On Friday July 30th, our very own Salt Lake Bees representative Rick Dykhuizen caught up with the Angels' top prospect outfielder Peter Bourjos.
Bourjos has had a killer month of July, posting a .445/.484/.714 line in a 26-game stretch, 55 hits total, collecting at least one hit in all but three games. Bourjos has collected three or more hits in ten games during the month of July, pushing his batting average to .313 on the season, to go along with 27 stolen bases. Oh and we're not talking a slap hitting frenzy month of July either, as Bourjos has posted an incredible .734 slugging pct during the month of July thus far. Going into tonight's game on July 31st Bourjos has 12 doubles, 12 triples and 12 home runs on the season.
A week ago, our very own David Saltzer spoke to scouts at the Bees game and they had this to say about Peter Bourjos.
"Dynamic game-changing speed with improved plate discipline. He’s become a true base stealer—he’s getting better jumps and picking better spots to steal. After getting a single, the pitcher threw over to first base several times. When the pitcher finally went to the plate, Bourjos stole second. On the next pitch, Bourjos stole third. The catcher and third baseman were rushed and the ball got away from the third baseman (although Bourjos beat the throw) and nearly scored. He ultimately scored on the next pitch on a groundout by Izturis (who was still limping while running and nowhere near as fast out of the box as before—all the scouts commented on that. The Angels may say he’s 100%, but he’s not. He was thrown out trying to steal second.). One scout said that Bourjos is “getting better.” They all agreed that he could provide gold glove defense, but, weren’t sure if he could hit enough to be a regular Major Leaguer (but no one questioned him as a 4th outfielder) and one speculated on whether or not he would walk enough to leadoff and take advantage of his speed. They all agreed that he needed more seasoning. One thing to note about Bourjos—he hustles. If fans want to know why he has more triples than doubles, it’s because he flies around the bases. On a routine fly to centerfield, he was within 2 steps of second when the catch was made. Had the ball been dropped, he would have easily been on his way to third. One thing that was nice to see with Bourjos—the old scouting report on him didn’t work. In the past, when Bourjos fell behind, the opposition could get him out with breaking balls off the plate. When I saw him, he laid off some breaking balls in those counts and fought off some good pitches to battle in his at-bats."
Click on the play button below to stream the Peter Bourjos interview.
Note: AngelsWin.com learned on Sunday night, August 1st that Peter Bourjos was promoted to the big league club, set to join the Angels in Baltimore.