John Manuel puts Jackson in the 18 - 20 range on the Braves prospect list. Seems about right.
John Manuel puts Jackson in the 18 - 20 range on the Braves prospect list. Seems about right.
Here is what I found on him prior to the 2014 draft, when he was rated the #1 catcher in the class:
http://www.perfectgame.org/players/p...aspx?ID=288713
To quote:
"Huge power, very good defensive catcher, Also play OF well. Has all the tools, outstanding at PG Nat. Games and Area Codes. Outstanding at PG National. PG All American"
Jackson has obviously not performed to expectations in MiLB yet, but had hardly been a disaster. In his age 20 season in the Midwest League, he put up a 120 wRC+. That put him 30th out of 113 players with at least 300 PAs. Median age for the league is 21. Let's hope he can build on that . . . and is a solid Catcher.
Listen here to Hart on draft day, he loved the kid and his arm. Said he thinks he'd be a good catcher, projects to be a 25-30 hr type hitter. Said he was the best power positional player in the draft and probably would be moved to the OF to fast track his bat to the majors.
Guys favorite player was Pudge Rodriguez.
Don't think there's any doubt what the Braves envision here. We traded to back of the rotation type arms for a big time talent at a position of need (whether that's catcher or outfielder).....good job Coppy!
Did I say I think the Braves move him to catcher?
Hudson2 (11-28-2016)
Front office has navigated this rebuild incredibly well.
Coppy has turned out to be a fantastic GM.
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JohnAdcox (11-29-2016)
Ultimately I don't see much chance of us lamenting the day we let Povse and Whalen go, but we could conceivably celebrate the day we got Jackson. There's a whole lot of risk in Jackson's bat, but when the price is two pitchers that I wouldn't rate in our top 10 pitching prospects, I think it's a worthwhile one.
thethe (11-28-2016)
I love the willingness of our front office to swap prospects for prospects. We have tremendous pitching depth but need minor league hitters. Makes all the sense in the world to make a swap like this.
Kyle Tait @HearKyleTait 1h1 hour ago
#Braves first pick in 2014 draft was 32nd. Now they have Jackson (6th, Mariners), Newcomb (15th, Angels), Toussaint (16th, DBacks), by trade
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rico43 (11-29-2016)
He's super athletic so moving back to catcher shouldn't be a big deal. This trade could be huge for us. He was turning it around his first season before getting hurt. So I'm not worried about his numbers last year. Funny how we could have found our future catcher for 2 pitchers that were never gonna matter here.
Maybe the PTBNL is Kyle Lewis ;) trollolololol
jpx7 (11-30-2016)
You make this trade any day of the week if you're the Braves. Povse could be a nice pitcher but he's a depth guy. Whalen too. We're desperate for long term power hitters. Obviously Jackson comes with risks and has struggled as a pro but too early to give up on him. He's absolutely worth a shot
Won't complain about this trade but I think both Povse and Whalen will be in the bigs. I really like Povse. He was a big kid who threw hard and threw strikes. Hate to lose him. Hope this works out.
Edit**. And hopefully the Hart boner for this kid isn't like the last boner the FO had for a guy out west.
Braves1976 (11-29-2016), jpx7 (11-30-2016)
He kind of profiles just like Zunino, who's a year earlier, who has everything you could possibly want in a catcher except an inability to lay off sliders on the outside corner. Maybe they moved him to right because they thought he'd be blocked by Zunino.
Oh, and because Jack Z had a deep, abiding love for RH power hitters who strike out a bunch.
Good trade. I like the upside plays. That's my favorite key difference between the regime and Wren.