1
Nice tater after getting out in front, but it looks like he has a whole bunch of swing and miss in him. A whole lot.....
HQ 16-35: 3B 1B Jharmidy DeJesus
Buy BaseballHQ.com's Minor League Baseball Analyst here.
.
Jharmidy DeJesus has 101 AB's above the rookie-ball level, and missed all of 2010 with a shoulder injury. He was a bonus baby out of the Dominican a few years back, got $1M I think.
.
=== All Points Bulletin - Notify If Sighted, Dept. ===
I/O HQ: 1-in-10 chance to become an ML All-Star. Another chance, a much bigger one, to not even play in the majors. (The famous "9E" commodity, the lotto ticket at a franchise player.)
Special athlete, natural hitter. Rare combination of plus HIT and plus PWR.
Is quick with hands and feet at 3B with a strong arm.
..............
I/O The Rest: Not in John Sickels' top 20, not in his next 18 "of note." Not in Hardball Times' top 10. Not in Baseball Prospectus' top 20. Not in Fangraphs' top 10. Not in Jason's 16-30; we'll assume that DeJesus isn't in the top 15, either...
..............
DeJesus' Results: Started off in rookie ball at age 18, Jharmidy prospered, putting up a Manny Ramirez line of .340/.420/.600. Beautiful.
Moved up to low A at such a young age, he hit about the league average depite a 6:28 EYE. Not shabby at all for a kid his age.
The next year, at 19 in the fairly-tough rookie Appalachian League, he was on the back foot, fighting a rearguard action but not totally embarrassing himself. IIRC, the shoulder was draining his power during this season; G or J can advise.
.
SSI CRUNCH: This is a tools call, like with a high school player.
There isn't much data, and what data there is, is kind of generic. for example, his EYE in 2009 was 0.33 in short AB's. What does that tell you? Nothing. Neither does anything else in his statline, that I can see.
MLBA's 2010 list had DeJesus #13 in the org, at only 19, but their comments are also very generic... "Moderate bat speed creates potential for plus power." No margin for error on that comment, y'think...
Anyway, here is a Geoff Baker video in which DeJesus gets out in front of the ball, but hits a home run. You could list 10 similarities between DeJesus' setup and swing, and that of Alex Rodriguez ... DeJesus is quick with good load, is what we notice. So are 100 other guys, of course.
Here's another vid. In this one, as with the HR, DeJesus gets out in front and kinds of leans over more than he should. Well, he's a teenager.
.
SSI Sez: A generic draw at a (good) prospect, this one with better HIT and OBP ability than the average Halman, and the hands etc to go with it.
It's not to say that DeJesus couldn't become a good ML player; in fact HQ says that he could become a franchise player.
But picking between 20 guys like this is like sitting with your non-baseball pal from work, and guessing which pitch is going to be the RBI double. All you can do is let 20 pitches go by...
DeJesus, sez HQ, is one of the 3-1 fastballs. Good shot at something fun happening.
Comments
2
The shoulder problems are worrisome, and since he's been injured there have been a number of rumors going around that his conditioning and work ethic have been poor, and that he's pretty much a 1B from here out. While there's only so much you can do with the anecdotal stuff, there are a few hot Latin American prospects that were sidelined through most of the past two seasons, like right-hander Francisco Valdivia and outfielder Julio Morban, and neither of them have had any questions come up about their athleticism. I'm hoping that deJesus is every bit as good as BaseballHQ seems to think, but this is a report that's coming after a year of him riding the pine and an unimpressive tour of Pulaski a season prior. At this point, I'd settle for a healthy season from him. Shoulder injuries can ruin a prospect, pitcher or hitter.
3
I remember doing our first real prospect run-down in 2004 and Jeff was a 2nd round pick from 03 that I was excited to see produce, once he recovered from his shoulder issues. Um...after 4 years as a .650 hitter with zero power, he hung up the spikes.
Sometimes it doesn't come back. Ryan Christianson had the same problem IIRC with the shoulder (labrum/rotator issues, among many other things). Even if he was healthy, Jharmidy would have a lot of work to do, but he isn't, and if what Jay says is true he's not likely to get healthy either. Rehab only works if you put in the effort. If you're lazy with your rehab you'll never regain proper function.
I've never been a big DeJesus fan, and he's nowhere near my top 20 either. I'm with JFrom on this one. We get big-swinging latin prospects every year. There are ones with a better chance at an impact coming through than Jharmidy currently has.
~G
4
there have been a number of rumors going around that his conditioning and work ethic have been poor, and that he's pretty much a 1B from here out.
That's the kind of back-channel shtick that you can only get from the JFro...
Writing off a 19-year-old* on maturity issues would be pretty weird, and like we say, the HQ opinion is that DeJesus has Beltre-like hands at third ... therefore the complaints about 1B-only have the scent of emotional overreaction IMHO...
Even if DeJesus were lazy, which does *not* synch with his being a gifted defender, he would hardly be the only lazy youngster around ...
Fascinating tidbit Jay.
5
Then would agree that it puts his career in jeopardy. Good case studies ref'd. If DeJesus is lazy, he's also young and a stud, with a different physical profile than RC had.
But yeah. :daps:
.................
What HQ brings up is intriguing to me, that DeJesus is a rare intersecton of big-swinging with special ability to cover a pitch. Mix in the gifted defense and you see their "9E" take - that if the dice land right you're looking at a beast.
Like youse guys say, next step is for him to prove the shoulder is behind him. Middle ground on that one.
6
Every time I hear about a hitter having shoulder issues, I think back to Flaig. I can't come up with any players offhand that have really torn something in the shoulder and then come back to be successful power hitters.