Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on OF Joey Meneses
Scouting Report
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Size/Build
Meneses is listed at 6’3″ and 190 pounds. He is certainly long and lean in his limbs.
Hitting
Contact (50) – Meneses has a tall stance at the plate with his hands back. He begins with the bat laid almost on his shoulder, which does lead to a bit of a load coming into his swing.
He does have a tremendous amount of bat speed through the zone, though he does have a more level bat path, which produces more gap power than over-the-fence power.
Power (40) – That level swing is likely not going to produce a 20+ home run season any time soon, but he definitely has a solid amount of gap power, and some adjustments to his swing could unleash some natural power in his swing that is already present and end up with more balls over the fence.
Eye (50) – Meneses isn’t a guy who walks 20% of the time or anything, but he does a solid job controlling the strike zone.
His bit of load does put him at a disadvantage at pitch recognition, though, so he doesn’t get quite the contact that he could get with his solid bat speed if he was better adept at picking up the ball out of the pitcher’s hand.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (45) – Meneses is probably not a guy that you’ll ever see with 10+ steals, but he does offer solid speed when he’s at top speed between bases or in the outfield.
Defense (50) – Meneses at first is a fairly high-end defender, likely worthy of a 55 value as a first baseman.
He certainly had some rough spots in the outfield, but he had really done well in reading the ball off of the bat by the end of the season. His routes still could use some work, but I have a feeling with a spring of work, he would be able to really make strides there as well.
Arm (60) – Meneses is a pitcher with the Mexican team in the World Baseball Classic, and he’s touched 90+ off the mound, so his arm is certainly sufficient to be very good in right field.
He had minimal opportunities from the outfield in Mississippi as he converted, but he showed a very solid arm a number of times getting the ball in to the plate in a hurry to hold runners.
MLB Player Comp
They bat from opposite sides of the plate, but their builds and contact skills displayed by Meneses at Carolina reminded me strongly of Marlins outfielder Christian Yelich.
Yelich did break out with a 20 home run season, but it came on the back of an adjustment to his swing that created more loft, something I could certainly see working with Meneses as well.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
Obviously, Yelich is a top-end comparison, but Meneses has shown an intensity of working at his craft that is admirable. His signing at 18 did put him a bit behind the 8-ball as far as age-relative-to-league for a typical “prospect”, but he’s shown enough to be considered as a future option at least as a solid bench option.
It would not surprise at all to see him being a solid option to play corner outfield and first base down the road off the bench, if not for the Braves, for someone.
He’ll likely open in AA Mississippi again, but hopefully he continues his trend of tearing up a level the year after struggling there and earns his way to AAA Gwinnett quickly.