David Vidal came into the 2011 season as an intriguing prospect who was said to be a tad suspect at third base after being a catcher in junior college, though his bat was said to be strong and his power surprising for his size. While spending most of his season in Arizona for the AZL Reds, Vidal hit a combined .267/.338/.460 during the 2010 season.Vidal would spend the entire 2011 season manning third base with the Dayton Dragons.
The season started out slow for Vidal as he would hit just .273/.313/.403 in the month of April. His plate discipline was a bit aggressive, walking just 4 times while striking out 23 times and his power was of the doubles variety. He went homerless in the month, but was able to rack up 10 doubles. While I wasn’t able to see him play every day, his defense was pretty impressive in the times I was able to see him.
May went quite a bit better for Vidal. He found his home run stroke as he went on to hit 5 on the month and improved his plate discipline with 8 walks and 22 strikeouts on the month. The improved power and plate discipline helped push his line on the month to .264/.326/.494 and he drove in 16 runs during the month.
Continuing his upward trend, Vidal again improved in June. He put up a .310/.359/.524 line on the month with 4 walks and 17 strikeouts while having an even 10 extra base hits for the third straight month (6 doubles/4 HR’s). While his plate discipline did take a step backward some during the month, his numbers stayed high and he drove in a season high 20 runs during the month.
To keep the same theme going, Vidal went ahead and improved his numbers from the previous month as he posted a .337/.413/.596 line with a very impressive 11 walks and 13 strikeouts. His power output also increased as he had 6 doubles, a triple and 5 HR’s on the month to push his season total to 14. Like June, he would also drive in 20 runs during the month.
During August and September, Vidal found himself slumping as he posted a line of .231/.333/.470 with 17 walks and 36 strikeouts over 138 plate appearances. The plate discipline continued to be improved over earlier in the year and the power was still quite strong. He added 10 doubles and 6 more HR’s to the totals on the season to push his final line on the year to .280/.350/.498 with 37 doubles, a triple and 20 HR’s. His 20 HR’s tied for the team lead and ranked 3rd (tie) in the Midwest League. His 85 runs batted in were good for 4th in the league, while his 37 doubles were the league leading total.
Overall Thoughts
Vidal lived up to his offensive scouting reports prior to the season as he showed a solid hit tool and some strong power output, but the big surprise was how impressive he was on defense at times, making at least one highlight reel play each time that I watched him play. The biggest concern that I would have with Vidal moving forward is his plate discipline. While it improved over the season, overall it remained average at best and it would be a great thing to see if he were able to carry his second half plate discipline forward with him as he moves up the ladder.
Stats
| PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 514 | 454 | 85 | 127 | 37 | 1 | 20 | 85 | 44 | 111 | .280 | .350 | .498 | .847 |
Spray Chart
| Total | Rate | Outs | 1B | 2B | 3B | HR | SacB | SacF | AVG | SLG | IsoP | |
| P | 8 | 2.3% | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| C | 3 | 0.9% | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| 1B | 17 | 4.8% | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| 2B | 24 | 6.8% | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| 3B | 42 | 12.0% | 40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .048 | .048 | .000 |
| SS | 47 | 13.4% | 44 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .064 | .064 | .000 | |
| LF | 74 | 21.1% | 15 | 31 | 17 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 1 | .795 | 1.438 | .644 |
| CF | 75 | 21.4% | 35 | 20 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .527 | .892 | .365 |
| RF | 61 | 17.4% | 32 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 4 | .439 | .877 | .439 |
Video