In just 227 at-bats, Norris batted 278-10-38 with 11 stolen bases. He walked 63 times (an all time Lake Monster's record) while striking out just 56 times. He had a .463 SLG percent and his .444 OBP led the league. He raised his walk percentage from 16 in 2007 to 22 in 2008 while dropping his strikeout rate from 31 to 24. His BB/K rate jumped to 1.16.
Look at his stats when expanded out to a 500 at-bat season, the best way to contrast and compare with other players: .278-23-85, 24 stolen bases, 144 walks, and 128 strikeouts.
A total of 144 walks? That's Barry Bonds' territory.
Those statistics fit perfectly with his scouting report numbers from thebaseballcube.com (these are based on 100 possible points): Power: 90, Speed: 61, Contact: 26, Patience: 100.
Wowsers.
And he was a 19 year old hitting against mostly 21 and 22 year olds who have three or four years of college experience.
Double wowsers.
He was recently named to the Topps Rookie league all-star team and Baseball America tapped him as the team's No. 6 prospect. He was also designated as having the best plate discipline of all Nationals' prospects.
Norris' defense is solid as well. He led the New York-Penn league in throwing out base runners with a 47 percent efficiency rate. That compares favorably former National Brian Schneider, considered one the premier defensive catchers in baseball, who threw out 50 percent of base stealer's last year. Current Nationals' catcher Jesus Flores, considered a solid defender, threw out just 36 percent of would-be base runners in 2008.
Interestingly, the Nationals aren't sure they are going to keep him as a catcher. He has shown great speed (for a catcher, good speed for an infielder) and there is talk of perhaps moving him to first or a corner outfield position.
If Jesus Flores continues to improve, Norris will have to move to another position if he stays with the organization. If Flores doesn't make it, look for Norris to be given a chance sometime in the future.
I'm sure that Norris will be playing at 'A-' Hagerstown in 2009, which will give Nationals' fans a chance to watch him play.
Derek Norris looks good. The kid has the talent to break that fourth round trend of fading into obscurity.
All he needs now is a little luck and a lot of desire.
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