elsinore | |||
| Written by Cheri Bell | |||
| Saturday, 17 April 2010 09:23 | |||
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This will serve as a companion piece to Steve Adler’s interview with Padres prospect 1B/OF Cody Decker of the Lake Elsinore Storm. For those of you who don’t know too much about Cody, read on. You will be hearing a lot more about him as the season goes forward. Born Jan. 17, 1987 in Santa Monica, Ca. Decker graduated from Santa Monica High School and enrolled at UCLA. During the course of his four years he played first base, DH and left field. He also served as a bullpen catcher but not as a catcher in a game. Always a power hitter in college, he excelled in his senior year, hitting 21 HR and winning the Pac-10 HR title that year. His college career BA .288 with 28 doubles, 47 HR, 153 RBI and a slugging percentage of .561.
Drafted in the 22 round of the 2009 amateur draft by the Padres, Cody signed early and was sent to Arizona rookie league to finish out the season. He played in 52 games/ 228 PA leading the league in extra base hits and home runs. His .354/.421/.717 line led the league and earned him a late season promotion to Fort Wayne for 7 games and 24 PA’s. While at Fort Wayne there were injuries to the front line catchers and Decker provided support by catching bullpen for some of the pitchers. His primary positions in both leagues were 1B and DH with a few appearances in LF. Cody starts the 2010 season at Lake Elsinore and provides the Storm with the right handed power hitter to hit cleanup. He has played both 1B and DH this season with a combined .333/.351/.528 thru 9 games. Because of his size (5-11 and playing from 210-230lbs) and perceived limitation to 1B and DH (with those few LF appearances) he has not been viewed as a top level prospect. There has been recent speculation that a trial at catcher might be in the offing but there is little doubt that if he continues his current hitting success a place will be found for him. There is organizational depth at first base and no need for a DH in the National League so watching what the future holds for Decker will be worthwhile.
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