Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospect Scouting Report: 33. Lucas Herbert
Atlanta Braves Catcher Lucas Herbert
Who Is He?
Herbert was drafted by the Braves in the 2nd round of the 2015 draft out of San Clemente High School in California, the same high school that the Braves’ first rounder, lefty Kolby Allard, pitched for. The Braves sent him to their Gulf Coast League team, and he played all of 3 games before he was injured and missed the rest of the summer.
He did, however, light a spark in fan interest in those 3 games. In 5 plate appearances, he hit .500/.600/1.250 with a home run. For a catcher whose primary scouting reports were about his advanced defensive skills, fans were abuzz with the idea of their strong defensive catcher also wielding a mighty bat.
The Braves aggressively moved Herbert to low-A Rome in 2016 at 19. He had a rough start to the season as he fought the BABIP monster, as he started by hitting .176/.219/.221 in April. He’s rebounded nicely since, but his season line still stands at .207/.261/.272 with 2 home runs and a 13/53 BB/K ratio.
Next: Herbert's scouting report
Scouting Report
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Herbert is listed at 6′ and 200 pounds. He looks right on that, if maybe even a little lighter than the 200 pounds. He is a right-handed hitter and thrower.
Hitting
Herbert has struggled to find a consistent set up with his lower half, and that’s part of his issues in my eyes. He does have an incredibly quick bat through the zone, however, but it’s not a pure swing path. He tends to one-hand swings above his waist, and he will hitch a swing way too frequently, trying to leverage for power.
Herbert has also interestingly switched from no batting gloves to one batting glove to two batting gloves. Low A at 19 is the place to experiment, but going deep into June is getting late to be still struggling to find a consistent approach at the plate.
Herbert has great power with his tremendous bat speed, but the inconsistent swing pattern and set up lead to inconsistent swing paths, and frequently, he hits the top or the bottom of the ball whereas if he hit it square, his bat speed would send the ball skyward. He has also been robbed a touch by weather as he’s had at least 3 balls he hit on the nose that died on the warning track due to a head wind on that particular day.
Base Running/Fielding
Herbert is athletic, and he can move on the bases fairly well. His instincts when stealing bases, however, could use some work, as he’s been caught as much as he has been successful, and in the few attempts I’ve seen, he’s not exactly great on straight steals.
He does run very well, especially for a catcher, when moving from station to station. He has a lot of ability going first to third or even second to home on a single in one game I saw.
Herbert’s athleticism is most obvious when he puts on the tools of ignorance and starts catching the Rome staff. He has great lateral movement and even better ability to get into the dirt to block a ball with great flexibility. His arm isn’t elite, but he gets up very quickly, which makes up for it in the run game.
The biggest area I could see for improvement in Herbert’s game behind the plate would be his framing skills. He presents a good target, but he tends to sit narrow to remain able to be flexible in his movements, but getting wider would allow him to “steal” more pitches for his pitchers.
Video
Next: Future outlook
Future Outlook
Herbert’s inconsistencies in his approach at the plate makes me think that he should be spending the rest of the season, regardless of results from here forward, in Rome. He needs to find a consistent approach at the plate, from stance to swing.
He’s advanced defensively, though, and that may carry him forward next year, if not even this year, especially if he’s paired with Jonathan Morales going forward who can be a primary bat and give him a couple days off each week to focus on the bat. The glove could force its way to Carolina at the end of this season, but I really would rather see him get a full season to let the bat catch up to the prowess on the defensive side.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
Herbert and Tanner Murphy are the two best defensive catchers in the system, and while Murphy’s bat is likely going to be more of a “power only” sort, Herbert has the chance to have some true skill as a guy who could hit for average and power, but Braves fans shouldn’t get too caught up in thinking Herbert is going to be a .300/30 sort of hitter.
He’s got a hit tool that’s more like a .260-.280 sort of guy with top end power in the 15-20 homer range, but with his elite defense, that could play very, very well.