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What Kind Of Prospect Is Delino DeShields Jr.?

There's been a lot of talk this week about prospects. Houston's George Springer, Jarred Cosart and Jonathan Singleton all made MLB's Top 100 prospect list recently, but it's FanGraph's article on DDJ that caught my most attention.

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I really respect MIke Newman's analysis starting at Scouting The Sally, since he's got scouting background and has seen many of these players in person. What he had to say about DDJ was enlightening and the most thorough thing I've read about him since draft season.

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It's also something I really agree with. First of all, I've been saying that DDJ looked to develop power as he got older and Newman seems to agree with that assessment. Certainly, he'll have more power than his dad did in the majors, which is why those comps are lazy.

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The defense is spotty, but getting better, as Newman says here. He's also very young, which makes the plate discipline a great sign and the lack of success less worrisome.

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But, it's that lack of success and potential that made DDJ's season positive but not enough to improve the overall rankings of Houston's farm system. Even the players that made major league debuts didn't pop like you'd hope to see, which is why Houston is still mired at the bottom of the lists. Hopefully, that will change this season, but it starts with the likes of DDJ.

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Images by eflon used in background images under a Creative Commons license. Thank you.