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Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: #53 Omar Obregon

By Benjamin Chase |
Sep 22, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A ball sits on the infield in the third inning in a game between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 22, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A ball sits on the infield in the third inning in a game between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
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Sep 22, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A ball sits on the infield in the third inning in a game between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 22, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; A ball sits on the infield in the third inning in a game between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

Atlanta Braves Second Baseman Omar Obregon

Who Is He?

Obregon was signed by the Braves as a July 2nd international free agent from Nicaragua in 2011. He made his first professional appearance in 2012 for the DSL team and put up a line of .269/.419.290 with 7 steals and a 21/19 BB/K while playing the majority of his games at shortstop.

He was brought to the US by the Braves to the GCL Braves in 2013. He hit .227/.325/.245 with 5 steals and a 13/13 BB/K ratio in 130 PA while playing shortstop.

The arrival of Ozhaino Albies alongside Obregon in 2014 shifted him to second base at Danville, and he put up a .297/.384/.346 line with 5 steals and a 24/25 BB/K ratio over 217 plate appearances.

Next: Obregon's scouting report

The Braves moved Obregon up to Rome and he played very well in his first full-season league, hitting .274/.336/.317 with 31 steals (in 50 attempts) over 502 plate appearances, playing second base until Albies’ injury, when he moved seamlessly to shortstop for the rest of the season.

Oct 3, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians head groundskeeper Brandon Koehnke works on the infield in the fifth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2015; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians head groundskeeper Brandon Koehnke works on the infield in the fifth inning at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Scouting Report

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Obregon is listed as 5’10 and 150 pounds. He is a switch hitter and right-handed thrower.

Hitting
Obregon has a compact stance, with a quick knee lift in his swing. He has a very level swing, which does not generate much power at all, even gap power, as evidenced by the fact that even with very good speed, he’s only totaled 18 doubles and 7 triples in 972 career minor league plate appearances without a single home run. Omar does not walk a ton (7.6% rate), but he also doesn’t strike out much (11.6%), so he is really a solid #2 hitter in the lineup, making plenty of contact, moving the runner along, and he’s found himself in a perfect role behind Albies in the lineup the last two seasons.

Base Running/Fielding
Obregon has very solid speed, likely a 55-60 grade on the 20-80 scale, but he has work to do on his running instincts, as shown by his 19 caught stealing in 50 attempts in 2015. He’s also been caught 31 times in 79 career attempts, so he’s not a great base stealer. That said, he does well as a base runner on first or second base moving on contact, but even on his own hits, he struggles to gauge whether he should take the next base.

Obregon was a shortstop by nature until Ozhaino Albies came to Rome in 2015. He flashes that range in the field natural to a shortstop, and he has much more arm than a typical shortstop, though he did struggle at times with his arm accuracy, very likely still making the adjustment to the other side of the top of the diamond. Obregon has some very natural move to his right, so playing him at second base really closes up the middle of the field.

Next: 2016 outlook

Video

Jun 19, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Members of the Atlanta Braves grounds crew waters the infield before the Braves games against the New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 19, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Members of the Atlanta Braves grounds crew waters the infield before the Braves games against the New York Mets at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports /

2016 Outlook

Coming into the 2015 season, one could have made the argument that Omar had a good path to a major league career. Then Daniel Castro played well at AA/AAA/Atlanta, Jace Peterson showed well enough for the big league club, Luke Dykstra showed well between Danville and Rome, the Braves went out and acquired Dansby Swanson, and there are guys like Luis Valenzuela, Kurt Hoekstra, and others who have shown some skills to be considered down the road. Add in the fact that the Braves are considering signing Kevin Maitan and Junior Severino, both currently shortstops, in their attempt to blow through their international market budget in July, and you start to see why Obregon’s path to the major leagues may be a bit more muddied now.

Next: Braves Top 100 Prospects Updated

Obregon has excellent defensive skills up the middle at shortstop and second base, and unlike Johan Camargo, who the Braves sent to the Arizona Fall League to get some experience playing defensively around the infield, he can put the bat on the ball and provide some level of speed off the bench as well to give him some value moving up the line if he’s not seen as a future starter. I don’t think he’s going to be a top-100 prospect in all of baseball by any means, but Obregon has some solid skills that could be translated well for the Braves system going forward.

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