For the Melky Haters

.289 .381 /.374

this is someone else's MILB line

.319 /.394 /.369

these two are very comparable players, they have virtually the same sort of game / size / position and even both bat left handed. you might even argue that the other player is even better. because he's a much better contact hitter then Gardner (he has a 255/175 K/BB ratio in 390 game vs Gardner's 214/163 in only 290 game)  the problem is the other player is Joey Gathright, who owns a career 266.333/.314 line in the majors.  after a 4 year stint

The issue with pure speed no power guys is that they usually have an EXTREMELY difficult time repeating the same line in the majors. the most successful guy of this type is Juan Pierre should sum up a lot . Pierre's MILB line was arguablly just as good if not better than those two at .330/.373 .392  he never whiffs AT ALL (a ridiculas 74K vs 90 walk in 315 game) and was truely able to leg out just about everything he puts on the ground. and his translation to the major is 301.348/.374 , so you see he loses a good part of his average because major league defenders are much better and it's a lot more difficult to leg out infield hits, not to meantion pitchers with better control will just jam you with hard stuff and pop you up.

Gardner does walk the most amoung these 3 and he wins the power contest amoung the powerless too, but he also have the most obvious strikeout problem, something that seems more likely to inflate then improve in the majors due to his age and style (remember, Brett Gardner is actually OLDER then Melky Cabrera)

And if Gardner doesn't at least hit something like .270-.280 , he's walks (which will also likely deflate in the majors thx to pitchers simply having better command) will simply not make up enough of a OBP to offset the MASSIVE differnece in power.

I think he has a chance of being a useful player, but I seriously question the logic of taking him over Melky Cabrera. a younger player that has actually already reasoanblly established himself in the majors. something that's a lot more rare than some people seem to make it out to be.

I must say from a prospecting point of view taking Brett Gardner over Melky Cabrera is just pure stupidity, Cabrera's normal ceiling is probably a above average CF in the majors. (Think Coco Crisp in his two year before going to Boston) and given his age context might actually go beyond that. while Brett Gardner's celing is something similar to Juan Pierre (Who is dispite his reputation, a 4th OF at best who is given a everyday job to kill his team) with more walks hopefully offseting a significantly lower BA.

Austin Jackson is a different case, he has potentially better ceiling than Cabrera, but we must not get ahead of ourself here, he's a 20 year old that had half a good season in A+, looking at similar players (very toolsy CFs .. I'm basically looking at Granderson / Vernon Wells / Sizmore and Upton, Jackson probably falls closer to Wells then Upton) non of them were productive major league player until at least age 22 (Sizemore and Upton)  and only Sizemore (the most talented of the bunch) basically had no problem transitioning to the majors. (Wells first truely good fullseason in the majors was age 24, Granderson was 25) Jackson was described as a somewhat raw athelte when drafted (much like Curtis Granderson, both were bit time highschool hoop stars), and that hasn't completely changed yet. I think what we should expect from Jackson is that..

a. he'll probably take 2 more season to fully reach the majors

b. there's a very realistic chances that he'll struggle to some extend for a season or two when he first come up.

I don't think people realize how rare it is to have a 21/22 year old reasonablly hold it's own in the majors like Cabrera. you need to realize that if someone plays like a star at this age he's probably a hall of fame talent , if he does reasonablly well he's very likely an above average career player.