Druw Jones, 2022 draft HS prospect

[OriolesMagic83]

Druw Jones is one of the top prospects for the 2022 draft.  I've seen him slotted everywhere from 1st to 10th.  Obviously he has the genes to be great, being Andruw Jones' son.  He looks and plays like a 5 tool prospect.  I'm always cautious w/ toolsy guys, because the main thing is whether a player can play baseball, not if he is a great athlete.  I figured I would start a thread about him, to keep all info on him in one place.  He's a high upside outfielder, right in Elias' wheelhouse.  lol

I found a video of him on Youtube showing one of his hitting sessions with interviews of him and his hitting coach.  He definitely seems to barrel the ball very well.

 

[RZNJ]

If I had to bet, right now, I'd bet on him being the pick but, of course, Elias has shown an inclination towards college position players so I would guess that Brooks Lee and Chase DeLauter are in the mix as well.   If it comes down to a HS player I think Elias leans towards the toolsy Jones over Termarr Johnson.

[Moose Milligan]

Lots of time between now and the draft, but you can't go wrong with the bloodlines.  

I don't know if we need another outfielder in the system, though.  I do like the BPA approach, maybe in the case of the MLB draft it's more like best talent available.  Still though, it's a lot of outfield talent.

[RZNJ]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

Lots of time between now and the draft, but you can't go wrong with the bloodlines.  

I don't know if we need another outfielder in the system, though.  I do like the BPA approach, maybe in the case of the MLB draft it's more like best talent available.  Still though, it's a lot of outfield talent.

Talking just top prospects, is it really an abundance of outfielders.  Infielders are Mayo, Henderson, Westburg, then Vavra and Ortiz.  Outfielders are Cowser, Kjerstad, Stowers then who?

[Sports Guy]

Am I the only one who places no importance on the fact that his dad was a great player?

[Can_of_corn]

40 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Am I the only one who places no importance on the fact that his dad was a great player?

I don't care.  Some sons can play some can't.

[wildcard]

Callis says Druw would be a plus shortstop.   That could play into the equation.

[Frobby]

10 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Am I the only one who places no importance on the fact that his dad was a great player?

I consider it a minor plus factor to be considered if all else is relatively equal.

[Just Regular]

I see it more like the plus is his dad was a baseball lifer.   I don't know if Cal RIpken, Sr. played the minors (my main memory of Cal's account of his dad's athletic exploits in one of his books involved soccer and a drill), but baseball is a skill game and developing some of those skills is a byproduct of time invested.   If Termarr Johnson ends up driving to whatever "Bluefield" is these days right after his high school graduation ceremony, he might not be as far along as Cal was on the Oriole Way of infield cutoffs.    Termarr will be ahead of Cal at perfecting the physics of his swing path.

With this year's basket, it'll be interesting here to see what we can learn of high school baseball week by week.  I imagine Elijah's IMG Academy (still love that truth in labeling name so much) may have a little more visibility than Druw and Termarr playing Georgia high school ball.

Elias I am sure would sign up in blood to have those guys participate in the "MLB Draft Combine", but my guess is the representation of blue chips won't be that naive (unless maybe one of them has a bad senior season).    The texture of this year's 1-1 feels so much different than the Adley year when #PlayBadlyforAdley was a thing by the end of his sophomore year.

[Frobby]

32 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

I see it more like the plus is his dad was a baseball lifer.   I don't know if Cal RIpken, Sr. played the minors (my main memory of Cal's account of his dad's athletic exploits in one of his books involved soccer and a drill), but baseball is a skill game and developing some of those skills is a byproduct of time invested.   If Termarr Johnson ends up driving to whatever "Bluefield" is these days right after his high school graduation ceremony, he might not be as far along as Cal was on the Oriole Way of infield cutoffs.    Termarr will be ahead of Cal at perfecting the physics of his swing path.

With this year's basket, it'll be interesting here to see what we can learn of high school baseball week by week.  I imagine Elijah's IMG Academy (still love that truth in labeling name so much) may have a little more visibility than Druw and Termarr playing Georgia high school ball.

Elias I am sure would sign up in blood to have those guys participate in the "MLB Draft Combine", but my guess is the representation of blue chips won't be that naive (unless maybe one of them has a bad senior season).    The texture of this year's 1-1 feels so much different than the Adley year when #PlayBadlyforAdley was a thing by the end of his sophomore year.

I remember that at the time of the 2018 draft there were many posters insisting that we must finish last that season in order to draft Witt.   Rutschman really only became the consensus pick during his junior year.   And now, they’re considered neck and neck.   Both great prospects.   I’m excited to see how their careers unfold.  

I’ve always taken the stance that the job is to draft an excellent player.  If Rutschman turns out to be Posey and Witt turns out to be ARod, I won’t sweat it that we could have chosen Witt.   If Rutschman turned out to be Wieters, then I’d be pretty unhappy.
 

[CharmCityHokie]

16 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Am I the only one who places no importance on the fact that his dad was a great player?

I personally do not. There has been a wave of great young players with strong MLB bloodlines recently (Guerrero, Bichette, Tatis, to a lesser extent Biggio and Yastrzemski, etc.) but there are just as many kids with famous names that flame out or look like borderline players; Clemens' sons, Ryan Ripken, Griffin Conine, Preston and Patrick Palmiero, etc...

I think it's up to the individual player to have that drive, and I'm sure having a famous name isn't easy to carry (even if you're showing up to private BP sessions in a brand new LandRover at 18 years old). It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, but I'm not sold on him just because his pops is Andruw Sr. 

[joelala]

19 hours ago, CharmCityHokie said:

I personally do not. There has been a wave of great young players with strong MLB bloodlines recently (Guerrero, Bichette, Tatis, to a lesser extent Biggio and Yastrzemski, etc.) but there are just as many kids with famous names that flame out or look like borderline players; Clemens' sons, Ryan Ripken, Griffin Conine, Preston and Patrick Palmiero, etc...

I think it's up to the individual player to have that drive, and I'm sure having a famous name isn't easy to carry (even if you're showing up to private BP sessions in a brand new LandRover at 18 years old). It'll be interesting to see how it turns out, but I'm not sold on him just because his pops is Andruw Sr. 

Agree, he comes off as a bit entitled in this video. I still prefer Termarr. I know it’s one PR video, but in the feature I watched on Termarr, he never complained about having to put in more work and not having time off. 

[Ruzious]

On 1/22/2022 at 9:29 PM, RZNJ said:

Talking just top prospects, is it really an abundance of outfielders.  Infielders are Mayo, Henderson, Westburg, then Vavra and Ortiz.  Outfielders are Cowser, Kjerstad, Stowers then who?

Not to mention, the O's might trade Mullins.  

[RZNJ]

4 hours ago, joelala said:

Agree, he comes off as a bit entitled in this video. I still prefer Termarr. I know it’s one PR video, but in the feature I watched on Termarr, he never complained about having to put in more work and not having time off. 

There seems to be a lot of projection with Jone's swing and power where Termarr seems like a much surer thing in both of those departments.   I have not seen what kind of homer potential (20? 30?) they see for Termarr.    He looks like a 30 homer guy to me.   If they project him as 15-20 guy that would dampen my enthusiasm for him.   However, his swing/ bat speed looks to me the most impressive of any batter whose video I have watched which includes Jones, Green, DeLauter, Brock Jones (my 2nd favorite),  Brooks Lee (not impressed).

[joelala]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

There seems to be a lot of projection with Jone's swing and power where Termarr seems like a much surer thing in both of those departments.   I have not seen what kind of homer potential (20? 30?) they see for Termarr.    He looks like a 30 homer guy to me.   If they project him as 15-20 guy that would dampen my enthusiasm for him.   However, his swing/ bat speed looks to me the most impressive of any batter whose video I have watched which includes Jones, Green, DeLauter, Brock Jones (my 2nd favorite),  Brooks Lee (not impressed).

Pretty much agree with you. Termarr looks like he could be a perennial 20-30 HR guy. Assuming his hit tool is as advertised, he should be extremely valuable if he were to reach his ceiling. It may not be as high a ceiling as

Jones or Green, but it feels like the floor is much higher as well. Still a looong way to go, obviously. 
 

Haven’t watched Brock Jones, I’ll have to check him out.