Roughs on the Diamond – Roger Kieschnick

It’s back, my Roughs on the Diamond feature.  I stopped for a little while because I wanted to generate some TTM custom cards for these guys.  Now that I have the template down, you should be seeing more and more of them.  Everyone knows that I am a New York Yankees fan, but what you probably don’t know is that I also root for the Giants.  Last year the Giants made some decent selections in the draft, but none may make a big impact like Roger Kieschnick.

Roger is the third cousin of former major leaguer Brooks Kieschnick, the former pitcher / pinch hitter / left fielder for so many teams in the late 80s and early 90s.  Roger doesn’t pitch like the older Kieschnick, but he sure can hit.  I first noticed him in his junior year of college at Texas Tech when he went 0.305/17/65 and even had 8 stolen bases.  It intrigued me because players who can hit the longball well in college generally translate well to the majors.

It wasn’t the 21 homers that intrigued me his senior season, it was the fact that in any given night he could go off.  He has hit as many as 3 homers in a single game. Considering that he played against conference foes such as Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma St., which are all known for solid college level pitching, it’s even more impressive.  So when he was drafted by the GIants in third round I was elated.

The Giants aren’t wasting time with him either.  They opened him up in high A San Jose.  There are some great hitters on that team this year.  Buster Posey (2008 first round pick) started in San Jose and is now in Fresno, but also Conor Gilaspie (2008 1A pick).  Kieschnick might just be the best of the 3 from a hitting perspective.  He is currently hitting 0.296/19/74 with 7 stolen bases, and is just having a great productive year.  About the only area he is not doing well in is the strikeouts department.  He needs to be come a bit more patient at the plate, but other than that I think we are looking at someone who could be roving the outfield near McCovey Cove fairly soon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you see him up there by the end of next year if he continues hitting as well as he has.

From a prospecting perspective, you can still find his autographed cards and game used items on the cheap.  I got my certified autograph (Team USA set) for $3 shipped.  They are running about $2 – $3 on eBay for decent cards of him.  Below I created a custom card for him so that if you want to go out and send him a TTM request you have something to send.  If you want the full size file, just let me know and I can send it to you.