Cincinnati Reds’ Adam Duvall approaches the Kevin Maas limit

Adam Duvall’s initial projections put him in line to be the Cincinnati Reds’ version of Kevin Maas.

When Adam Duvall first came over to the Cincinnati Reds from the San Francisco Giants in the Mike Leake deal, Duvall most closely projected to have a career similar to that of former New York Yankee Kevin Maas.  Duvall had plus power and on-base skill, but lacked the ability to hit for average consistently.  Since his arrival in Cincinnati, Duvall has been burning his time until he either hits the Maas limit or breaks through.

Maas was a slugger for the Yankees in the early 1990s who came up, had a great two years and then faded away.  He hit home runs, but his slugging was held down by his inability to collect enough other hits.  Despite this he consistently had an OBP over .300 every season up until he retired.

Duvall projected like this when he hit the majors.  He was a one dimensional slugger in the minors with some trouble maintaining his batting average and his OBP.  Now he is about halfway to his Maas limit, so it’s a good time to take a look at where he stands relative to the bench mark.

Adam Duvall has moved off of the Kevin Maas line a little bit during his second season for the Cincinnati Reds.

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On the way up Duvall spent one more season in the minors before staying in the big leagues to stay than Maas.  During their time in the minors, Duvall and Maas were similar hitters.  Maas batted .280 with a .370 OBP, while Duvall batted .268 with a .338 OBP.

Once they reached the majors, Duvall and Maas continued to be similar.  Duvall is batting .247 with a .301 OBP, while Maas batted .230 with an OBP of .329.  The saving grace for Duvall is that his average is rising and his OBP differential is remaining constant.

What that means in more straight forward terms is that Duvall becoming less Maas and more Eduardo Perez.  It’s a trend that started around this time last season and has continued.  Right now, projections for Duvall look more like Perez, even though they are a bit separated looking backwards.

Duvall and Perez are coming together in the percent stats, batting average, OBP, and slugging percent.  Duvall, though, is separating himself with power and RBIs.  Perez came up younger and only was a starter for two years in his 13 year career.

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So, for now, Duvall is somewhere between a flare out and bench player.  Really, he just hasn’t played consistently enough to see what he will become.  He turns 29 later this season, so he had better get on track before it is too late.