Daily Prospect Notes: 4/24

Daily notes on prospects from lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen. Read previous installments here.

Jorge Alfaro, C, Philadelphia (Profile)
Level: Triple-A   Age: 23   Org Rank: 3  Top 100: 32
Line: 3-for-4, HR

Notes
Alfaro’s home run came on a slider on the outer half that he hit the opposite way. It’s about 370 feet to right center at Coca Cola Park and there’s a 16-foot wall you need to clear if you hit one out that way. Alfaro nearly hit the giant Martin Guitar replica on the concourse. He doesn’t walk, but the power is a separator, and he’s now up to .357/.379/.554 this year. Phillies starter Cameron Rupp is hitting .186.

Shed Long, 2B (Profile)
Level: Hi-A   Age: 21   Org Rank: 5   Top 100: HM
Line: 2-for-5, HR, 2 R

Notes
I thought Long merited top-100 consideration over the offseason. He has power, speed, and a chance to play in the middle of the field. He hit .293/.371/.471 last year with 50 extra-base hits, was 21-for-25 on steal attempts, and played through a broken hamate for some of the year. He got off to a slow start but is now riding a six-game hit streak, is 13 for his last 34 and has homered in three of his last four games.

Mylz Jones, 3B, Colorado (Profile)
Level: Hi-A   Age: 23   Org Rank: NR  Top 100: NR
Line: 3-for-5, SB

Notes
Jones is up to .370/.452/.574 this year and, yes, he’s a 23-year-old college hitter raking in the Cal League, but he has tools. At Cal State Bakersfield, Jones was a shortstop with a 60 arm, above-average bat speed, and 70 wheels, but he was sushi raw in all facets of the game. I thought he needed a move to center field and might need two years of short-season ball to polish up the bat, but Colorado doesn’t have an AZL team so Jones was pushed to Asheville in his first full year. He played mostly center but several other spots. This spring I saw him mostly at third base and he looks alright there but, while his swing can get long, I thought his timing at the plate had improved and he had added some loft to the swing.

Jalen Miller, 2B, San Francisco (Profile)
Level: Hi-A   Age: 20   Org Rank: 19  Top 100: NR
Line: 3-for-4, HR, 4 R, BB

Notes
After a lost 2016, Miller has started off 2017 in a promising way, hitting .276 with a .344 OBP so far. He’s going to have to hit because most scouts like him at second base and he doesn’t have much in-game power potential, but the bat might get him there.

Rafael Batista, OF, Washington (Profile)
Level: Triple-A   Age: 24   Org Rank: 14  Top 100: NR
Line: 3-for-5, 2 R, BB

Notes
Bautista is a .293 career hitter and is at the .290 mark in his first taste of Triple-A. He’s a plus-plus-running firecraker who puts the ball in play and should at least provide the Nationals with a useful piece in September — or perhaps sooner if Michael Taylor and Chris Heisey have trouble making contact off the bench.

***

Notes from the back fields:
I was in Mesa on Friday to see the Oakland and Chicago (NL) extended teams. I ran into a rehabbing Eloy Jimenez, who is working his way back from a shoulder bone bruise. He doubled the opposite way, flicking a ball 350 feet over the right fielder’s head. He also spent a few innings in the outfield, his first action out there since the injury. Also of note for the Cubs is SS Aramis Ademan, who has begun to physically mature. He homered, singled, and made a few great defensive plays. Ademan is only an average runner but has polished actions at short and could fit there long term. If not, he’s probably grown into enough power to profile at second and his bat could profile there as well. He spent last year in the DSL and doesn’t turn 19 until September, but he could be advanced enough to skip the AZL and head right to the Northwest League. Video of these AB’s is below. Ademan’s plate appearance starts at the 3:45 mark, Eloy’s kicks off one minute later.

I also saw two throwers, Oakland’s Wandisson Charles and Chicago’s Junior Marte. Charles is a gigantic arm-strength lottery ticket who touched 97 but sat mostly 94-94 and had issues throwing strikes, as he has in each of my looks at him. He looks to have lost some weight (his body was never bad, just big) but is still just an arm-strength guy right now. Junior Marte is a 6-foot righty with a lightning-quick arm. He sat 90-93 with an above-average breaking ball but is a short-strider with release point variance. Both are interesting arms but raw for their age.





Eric Longenhagen is from Catasauqua, PA and currently lives in Tempe, AZ. He spent four years working for the Phillies Triple-A affiliate, two with Baseball Info Solutions and two contributing to prospect coverage at ESPN.com. Previous work can also be found at Sports On Earth, CrashburnAlley and Prospect Insider.

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EonADS
6 years ago

Alfaro has amazing physical ability, but I feel like he’s going to suffer for his lack of patience in the bigs, at least at first. I look forward to seeing him compete, though.