5600
by TFIR
I managed to dig up some info on him from FanGraphs. Excerpts. This is about a year old though:
Abraham Almonte has overcome a veritable minefield of obstacles on his way to the majors, the most obvious of which being his height. Originally signed by the Yankees as a 17-year-old, the diminutive Dominican stands just 5’9″. Upon acquiring him, the Yankees tried Almonte as a second baseman in rookie ball before quickly shifting him to the outfield.
For the next seven years, he worked his way slowly through the organization, finally reaching Double-A in 2012. By that point, Almonte was generally viewed as a quick, switch-hitting outfielder who lacked the power to play in a corner spot at the major-league level and had never hit .300 in the minors. He was still more than just organizational depth, but not enough of a prospect to land on any top prospect lists.
As mentioned previously, his height was not the only roadblock between Almonte and major-league success. He missed most of 2010 with a shoulder injury and faced down some personal demons in 2011, when he quit drinking in a successful effort to fight a serious alcohol problem. In 2012, after being moved up to Double-A, he was sidelined yet again, this time with a troublesome hamstring.
Let’s look at how he profiles as a hitter. A switch-hitter, Almonte’s home-run power comes from the left side of the plate. Since his return to health (and sobriety) in 2011, 20 of his 22 minor-league homers came against righties, as did both of his long balls in the majors last year.
From the left side, Almonte’s quick, compact swing enables the barrel of the bat to get around quickly on inside pitches, providing him with ample power to pull the ball out to right field.
In short, Almonte possesses good discipline from both sides of the plate, a surprising amount of pop from the left side, and plenty of speed to steal bases in the majors.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
