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2015 1st Round (25) - D.J. Stewart - OF - Florida State


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http://m.mlb.com/video/v37009199/draft-report-dj-stewart-college-outfielder

Stewart is a bowling ball-shaped left fielder that hits from an extreme crouch and has just enough power (55) to profile, but he's hit everywhere he's been and always had a good sense of the strike zone, which endears him to analytically-driven teams.

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Stewart hit everywhere he'd ever played before a surprising summer slump with the U.S. collegiate national team. It carried over to a slow start during his junior year at Florida State, though he turned it up a notch and went back to showing an ability to swing the bat well. There are those who believe Stewart has one of the best bats in the 2015 college class. He was named the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore, after leading the league in all three slash stats at .351/.472/.557. Stewart has a quick left-handed stroke, strength and patience. He has plus raw power but he doesn't fully tap into it because he bats from an extreme crouch and has a flat swing. He might hit 20 homers per season if he stands more upright and adds some loft. Though he's listed at 6 feet and 230 pounds, he's a better athlete than his build might indicate. An all-state running back at The Bolles School (Jacksonville, Fla.), an athletic powerhouse that produced Chipper Jones and several other pro and Olympic athletes, Stewart has close to average speed. He has good instincts as a runner and defender, though a below-average arm limits him to left field.

Via MLB.com

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Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 45 | Arm: 40 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50

Stewart hit everywhere he'd ever played before a surprising summer slump with the U.S. collegiate national team. It carried over to a slow start during his junior year at Florida State, though he turned it up a notch and went back to showing an ability to swing the bat well.

There are those who believe Stewart has one of the best bats in the 2015 college class. He was named the 2014 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore, after leading the league in all three slash stats at .351/.472/.557. Stewart has a quick left-handed stroke, strength and patience. He has plus raw power but he doesn't fully tap into it because he bats from an extreme crouch and has a flat swing. He might hit 20 homers per season if he stands more upright and adds some loft.

Though he's listed at 6 feet and 230 pounds, he's a better athlete than his build might indicate. An all-state running back at The Bolles School (Jacksonville, Fla.), an athletic powerhouse that produced Chipper Jones and several other pro and Olympic athletes, Stewart has close to average speed. He has good instincts as a runner and defender, though a below-average arm limits him to left field.

Notably drafted out of HS by the Yankees with the 28th pick in 2012.

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“He’s going to be a big-league player,” Clemson pitcher Matthew Crownover said Wednesday.

Crownover, a junior left-hander, was named the ACC pitcher of the year for 2015. But Stewart got the best of him Wednesday in the ACC Baseball Championship, ripping a two-out shot off the left-field wall in the third inning for a 2-0 lead in the Noles’ tournament opener.

Stewart never hesitated, rounding second and barreling into third for a two-run triple. He scored on a single by Quincy Nieporte and the fourth-seeded Seminoles won 3-1 as starting pitcher Boomer Biegalski and relievers Dylan Silva and Billy Strode got the job done.

“He doesn’t chase bad pitches,” Crownover said of Stewart. “With a lot of guys you can throw some pitches they’re going to chase out of the zone, but he’s not going to swing unless it’s a strike. He got me today.”

A year ago, Stewart led the ACC in hitting (.351), slugging percentage (.557) and on-base percentage (.472). With a lot of teams pitching around him this season, he was batting .326 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs before the tournament, with a .602 slugging percentage.

Wary opponents? Stewart had 62 walks in the regular season, tops in Division I, and Crownover issued him another – on four pitches – in Stewart’s first at-bat. He’s ranked third nationally in on-base percentage (.514).

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/mlb/article21499656.html

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