3rd Round Pick - 2B Jerome Hoes - HS

[Guest Sailor Jerry]

A friend of mine has coached in the Catholic League in DC for 20 years and just raved about how good he was. Hoes basically outscored both teams on the field by himself when they played. And when he talks about a kid he's trying to get in on his team, he compares him to Hoes. I'm definitely excited by this one.

[24fps]

From BA, rated their 137th best prospect...

Hoes first popped on the scouting radar in the summer of 2006, when he made USA Baseball's youth national team. The following summer he competed for the junior national team and has become known as an athlete on the baseball field. None of his tools are legitimate pluses, but all of them are at least slightly above-average. Scouts know Hoes fits somewhere on the diamond, but they aren't sure where. He has good speed but not quite enough to profile as a center fielder. He's a better than average hitter with power, but doesn't show the pop necessary to play a corner outfield position. He shows more power to the opposite field now and often hits the ball on the ground to the left, his pull side. Hoes has the athleticism and the plus arm to play almost any position, and it wouldn't be far-fetched to see him try the infield. With questions about his profile and a commitment to North Carolina, Hoes could be a tough sign.

I never like it when someone is best defined by what he's not.

[hoosiers]

I never like it when someone is best defined by what he's not.

There are flaws mentioned in 80+% of the write-ups you see. It's the jobs of these guys to be critical of tools.

[big leagues 23]

I have actually played against him and he was by far the best player on the field, and I had 11 college bound, 4 DI players on my team. He hit a ball probably about ten feet off the ground that carried all the way to the fence. Two of my coaches, who both played minor league ball, said that was one of the hardest hit balls they've ever seen.

[bryanman8]

Care to explain the picture. mock up or actual pic?

He played for Youse's Orioles in the Ripken League, which is somehow affiliated with the O's or coached by a scout of theirs or something, so they probably saw plenty of him.

[blueberryale77]

At least it's a 2B man. And a Maryland product to boot if I'm right...

Jerome Hoes - SS/CF/P - 2008

3800 Circle Vista Ct, Mitchellville, MD 20721

St. Johns

HT: 5'10" - WT: 162 - GPA: 3.33 - PSAT: - SAT:

B: R - T: R

HS stats: Bat Avg. .443 - RBI 36 - HR 6 - SB 14 - 7.12 - Pitching W-4 L-0 - ERA 3.23

http://www.impactprospects.com/mdw.html

How is he a 2B? Has he even played there? The scouting reports seem to refer to him as an outfielder who might have the athleticism to move to the infield and might need to because his speed won't play in CF and his power won't play at the corners. If he were a high school 2B, it would be pretty unlikely he'd still be one in the majors anyway. The vast majority of ML 2B are shortstops until somewhere in the minors. Maybe he'll end up there. I don't think you draft high school 2B's though. If they're not playing SS at that level, they're probably not a potential big league middle infielder.

[Sports Guy]

If he can stick at second base, this sounds like a solid pick.

[bryanman8]

Question...if these guys are signed up to play summer ball and then get drafted, do they generally still play? Because Hoes is supposed to be in the CRSL again on the Orioles again, and they are supposed to play this Friday at 7:30 at Povich Field in the season opener. Will Hoes still play in that, you think? If he will, he's definitely worth checking out.

[Guest Sailor Jerry]

He played CF in high school. My guess is the Orioles are going to move him there because he's athletic enough to make the switch.

[Mark J]

He played CF in high school. My guess is the Orioles are going to move him there because he's athletic enough to make the switch.

I was wondering if maybe the O's were thinking the same thing with their second rund pick.

[bryanman8]

Question...if these guys are signed up to play summer ball and then get drafted, do they generally still play? Because Hoes is supposed to be in the CRSL again on the Orioles again, and they are supposed to play this Friday at 7:30 at Povich Field in the season opener. Will Hoes still play in that, you think? If he will, he's definitely worth checking out.

Just got an answer...If he signs right away, he probably won't, but he may spend all summer deciding still in which case he will be playing for Youse's Orioles in the CRSL. Youse's Coach is O's scout Dean Albany, who also scouted and signed Rowell, Erbe, and Spoone; Hoes is definitely his guy as well. So if you're interested in seeing Hoes, seriously, I think a lot of you don't know that we have a top-flight summer league right here in our backyard. It's not Cape Cod, but the talent gets better and better every year, we just had our highest-ever player picked 35th overall, Hoes went 3rd round, and there will be many more...there may be some teams closer to Baltimore, there's the Alexandria Aces, but the nicest by far is the Bethesda Big Train at Povich Field...their season opener is Friday at 7:30 against Youse's Orioles and hopefully Hoes. If you guys want a sneak peak at who could definitely be a big part of the O's future, come out on Friday and check it out. Go to www.bigtrain.org for directions and more info.

[bryanman8]

Just got an answer...If he signs right away, he probably won't, but he may spend all summer deciding still in which case he will be playing for Youse's Orioles in the CRSL. Youse's Coach is O's scout Dean Albany, who also scouted and signed Rowell, Erbe, and Spoone; Hoes is definitely his guy as well. So if you're interested in seeing Hoes, seriously, I think a lot of you don't know that we have a top-flight summer league right here in our backyard. It's not Cape Cod, but the talent gets better and better every year, we just had our highest-ever player picked 35th overall, Hoes went 3rd round, and there will be many more...there may be some teams closer to Baltimore, there's the Alexandria Aces, but the nicest by far is the Bethesda Big Train at Povich Field...their season opener is Friday at 7:30 against Youse's Orioles and hopefully Hoes. If you guys want a sneak peak at who could definitely be a big part of the O's future, come out on Friday and check it out. Go to www.bigtrain.org for directions and more info.

Actually, probably scratch that. Just got word from a reliable source that Hoes is signing immediately for $600-800K. As always with this stuff things could fall apart at the last second or something but I'm hearing it's pretty definite. So we are moving quickly to keep our good guys from going to big schools at least, that's good.

[Tony-OH]

How is he a 2B? Has he even played there? The scouting reports seem to refer to him as an outfielder who might have the athleticism to move to the infield and might need to because his speed won't play in CF and his power won't play at the corners. If he were a high school 2B, it would be pretty unlikely he'd still be one in the majors anyway. The vast majority of ML 2B are shortstops until somewhere in the minors. Maybe he'll end up there. I don't think you draft high school 2B's though. If they're not playing SS at that level, they're probably not a potential big league middle infielder.

Teams draft the player and then put the position they expect him to play, not necessarily what he played.

[Three Run Homer]

If he can stick at second base, this sounds like a solid pick.

That's the problem I have with this pick...if he can't play 2B then he's probably not going to make it. And this organization should know better than most that you can't just assume that someone can be an adequate fielder at 2B (see Adams, Ryan).

[AgentOrange]

Actually, probably scratch that. Just got word from a reliable source that Hoes is signing immediately for $600-800K. As always with this stuff things could fall apart at the last second or something but I'm hearing it's pretty definite. So we are moving quickly to keep our good guys from going to big schools at least, that's good.

Good stuff Bryan, thanks for the inside info.

Also good to see Dean Albany still around, he is a great baseball guy. I used to play against his Maryland Orioles during my summer ball seasons with the Yankee Rebels.