It could be said that the Rockville Pikemen shed the specter of Frank Thomas III quickly, as the former Carolina/Rockville superstar was traded in 2033, retired in 2035 and the Pikemen won the BBA title in 2036 - that's pretty fast. While the Pikemen didn't quit Frank - he's a coach in their minor leagues - it's fairly certain that they would be overwhelmed by finding anyone anywhere close to the former superstar, who is maybe the best right handed hitter in BBA history. Today, the Pikemen spent a fortune chasing a ghost, signing three IFAs including the Taiwanese youngster Bing-de Zhao, who scouts say might be the best righty hitting prospect since...
"FTIII," said Rockville GM Aaron Weiner, who drafted the Hall of Famer #1 overall in 2013. "Freaking FTIII. They're comparing him to our guy, so okay, we got cash, let's go buy him."
We're not sure the comparison is apt. Yes, Zhao might have the best contact + eye potential in the entire BBA. If you run a filter on his projected scout ratings, and you ask them: who's going to have a perfect 10 contact and at least an 8 rating for batting eye, you come up with one player, and that's Bing-de Zhao. Scouts also say he has the potentially best batting eye among the top 50 hitting prospects in the game. But here's the thing: FTIII was never a huge power hitter. Carolina wasn't precisely a hitter's park, but Thomas never hit more than 33 homers in one season - and scouts think that Zhao might be a perennial 40-50 homer player. In other words...
"We might never have seen anything like him in the history of the league," said Weiner. "Scarier is that the guy might actually be able to play defense."
Oh yeah. We almost forgot. FTIII never played one single inning in the field for his entire BBA career, only playing designated hitter. Zhao, on the other hand, might be a Yogi Zimmer-level defensive player at first base and might even - gulp - be able to play second base, which brings up a name not usually heard...
"A right-handed Cricket Puckett comes to mind," said Weiner. "Jesus, this guy had better make it."
Apparently, yeah, he better.
Sticking Points 2037.2: Rockville Signs Bing-de Zhao
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