Ricky Oropesa has the makings of a guy who is going to become a feast or famine pro hitter. You can’t miss the raw left-handed pull power. It’s there and if you graded just on raw distance, he’d be up there. But life is not a BP and Oropesa will have to prove that he can do enough with the outside pitch to keep him dangerous. There are going to be some teams that love his raw power and will take the chance, and I hope he gets to go with a team that likes him for that. I don’t want to bury the kid, but there will be critics who don’t like his swing. He’s probably going to hear that it’s too long. There’s a little hitch in there and it’s on him to show that it’s not a flaw but part of his trigger. I’m not opposed to the uppercut or the sweeping nature of it. But his swing plane concerns me and I think it comes from where he starts his hands. I’m far from a hitting coach, but it doesn’t look consistently smooth going through the hitting zone. Now, that said, if it works for him, I wouldn’t touch it. I’m not writing him off because you don’t want to write off raw left-handed power. The bat speed is there. I can’t give a guy bat speed and raw power. He might be one tweak away from being a dude. And I’m willing to bet somebody is going to pay good to find out.
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