Congratulations To Dante Bichette Jr.

It’s always nice to see some success with a young player the Yankees have signed and this week Dante Bichette Jr. was named the Gulf Coast League’s Player of the Month.  Bichette was only recently signed by the Yankees in June when he was picked up by the Yankees as their first pick of the 2011 draft and was immediately placed in their Gulf Coast League system.

So far this season with the Gulf Coast league Bichette has played in a mere 34 games but put up some big numbers.  He is hitting .341 with a .460 on base percentage.  Bichette has been hitting for power which attributes for his .535 slugging percentage, .995 OPS and his 3 home runs.  He also leads the league with 34 RBI’s in 34 games.  His power numbers seem to overshadow another impressive statistic that his walk rate is 16%, which indicates his headiness at the plate- something that is uncharacteristic for young players.

Although it’s a small sample size, its worth noting that his splits against lefty’s are quite impressive with a .432 batting average,  .522 on base percentage and whopping 1.251 OPS. (Babe Ruth only had a 1.16 OPS!)  It’s also exciting to see that Bichette is hitting .344 with runners in scoring position.

Although the numbers reflect a great signing by the Yanks, it is only the Gulf Coast League which may not be terribly much different than high school baseball for Bichette and he could just be ahead of the curve.  Either way, hopefully he keeps up the big numbers and we may see him take over at third base one day.

Here is Dante Bichette's Highlight Video