Druw Jones Scouting Report

Player Name: Druw Jones

Position: OF

Team/Organization: Visalia Rawide/Arizona Diamondbacks

Height: 6'4''

Weight: 180

Age: 21

Bats/Throws: R/R

Notes:

Druw Jones is an interesting prospect to me. Shows great skills in the outfield with a tremendous arm and glove along with a 70+ speed grade. Standing at 6'4'', 180 pounds, this makes him primed to be a stellar athlete in the show. However, his bat is my biggest concern for him. In Single-A this past season he posted a .275 BA, .409 OBP, and .813 OPS in 109 games for the Rawhide, but racked up 132 strikeouts. For me personally, I would grade his power at 40 and hitting/contact at 45. Hitting 6 home runs in 378 AB's is certainly below average power for me, especially now when the game has shifted towards more power hitting. Against RHP, he accumulated 106 strikeouts over 306 AB's. Against LHP, he had 26 strikeouts over 76 AB's. I don't think this will translate well into the MLB. However, he did have 85 BB and posted a .409 OBP which translates to working counts and getting on-base at an effective level.  Now to the hitting mechanics...

One thing I never understood why the Diamondbacks took Jones with the #2 overall pick in 2022 is that even though overall his talent projection looked amazing, his hitting mechanics looked awful to me and not even close to a professional level. This is something you assumed the Diamondbacks organization can fix by now, but they haven't yet. He keeps leaking his front foot and staying open across the batters box when the pitch is coming and lifts his back foot when he makes contact with the ball, losing significant power and contact ability. This should be a simple fix for Jones, keeping the front foot in, staying closed, and keeping the back foot locked down and not dragging it across the batters box. This makes him uncompetitive for an away fastball and backdoor breaking balls. A similar player in the MLB I see hitting like this, especially with the back foot, is Dansby Swanson, and he is always racking up his strikeout numbers. I think this definitely correlates with high strikeouts numbers. As a right-handed pitcher facing Jones, I would utilize the slider and fastball away and sometimes fastball high and in for effective strikeouts numbers.

Even though only 21 years old, Druw Jones has a lot of time left to develop into the player everyone expects him to be, an elite outfielder with above average speed and a solid bat. Although Jones has had many setbacks with injuries in the past, he still needs time to grow. I don't see him being in the show anytime soon, and as far as what the Diamondbacks should do with him, I would say to give him 2-3 more healthy years. If there isn't much growth or change over that time, I would ship him off. I'm curious to what's in store for him in 2025.

Projection:

MLB Comparison: Dansby Swanson, Jose Siri

Potential Role: Platoon player or bench role.

Developmental Needs: Keep front foot in and don't lift the back foot when hitting the baseball.