Brandon Haveman was a good player in high school but was only recruited by Lake Michigan College, a nearby community college.  He put up two great seasons there, and as luck would have it his coach at Lake Michigan is the brother of a coach at Purdue University, which allowed him to transfer to a much better program.  After red-shirting for a year, Haveman was one of the Big 10’s best hitters for two seasons as Purdue’s leadoff hitter.  Despite becoming Purdue’s all time leader in batting average, Haveman fell all the way to the 29th round of this year’s draft where the Seattle Mariners popped him.

Why no love for Haveman?  He’s tiny, for one.

Here’s a photo of him as a 21 or 22 year old:

The bat boy’s breaking rank! Swarm! Swarm! Swarm!

Currently, Haveman is listed a 5′9 165.  I can’t imagine how small he might have been out of high school.  Far from a scout’s dream.

But he’s a hitting machine.  .379/.453/.525 in his first season with Purdue, .422/.452/.616 in his second, and .339/.405/.533 in his professional debut with the Appalachian League Pulaski Mariners.

The rookie level Appy League performance should be handicapped a bit.  As a 23 year old and accomplished college hitter, Haveman would be expected to tear up that league.  In fact, he was the oldest player on Pulaski’s roster.  Of course, doing what you’re expected to do is not a bad thing by any means, but 2009 was hardly a breakout year for him.  That said, it certainly landed him on my radar, and I can’t wait to see what he does as he works his way up the organizational ladder.

He makes contact at a decent rate, walks at an above average clip and can run a little bit.

Here are a few swings:

Right-center field home run while with Purdue.

Opposite field double while with Purdue.

Triple down the first base line while with Pulaski.

Not a bad swing.  He’s not going to produce much home run power without tweaking some things (more pronounced load, too handsy– needs more hip/shoulder separation), but that doesn’t need to be part of his game at this point in his career, if ever.  He’s 5′9 165, after all.

Haveman has been an outfielder up to this point, but the plan is to start the conversion to second base this fall in the Arizona Instructional League.  He doesn’t have a great arm nor the range to stick in center field, and his bat won’t fit in a corner.  He profiles much better as a second baseman, offensively and defensively.  Hopefully the position change goes well for him, and I have little doubt that it will.  Fluff reports discussing his feel for the game and work ethic paint a nice picture.

Due to his height, build, general offensive skill set and now position he’s going to be compared to Baltimore Orioles 2B Brian Roberts.  You can only go so far comparing a rookie level talent to a two time All Star.  As a draftee Roberts was an overall better athlete and a natural infielder.  Haveman is fast but will never have the stolen base prowess of Roberts and will have to work to be a good defender.  But offensively I like how they match up.  They have similar walk/strikeout profiles and are guys that can line balls all over the place for extra base hits.   They’re certainly in the same general mold.

Haveman hasn’t earned top prospect status just yet and has a loooong way to go before making anything of himself, but he’s a sleeper to keep an eye on in 2010, especially now that he’s changing to a position that suites him better.