The first time I ever saw Laynce Nix’s name in a fantasy baseball magazine was back in 2003. The blurb next to him name said, “A Brian Giles clone.” Well 3 MLB seasons into his career Nix has done absolutely nothing to uphold a Giles comparison. Or has he?

Brian Giles broke in with the Cleveland Indians in 1995. He had seasons of 27 RBI, 61 RBI, and 66 RBI, before finally breaking out with a .315/39/115 year in 1999. Now he’s got Nix beat at basically every stop. Even during those 60 RBI campaigns Giles’s hit .269. Laynce hasn’t cracked .255 yet. But Giles also played in 130, and 112 games in ‘98 and ‘98, respectively. Nix played in 63 games last year, and 115 in ‘04. He just hasn’t been healthy enough to get his act together.

Another problem is that Giles played two full AAA seasons before coming up to Cleveland. His numbers were right online with Nix’s (solid, but definitely unspectacular campaigns of around 120 games, .313/16/60).

That’s what has to bother you about Laynce: he’s never hit for a decent average above A-ball. And even then he topped out at .285. His K:BB was 105:72. And his OBP was .374. But I guess his batted balls just weren’t falling in.

Laynce will have a breakout year of .275/25/95, but it probably won’t come until 2007. He’s only 25, and his lack of ABs means he’s a 26-27 year old bust out. He had surgery on both his shoulders this offseason, and that’s never a good thing. I liked his swing when he came up, and there was no doubt in my mind he could be a Hank Blalock type hitter. But after the surgeries you have to consider the possibility that he might be another Austin Kearns. Wait until you see him swing a bat, and pay attention to how quickly he gets the barrel through the zone. If he looks good in ST there’s no doubt he could steal a starting job by June.