Jalen Vasquez 2024

[RZNJ]

Baseball’s a funny game.  We spend 1.4M on Carter Young who played at D1 powerhouse Vanderbilt and he hasn’t looked too good so far in his pro career.  A year later in the 20th round, we pick Vazquez from North Greenville University (sorry. Never heard of it), sign him for 30k and he puts up an .822 OPS at Delmarva.  This year both Vazquez and Young are at Aberdeen and it’s not too difficult to guess which one is the better prospect.

In 46 PA, Vazquez has 12 walks to 7 strikeouts and a .933 OPS.  In addition, he’s stolen 7 bases in 8 tries.   @Tony-OH also has said he’s a good defensive SS.

2023 draft.  Etzel in the 10th.  Vazquez in the 20th.  Nice job, scouts.

[Tony-OH]

I like Vazquez a little bit. I don't know how much he will hit at the upper levels, but he controls the strike zone, can run a bit, and is a good defender. He's got a utility player ceiling but for a 30K 20th round pick, he looks like a very nice org guy at the very least.

[LookinUp]

Nolan McLean should have signed.

[Jim'sKid26]

On 4/24/2024 at 9:54 AM, RZNJ said:

Baseball’s a funny game.  We spend 1.4M on Carter Young who played at D1 powerhouse Vanderbilt and he hasn’t looked too good so far in his pro career.  A year later in the 20th round, we pick Vazquez from North Greenville University (sorry. Never heard of it), sign him for 30k and he puts up an .822 OPS at Delmarva.  This year both Vazquez and Young are at Aberdeen and it’s not too difficult to guess which one is the better prospect.

In 46 PA, Vazquez has 12 walks to 7 strikeouts and a .933 OPS.  In addition, he’s stolen 7 bases in 8 tries.   @Tony-OH also has said he’s a good defensive SS.

2023 draft.  Etzel in the 10th.  Vazquez in the 20th.  Nice job, scouts.

https://www.ncaa.com/video/baseball/2022-06-10/dii-baseball-2022-day-seven-recap

It was fun to watch them in 2022. Very good DII program.

[Tony-OH]

I know there is some chatter about Etzel being a great 10th round pick and he's doing well, but don't sleep on Vasquez. In his limited action last year he intrigued me because of his defensive abilities, but this year, he's made the jump to Aberdeen and not only is he still showing legitimate tools to play SS at the major league level, he's more more than holding his own so far this year with the bat.

Player                    Round              A Ball Stats
Vasquez                  20th                .302/.456/.453/.909 with  3 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 10 SB/1 CS, 14 BB, 10 K in 68 PAs
Etzel                       10th                 .329/.422/.529/.951 with  7 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 12 SB/3 CS 14 BB, 20 K in 102 PAs
Bradfield Jr.            1st                   .203/.311/.281/.592 with  3 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 13 SB/0 CS, 10 BB, 12 K in 75 PAs 

Add in that Vasquez is a plus defender tools wise (though he has some throwing accuracy issues at times) and I'm liking what I see early on for the 30K signing bonus 20th rounder.