The Washington Nationals today acquired 23 year-old outfielder/first baseman Andrew Lefave from the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the September 4 trade in which Milwaukee acquired left-handed pitcher Ray King in exchange for a player to be named later. Nationals Vice President and General Manager Jim Bowden made the announcement.
The Single-A South Atlantic League batting champion, Lefave hit .345 (146-for-423) with 25 doubles, 17 home run, 79 RBI and 59 walks in 112 games for the West Virginia Power this season. Lefave’s batting average ranked second in minor league baseball among players with at least 350 at-bats. He also led all Single-A batters with at least 350 at-bats in batting and on-base percentage (.432). Lefave, who bats and throws left handed, led the entire Brewers organization in hitting in 2007.
In one-plus seasons, or 147 professional games, Lefave is a .347 career hitter with 18 home runs and 101 RBI. He also sports stellar career on-base (.431) and slugging (.517) percentages. Lefave originally signed with the Brewers as a non-drafted free agent on July 1, 2006 after attending Missouri Valley College.
Lefave, Brett McMillan, Robby Jacobsen, and Bill Rhinehart will likely battle for the starting 1B spots in Harrisburg, Potomac and Hagerstown.
Pilchard | 14-Sep-07 at 11:37 am | Permalink
Sounds like a good prospect. Lafave is 5-10 which is really short for a 1st baseman. I’m guessing the Brewers were willing to deal a player with Lafave’s solid offensive numbers because:
On the plus side, in addition to his good OBP and Power numbers, Lafave stole 12 bases. So, it does not appear that he is a total base clogger.
Kevin | 14-Sep-07 at 1:07 pm | Permalink
I see that Lafave was not among milwaukee’s 30 top prospects this year, and that a number of 1st basemen were ahead of him in the depth chart. Even still, I am amazed we got a player who had such a good year for a dollop of Ray King.
Hopefully we can get another good prospect when we trade Ray King next summer, a la Mike Stanton.
Kevin | 14-Sep-07 at 1:18 pm | Permalink
Here is a good 4 minute video introducing LeFave:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7062983169112830272&q=player+profile%3A+andrew+lefave&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0
VladiHondo | 14-Sep-07 at 1:45 pm | Permalink
Remember Maxwell started the year also in the Sally League as a 23-yr-old.
Also, he will not be in anybody’s top 30 list, since he was a) undrafted b) only played 35 games the year he was signed.
estuartj | 14-Sep-07 at 1:55 pm | Permalink
This is a position of need in our minor league system, if reports are correct Larry Broadway (27yo) is about to be released to make room for Josh Whitesell (25yo) to move to AAA Columbus. Of Brett McMillan (23yo), Robby Jacobsen (23yo), and Bill Rhinehart (22yo), only Rhinehart looks like a legit prospect, hitting .299/.377/.453/.830 at SS-A Vermont.
Best of all we gave up nothing of value, similair to the WMP trade. Probably not a big deal long term, but good work by JimBow regardless.
Freda | 14-Sep-07 at 2:35 pm | Permalink
Do we know if he will be in Instructional League this year?
Brian Oliver | 14-Sep-07 at 2:42 pm | Permalink
Freda - Good question. No, we do not know. I’ll ask and see
chris | 14-Sep-07 at 3:05 pm | Permalink
Nice work. obviously he was a bit old for the level, would love to see him in Harrisburg next year with Rheinhart at Potomac. Any Hagerstown faithful remember him?
Dave @ Bottomfeeders Baseball | 14-Sep-07 at 3:32 pm | Permalink
the OBP is what gets me. he can be 5′10″ all he wants, but if he’s looking at pitches in the low minors, that’s a guy that’s confident in his swing and can tell what a strike is.
Louis J. | 14-Sep-07 at 4:53 pm | Permalink
WOW!! Lefave appears to be a great hitting prospect with the OBP of Nick Johnson. The Nats have enough Outfielders. If he can be converted to play 1B, that would improve the system a lot. Note, the Brewers drafted Matt LaPorta in the 1st Round of 2007 draft, a power hitter who already hit 10 HR in his few games in the minors so they don’t need another 1B..
Shawn | 14-Sep-07 at 5:22 pm | Permalink
Yeah,I saw LaFave here.
Hit a homer one night.
I would say he is a prospect along the lines of McMillan,but far better than Jacobsen.
He is interesting,but not a sure thing.
Nats fan in NJ | 15-Sep-07 at 8:38 am | Permalink
Just another piece in the stock pile. I saw on Barry’s Nat’s Journal that Marrero was also being considered for 1B at Harrisburg. However, haven’t seen that anywhere else. Any insight?
Hartmanbirge | 15-Sep-07 at 9:03 am | Permalink
Ultimately the only thing that matters is production. He may be 5-10 and 210 lbs but the guy has produced. Any time we get a guy who has that sort of plate discipline with some power I think it’s a great addition. And he’s left-handed…. This is the kind of guy that Billy Beane would salivate over… his body is quirky and gets him overlooked by the scouts who like the 6-5 130 lb guys…. but he gets on base like a magnet… reminds me of Jeremy Brown in the A’s system. Overlooked but does nothing but produce.
Tofu Dog | 16-Sep-07 at 12:03 pm | Permalink
Marrero at 1B is an interesting idea. I makes sense given how well Wily Mo has been hitting. But given what Pena looks like in left, I would think trying him at !b somewhere would make more sense.