At the risk of stepping on Nico's toes, I thought I'd borrow his idea and give my scouting reports on some of the A's young hitters, after he did the same with the pitchers last week. Here goes:

Ryan "Swooney/Good/Bad/But Never Ugly" Sweeney

Really good 4th Outfielder? Average Regular? Potential Superstar?

Sweeney took his lumps during April getting acclimated to being a full-time major leaguer, however since that time he's been one of the more consistent hitters on the team and arguably has been the A's best hitter - at least in terms of batting average - for much of the season. He's also flashed some serious leather , especially in right field, often to his own detriment!

Sweeney's swing is a pretty thing. It isn't long or loopy, it stays pretty level and occasionally he can open up and put a healthy charge on a ball (like he did in Toronto a few weeks back). He's got very quick wrists which really help him let the ball travel far into the zone before he comes through with his stroke. Basically, he's got the ideal contact-oriented, high-average swing. Unfortunately, this type of swing doesn't produce a lot of power, as evidenced by Sweeney's .377 slugging percentage and only 4 homers on the year.

Overall, Sweeney is an interesting case to me. He's got the build of a slugging corner outfielder but the swing (and the results) of an opposite-field oriented, gap-to-gap leadoff hitter (as evidenced by the fact that he hits about 40% of his balls in play to center or left field). He's pretty good at what he does with the bat and he's a great athlete, with good speed for his size, a strong, accurate throwing arm and the ability to play every outfield spot without embarrassing himself. Ideally, he'd be a very good and often-used 4th outfielder on a very good team, however, I see this team relying a little too much on him due to its offensive ineptitude.

One huge plus for Sweeney going forward: this latest DL stint notwithstanding, he's a pretty tough dude that will likely find a way to stay on the field and play through plain. That's certainly a very positive attribute for his chances to improve going forward, but I just don't see him as a future star due to his lack of power.

Daric Barton

It sure seems to me like Daric Barton wakes up every morning, looks at his atrocious slugging and on-base numbers and concludes that during the day's game he is either going to a) work on the OBP by taking every borderline pitch that comes his way in hopes of working a walk, or b) work on the slugging percentage by lifting every hittable pitch in the hopes that his flyballs will catch the jet stream and carry out for a homer. As you can imagine, this strategy has not exactly worked wonders for Barton's overall numbers.

I think overall, Barton is just a really confused kid right now. He is no longer getting the balls-and-strikes calls he got as a minor leaguer against inferior competition and as a result, he's tried to change his approach to become a more aggressive hitter. That's a shame, because Barton's strength is working the count and waiting for his pitch to hit and not forcing the issue.

One thing that jumps out at you when contrasting his batted-ball charts from this season and from last year at Sacramento is that Barton is hitting about 10% more groundballs to the right-side of the infield, and about 20% less fly balls to left and center fields. What that indicates to me is that Barton is pressing or even guessing at pitches, getting out in front of them and not letting them travel far into the strikezone. Since Barton is probably never going to be a homerun-hitter, he will need to get back to relaxing at the plate, letting pitches travel far into the zone (thereby allowing him better reads on balls ans strikes) and then driving balls to left and center and go gap-to-gap. He's shown glimpses that he can do this and also glimpses of an ability to work a favorable count and then jump on a telegraphed fastball. However, he needs to combine those two concepts and do it consistently.

Mychael Urban, in his latest mailbag, makes a good point for all of us that would like to see Barton optioned to AAA ASAP:

What if he struggles at Sacramento, though? Then he might head into Spring Training next year with even more doubt about his ability to hit big league pitching than he'd have if he continues to struggle with Oakland. On the flip side of that, what if he starts to figure some things out in the final five or six weeks? Then he heads for Arizona next February with some confidence.

I understand your frustration, but I see a lot of logic in keeping him in the lineup. The A's aren't going anywhere this year, and the only way to solve big league pitching is to face big league pitching.

I understand that logic and i guess at this point in the season there's no reason to send him down, but if he continues to spiral downhill the rest of the year, the A's have got to consider starting him in the minors next season and looking for alternative long-or-short term options for 1st base.

Travis "Bad Luck" Buck

Lost season? Or lost career?

Buck has only accumulated a little over 100 major league at-bats so far this year due to his various mental and physical maladies. However, due to his track record, relative youth, low-salary and low-trade value I imagine that A's brass still have confidence in him going forward.

There were times last season when Buck looked like a budding star at the plate. I remember being in attendance at a game in Anaheim where he went something like 3-for-4 with an opposite field homer, opposite-field double and a rocket single to center. He was limited by injury even last season, but managed to get close to 300 at-bats and post a very respectable line of .288/.377/.474 line. He also played good right-field defense, provided a little speed at the top-of-the-order and seemed to mature into a team leader as the year progressed and in the off-season. For all of these reasons, I still have faith in Buck.

He began this season looking out-of-sync at the plate and never really got comfortable as the year wore on. When not striking-out, he was rolling over on pitches to the right side of the infield and just making bad-contact overall. After getting sent down not once, but twice, and then sustaining a couple of injuries while in the minors, it is clear that this whole season needs to be completely written-off for Buck. If I were him and the A's, I wouldn't even attempt to get back on the field for the rest of this season for any organized professional game. He needs to relax, go back to the A's complex in Phoenix (where he should be most comfortable environment-wise) and work diligently to get back to the place he was both mentally and physically during the middle of last season.

Like I said, I still have faith in the guy. Going forward, I think the best defense/offense combination in the A's outfield for the next 3-4 years would be Cunningham in left, Cargon in center and Buck in right, with Swooney getting considerable time as 4th outfielder and maybe Denorfia and/or Murton involved in the rotation as well. If Buck can get back to give the big league team 300 at bats per season the next few years at his previous .850 OPS, then he'll still be a very valuable player.

Carlos Gonzalez

5-tool All-Star? Above-average centerfielder? Average regular? Future bust?

I have a hard time getting a read on Cargon's potential. There's no doubt that his tools are off-the-charts, yet I am a bit skeptical that he'll be able to make the adjustments necessary to become a truly star-level player. On the one hand, his 21 doubles are a nice indicator that he's capable of hitting for at least gap power in the major leagues . Also, against right-handed pitchers, Cargon is already an above-average center-fielder, batting .286/.323/.451. His defense, by most measures, has been stellar and he's seems to have answered any questions about whether he'll be able to stick at center for at least the foreseeable.

However, Cargon's struggles against lefties so far in his young career (.189/.211/.257) and his unrefined approach at the plate (65-12 K-BB) are causes for concern and may limit his ceiling in the future. Against lefties, he's got to stay inside on the ball and shorten his swing. When he opens up against them, he's done. A lot of young lefty hitters have this issue early on their careers and self-correct later on, so there's a good chance he'll address this issue at some point. As for the plate discipline...it would have been nice for Cargon to have been able to work on this for a longer of period of time in the minors, since he still needs work on his patience, however, that wasn't possible with the big league team's immediate need.

It's also important to note with Cargon that he's still only 22. He's far from a finished product and even now he seems to be making small adjustment, even though he's been struggling lately (he seems to be seeing more pitches per plate appearance, for one). I imagine that he'll always be quite a bit better against righties than lefties throughout his career, but with a little adjustment, he could become decent against lefties. He'll also probably K a lot as the years go on, but since he already has the skills to hit for a pretty high-average in the major leagues, the plate discipline issue won't bury him since his OBP could be propped up with his average. Overall, I think Cargon will be quite an asset as a strong defensive centerfielder that could hit for a high-average, bop 15-20 homers and steal some bases. annually for the next several seasons.

Kurt Suzuki

The Next Pudge Rodriguez? Or a flash-in-the-pan?

Among the troika of Buck-Barton-Suzuki who many of us considered to be the building blocks of future playoff contenders, I'm almost certain that not many of us would be sitting here in the middle of August believing that Suzuki would be the one leading all three in every offensive statistical category. But it's true.

Suzuki, who has seemed to both act and play like a major leaguer since the outset of the season, is now batting a solid .290/.357/.385. His caught-stealing percentage (35%) and fielding percentage (.994) have both been stellar and he has guided the pitching staff to an overall 3.74 ERA under his watch. He's also been an iron-man behind the plate. For a kid with arguably the toughest job on the team (preparing for opposing batters, guiding a parade of young pitchers through struggles, controlling the running game) he's pretty much done all you can ask of him.

As a hitter, I love Suzuki's approach at the plate. He keeps his head down, sees a lot of pitches, stays level through the zone and doesn't strike-out very often. Urban noted in his latest mailbag that he talked to a scout about Suzuki's future, and the scout mentioned that Kurt could be a regular .300-average hitter that pops about 15 homers a year for several seasons. Those aren't superstar numbers, but they are well above-average for a catcher and when combined with his strong defense and leadership abilities are enough to make Suzuki a potential All-star, in my opinion, in years to come.

In a year full of downers, Suzuki has kind of flown under-the-radar as a pretty big upper and while his emergence alone can't salvage a thoroughly disappointing season, it's nice to know we all won't have to worry about the catching position for many years to come.