Robbie Alcombrack

Robbie Alcombrack - Catcher
Age: 19 Height: 6'0" Weight: 205 Bats: Right Throws: Right

	AVG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	OBP	SLG	OPS
2007 GCL/Lake	.239	40	134	21	32	10	0	7	23	14	44	2	.335	.470	.806
Career	.223	75	242	31	54	15	0	7	32	19	78	2	.293	.372	.664

History: Alcombrack was selected in the 7th round of the 2006 Draft out of Bear River High School, California. Going into the draft, he was a pre-season Top 100 high school player according to Baseball America, and was ranked as a top five catching prospect. He signed quickly, which is a rarity for a high school kid with such lofty draft status and a full scholarship to Arizona State already in his back pocket, but he wanted to get his professional baseball career going right away.

Strengths & Opportunities: Coming out of high school, Alcombrack was highly coveted by scouts because of his power potential at the plate to go along with his defensive abilities behind it. One of his biggest strengths is his soft hands to go along with his ability to call a game, handle a pitching staff, the ability to receive and block balls and throw runners out at such a young age. The power potential is there as he has hit a good number of home runs and doubles throughout his career so far. Being so young, he should only get bigger and stronger which should help his power emerge even more.

He is still in the lower levels of the system and very young, so he still has a lot to learn. He has a lot of room to grow and struggled early on last year, particularly in making consistent contact (78 Ks in 242 career at bats). Alcombrack really likes to pull the ball, so he needs work on covering the outside part of the plate and staying on and hitting breaking balls better. He was better at that late in the year and showed progress. Alcombrack is still learning his swing and what he needs to do to be successful, and going forward he has to continue to make some adjustments to stay more in the middle of the field.

Catcher is the toughest defensive position to learn, and Alcombrack needs to continues to work on how to attack certain hitters and receiving the ball, and work on his footwork when attempting to throw runners out. Alcombrack also is still working on the adjustment to the psychological part of professional ball when it comes to making constant adjustments at the plate and the daily grind of the game. Alcombrack came to the offseason strength and conditioning camp in the fall and was really slimmed down and looked in great shape, and it appears he has become more serious about his game and what he needs to do to get better.

Outlook: The Indians see him as a legitimate catcher at the big league level, and feel he has the tools to be one defensively. As a hitter, it is still too early to tell as he is still very young, but he has the ability to be a complete catcher and we will see in the next few years where he goes. He should open the season as the starting catcher at Lake County.

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