Cobb to Angels

[Roll Tide]

Quote

Scouting Grades/Report (20-80 grading scale)

• Hit
  50
• Power
  45
• Run
  60
• Arm
  50
• Field
  50
• Overall
  45

While Jones’ brothers, T.J. and Malachi, followed in their late father Andre’s footsteps by playing football – both have played professionally – Jahmai’s passion was always baseball. He hit the ground running after the Angels went above slot to sign him from the Georgia high school ranks in 2015, hitting his way to full-season ball in 2016, then across two levels of A ball in 2017. He’s struggled to find consistency since reaching the upper levels, though signs of life in the second half of 2019 in Double-A carried over to a strong Arizona Fall League campaign, leading to a spot on the 40-man roster.

Some of Jones’ struggles early in 2019 point to things he needs to work on, but some of it was pure bad luck. He showed his characteristic good plate discipline and was making consistent hard contact, but he was nonetheless registering low BABIP. His hard work and willingness to make adjustments paid off as he posted an .881 OPS in August then hit .302/.377/.509 in the AFL. There’s plenty of bat speed and some extra-base authority to still tap into at the plate.

Jones began his pro career in the outfield, but moved to his high school position at second base in 2018. He started getting some time back in the outfield in 2019 and in the AFL, something that will increase in 2020 as he adds more versatility to his game. If Jones can carry his end-of-year confidence over, he still has the tools to be a solid big league regular.

 

From MLB.com

[Ripken]

 

[Roll Tide]

2 minutes ago, Ripken said:

 

Really meaningless! If Cobb is healthy he makes them better. Sure its a big IF and all

[Roll Tide]

https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-alex-cobb-trade-20210201-6uvvctzi7nbw5dxfmidtthcjxy-story.html

[Ripken]

1 minute ago, Roll Tide said:

Really meaningless! If Cobb is healthy he makes them better. Sure its a big IF and all

Sure.  He could be okay.  I like the kid we got.  With $ being split it's probably win-win, on a tiny scale.  It's fine with me.  Of course many Halo fans are sure he's very fixable and Bundy will repeat the 3.20.  It won't happen.  I just feel bad for Trout.

[Moose Milligan]

Happy about this deal.  Cobb leaving frees up a rotation spot for a youngster (hopefully) and Jones seems like he could be a good get.

 

[Jammer7]

A few quick preliminary thoughts. There is some interesting video of him out there. I found the YouTube video showing his at bats from AFL 2018. The first thing that jumped out at me is his grip of the bat. He is "over-gripping" and he looks as though he ties himself up a bit and cannot seem to get full extension at contact. I don't like the hands before load and at load. Reminds me of Gary Sheffield some here. Powerful lower half, but does not use it well. A big leg kick, and long stride. 

All of that said, I looked at the limited 2020 video. All of that is from the CF camera. Looks like they freed his hands up and got the load to where the barrel is behind his head with some wrap. He seems to have gotten rid of the leg kick and now has no stride. He does not use his lower half much in the 2020 video I saw. He has good hand-eye, and strong wrists. Is getting through the ball better now that he isn't tied up. 

I like him. Seems like he has tools and needs a lot of work at 2B. I like the offensive upside. He looks like he can hit gap to gap line drives all day. In one video, he hit a 99 mph 2-seam from the Dodgers Carrot Top (May) into CF on a line for a single. He looks a little uncomfortable on defense, like Richie Martin did at times in 2019. But he's an athlete and once he slows the game down some I think he'll be fine. If he can get his lower half in sync, he may be a legit starter on a playoff team in a few years.

 

https://www.mlb.com/video/search?q=Player+%3D+["Jahmai+Jones"]+Order+By+Timestamp+DESC

[maybenxtyr]

Does anyone else think he's similar to Jemile Weeks? Just me maybe. I still like the trade because hopefully it opens up another opportunity for some of the young pitchers. 

[ScGO's]

Really opens up the competition for the 4-5 spots in the rotation up to about 10 guys.  Should be an interesting spring training. 

Does this trade make it more likely that Santandar could be gone before ST? I wonder how hard Elias is pushing to cut costs.

[ArtVanDelay]

19 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

Does anyone else think he's similar to Jemile Weeks? Just me maybe. I still like the trade because hopefully it opens up another opportunity for some of the young pitchers. 

Weeks hit 4 career home runs.  Jones has 50-grade raw power according to Fangraphs.

[MurphDogg]

16 minutes ago, ScGO's said:

Really opens up the competition for the 4-5 spots in the rotation up to about 10 guys.  Should be an interesting spring training. 

Does this trade make it more likely that Santandar could be gone before ST? I wonder how hard Elias is pushing to cut costs.

I would be shocked if Santander was traded. He was playing at a 7+ rWAR clip last year.

There is just too much uncertainty about his value at this point for him to be traded. Obviously if someone were to blow the Orioles away and value him as a 5-7 WAR player with 4 years of control then by all means trade him, but I can't imagine actually getting that kind of package.

[Frobby]

42 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

I would be shocked if Santander was traded. He was playing at a 7+ rWAR clip last year.

There is just too much uncertainty about his value at this point for him to be traded. Obviously if someone were to blow the Orioles away and value him as a 5-7 WAR player with 4 years of control then by all means trade him, but I can't imagine actually getting that kind of package.

You don’t seriously think he’s a 5-7 WAR player, right?   If he produced 3 WAR I’d be really happy.  

[maybenxtyr]

47 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

Weeks hit 4 career home runs.  Jones has 50-grade raw power according to Fangraphs.

I tried to find some of his pre draft grades but was unsuccessful. I did however stroll down memory lane on the draft and really realized how much of a crap shoot baseball drafting is. Anyhow, I hope Jones turns out to be a fixture in Baltimore for a long productive career. I also didn't realize just how poorly Weeks did...such a crap shoot.

[MurphDogg]

12 minutes ago, Frobby said:

You don’t seriously think he’s a 5-7 WAR player, right?   If he produced 3 WAR I’d be really happy.  

No, but on the 5 percent chance that he is, I don't think they can trade him at this point.

I would be fine with 3 WAR, but I can't say I would be really happy. Huge year for him this year, either way.

[BohKnowsBmore]

31 minutes ago, maybenxtyr said:

I tried to find some of his pre draft grades but was unsuccessful. I did however stroll down memory lane on the draft and really realized how much of a crap shoot baseball drafting is. Anyhow, I hope Jones turns out to be a fixture in Baltimore for a long productive career. I also didn't realize just how poorly Weeks did...such a crap shoot.

A smattering of pre- and post-draft chatter:

MLB dot com

Quote

 

Jones is listed at 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, and MLB.com's Draft experts say he has quick hands, a smooth swing and a line-drive approach that help generate a lot of contact.

Asked what he liked about Jones, Angels scouting director Ric Wilson said: "His athleticism, the power, the strength -- just the whole package."

"For as young as he is, he's pretty advanced," Wilson added. "Don't get me wrong; there's some work to be done. But he's got bat speed, he's got strength, he's got instincts in the outfield, he can throw the ball. It's just what we were looking for. We truly needed some athleticism and some upside."

 

Something called baseballdraftreport

Quote

I love the pick of Ti’Quan Forbes to Texas in the second round last year. The Angels selection of OF Jahmai Jones (37) in the second round this year gives me a very similar warm and fuzzy feeling. Jones has electric bat speed and plenty of natural raw power. Few, if any, high school players smoked the ball as consistently as he did in my admittedly limited views of the cream of the crop of this year’s class. Maybe my appreciation for him as a prospect is too heavily influenced on my “not a scout” personal observations — it’s human nature to do so and I’ve been guilty of it in the past — but the overall offensive tool set that includes a potential plus hit (could see him hitting .300 one day), above-average or better raw power, and above-average or better speed is exciting even if you haven’t seen him up close. I threw out a tentative Cameron Maybin comp on him before the draft that I think works from a raw ability standpoint but is hard to draw much meaning on beyond that considering Maybin’s generally underwhelming — though, in the real world, projecting a second round pick to ever have a 4.0 WAR season like Maybin once did is generous — career to date.

Fangraphs pre-draft coverage

Quote

41. Jahmai Jones, 2B/OF, Wesleyan HS (GA), North Carolina commit: The 6’0/210 Jones has played mostly outfield this summer but looked like he could fit at 2B last summer; the above average to plus runner has a simple, efficient swing and caught fire late in the summer.