Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on IF Dylan Moore

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Scouting Report

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Moore is listed at 6′ and 185 pounds. That could be a few pounds light, as in he could be in the 190-200 pound range, but not much more than that listed weight. He’s certainly got a fairly lean build. He’s a right-handed hitter and thrower.

Hitting

Moore has a wide base in his stance. He comes through the zone very quick with his bat, and has good hand speed in his swing. He is able to fight off pitches and keep his strikeout rate under 20% due to that solid swing path. His entire swing is very quiet, with minimal body movement in his swing load.

His build is not huge, so he doesn’t strike you as having big power, but his quick swing and minimal movement puts his hips and shoulders in prime trigger mode together frequently, which allows him to generate more power in his swing than his build would probably portend. Moore is able to fight off a pitch with more power than most, which led to a lot of singles and doubles on pitches that many guys would only be able to foul off or ground out on.

I was impressed when pausing one particular broadcast in a swing how Moore gets his load into a perfect spot to drive. His bat path in the zone has a solid slight uppercut motion, pushing the bat through the zone with lift, allowing for more line drives and fly balls on his contact, which is always a good thing.

Base Running/Fielding

Moore may never be a guy to steal 40 bases in the major leagues, in spite of his 42 steals this season. However, he is a tremendously smart base runner, and even with better catchers as he moves into the upper minors, he’ll most likely be a guy who will steal 15-25 bases with a very good percentage. To this point in his minor league career, he’s been successful on 82.6% of his steal attempts.

Moore’s base running intelligence comes in play most obviously when he is legging out extra bases as a guy behind him is putting the ball in play. It was tough to see in Carolina’s lineup as he was inserted in the #3 spot in the Mudcat lineup, and the other two consistent threats in the lineup, Travis Demeritte and Keith Curcio, were ahead of him in the lineup, so he frequently was not being moved around much once he was in Carolina, but watching him in the playoffs with Mississippi, it was fun to see him tag from second to third on one play to center where most runners wouldn’t have even tried, but he noted the fielder not checking him at all and positioning to throw once he caught the ball, and he took off, getting an extra base. He did end up stranded at third, but those extra bases do turn into extra runs more often than not.

Then we get into fielding. Moore was a college shortstop, but there’s a reason that he’s been a utility guy in the minor leagues so far. Moore has a solid arm, though it’s not strong. He can handle third base or left field with his arm, but he probably does not have enough arm to be a guy that you put in right or center field very often. He has very sure hands on the balls he gets to, making few errors and showing good instincts on when to throw the ball over and when to hold the ball. The biggest issue with a long-term position for Moore is his range. He has the build that’s more ideal for a middle infield spot, but not really the range to play either spot full-time. He’s not really got the arm you’d want every day at third, more like an arm that can fill the position in a pinch for a week or two. He’s small to play first base long term. It leads into him being a nearly-ideal utility guy as he doesn’t hurt you at any position even if he isn’t the ideal starter at any of them.

Video

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