Charles "Chuckie" Jones, OF. B-R, T-R. 6'3", 235 lbs. DOB: 7/28/1992.
Low A: .236/.321/.371, 10 HR, 12 SB, 47 BB, 140 K in 407 AB.
Chuckie Jones attended a tiny HS in Missouri as a two-way football/baseball player. He did not have the resources to attend showcase events so flew under the radar of most draft analysts. The Giants drafted him in the 6'th round of the 2010 draft. He signed for a modest bonus and started his pro baseball career immediately.
Jones got off to a strong start in the AZL with a slash line of .279/.366/.461 showing a strong walk rate and some power. He struggled mightily over the next 2 1/2 seasons while bouncing between Salem-Keizer and Augusta due to a prodigious K rate north of 30%. Through all this he maintained strong BB rates in the 8-10% range and showed occasional flashes of power.
At first glance you might say his Augusta line last year was just more of the same thing, but his bat came to life in the last 2 months of the season with a .275 BA in July and .280 in August. Whether his strong second half will carry over into 2014 and serve as the beginnings of a breakout remains to be seen. The SAL is one of the toughest minor leagues for hitters, maybe the toughest, with league-wide hitting numbers lower than the Eastern League. I would like to see Chuckie promoted to San Jose, which is in a much more hitter-friendly league and see what happens. 2014 will be his 5'th professional season which means he becomes Rule 5 Draft eligible next offseason.
He has played all 3 OF positions professionally, but probably profiles best as a RF which is where he played last year. He remains a young players with tools to dream on. He will need to find a way to cut down on that 30% K rate to succeed as a professional baseball player.
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I was encouraged too by his late season improvement. Hopefully that helps the Giants put him in SJ and see what he can do in a better hitting environment, particularly since he'll be Rule 5 eligible soon.
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that the SALLY is tough, tougher than EL, as I happened to study that recently. In fact, in 2013, across all the MLB A to AAA full-season levels, it had the second lowest OPS at .686 overall, with only the AA Southern League lower, but only marginally so, at .683, essentially the same. Next lowest was Advanced-A Florida State League with .696 OPS, and they are the only leagues under .700 OPS. The EL, as poor a hitter's environment as we know it as, is actually the 3rd highest league, behind only the Cal League and the PCL at .717 OPS.
Never knew he was a two-way. Unfortunately, that just brings up memories of Freddie Lewis. But he's still only 21 YO, and at 20 YO last season, was still young for the Sally, so it would be understandable if he struggled some. The key is that he did improve greatly by season's end. From late June, he hit .278/.364/.455/.819 with 7 HR in 198 AB, which was a 20+ homer pace (28 AB/HR). He did strike out 66 times in 198 AB, though, so as you note, he'll have to fix that if he wants to be a starter in the majors.
When you play 5-tool player lottery
ReplyDelete1 for 5 or 10 isn't too shabby
and one good year suffices
when that season was the latest
And the Giants are starting to accumulate a few of these, which makes the bottom 20 of the Top 50 Prospects list so much fun to write!
Deletein other news, the doc causing the most amount of buzz at sundance is about the long defunct portland mavericks of the nwl
ReplyDeleteit has been optioned as a feature film to be written and directed by the team's former bat boy (and oscar nominated director) todd field
as long as they dont hollywood up the story, should make a for a brilliant movie
here is a brief blog on memories of the mavs...make sure to read the comment section too
http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/remembering-the-portland-mavericks/
bacci
I was living in Vancouver, WA across the river from Portland while the Mavericks were in operation. I didn't go to any of the games, but used to read about them every day in the Portland newspaper. Can't remember their names now, but they had a couple of players at the top of the lineup who stole bases like crazy.
Delete