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Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: #25 Leudys Baez

By Benjamin Chase

Mar 15, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; A young Atlanta Braves fan tries to get an autograph before a spring training baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 15, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; A young Atlanta Braves fan tries to get an autograph before a spring training baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The batting glove and bat of Atlanta Braves first baseman Nick Swisher (23) as he waits on deck against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves won 8-1. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 9, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The batting glove and bat of Atlanta Braves first baseman Nick Swisher (23) as he waits on deck against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves won 8-1. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

Leudys Baez Scouting Report

More from Tomahawk Take

Baez is listed in Baseball Reference as 6′ tall and 160 pounds. He’s a switch-hitter and throws right-handed. I’d wager Baez is between that and 180 from viewing him, but he still looks quite lean and could definitely use some weight training.

Hitting
Baez has a nice, balanced stance and when he puts contact to a ball, he does have very explosive twitch within the swing, which generates quite a bit of power in spite of what appears some need for added strength. Baez really punishes fastballs and sliders above the knees right now, but that’s just about it. His strikeout rate doesn’t lie about his struggles to get to pitches, and he really struggles with pitches that move toward him, whether in-breaking curve balls, cutters that break in, or sinkers breaking down and in. From his switch-hitting, he seems to have better contact skills from the left side and significantly more power from the right side. Catching one of his home runs against Lexington, it was an impressive sound when he connected true with the ball, and it’s easy to hear why those I talk with within the organization really talk up the kid’s raw skills. The problem is that he struggles with committing his swing early, and that really hurts him.

Base Running/Fielding
I’d been told that Baez had extremely impressive speed, and definitely, his top end speed is quite impressive, but he does take a couple steps to get there, and facing better catchers in Rome, he struggled more in stealing bases. He also doesn’t read pitchers extremely well, getting picked off twice in his 29 games with Rome. All that said, Baez has top end speed that is, as I said earlier, impressive. He scored from first on a pretty standard double in the outfield that would normally lead to a guy standing on third rather than pushing all the way for home, let alone making it home standing up as Baez did.

Baez does use his speed well in the field, but he seems to struggle with the angle of the ball in center field, where his speed would likely play better. He does have a very solid arm, though he never really displayed it much in the games I viewed, but he was definitely accurate with it and showed strong throws on the two tag plays that I caught, but his throw held the runner, so you couldn’t see how well his throw would beat the runner in the end.

Next: 2016 outlook

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