WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 13: A detailed view of an Franklin batting glove of an Atlanta Braves player as they play the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 13, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ – SEPTEMBER 09: Under Armour gloves and shoes of Ozzzie Albies #1 of the Atlanta Braves during the fifth inning of an MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 9, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Ralph Frreso/Getty Images) /
A 20th-round draft pick doesn’t typically turn heads in his first year, but the Atlanta Braves grabbed one that definitely flipped that script in 2018.
The Atlanta Braves had an impressive 2018 draft where they signed nearly all of their draft picks, including one junior college player that ended up turning lots of heads in his pro debut, and now C.J. Alexander is going to spring training! Let’s find out more about him.
Player Profile
Coming from an exceptionally talented family, Charles Joseph Wesley Alexander originally hailed from Indiana. After going undrafted out of high school, C.J. went to Ball State, where he struggled to get on the field in his first two seasons. Transferring to State Junior College of Florida, he had an incredible spring in his draft year, hitting .405/.488/.785 with 15 home runs.
Alexander’s younger brother Blaze was also a top draft prospect in the 2018 draft, and many felt it could take a significant bonus to sign either brother, as C.J. had offers for bigger schools and committed to Central Florida while Blaze was committed to South Carolina.
The Atlanta Braves took the gamble that they could get Alexander to sign by drafting him in the 20th round, and he did sign for a $125,000 bonus.
The Braves assigned him first to the Gulf Coast League team, but it was quickly apparent that he was beyond that competition, as he hit .412/.500/.618 in 9 games at the level before being promoted to advanced rookie Danville.
With the D-Braves, it wasn’t a whole lot different. He played in 22 games, amassed 98 plate appearances, and Alexander put together a line of .354/.439/.488. While some questioned the power difference with Danville, the Braves saw enough to give him one more promotion on the season.
Alexander finished his season with the high-A Florida Fire Frogs in the Florida State League, an incredibly advanced placement for a day 3 draft selection in his pro debut season. The placement did not faze Alexander, however, as he hit .325/.386/.450 over 21 games and 88 plate appearances.
In all, Alexander’s season line across three levels was 52 games, 226 plate appearances, and a .352/.429/.495 line, with 8 doubles, 7 triples, 2 home runs, 4 stolen bases, an 11.9% walk rate, and an 18.6% strikeout rate.
Scouting Report
Size/Build
Alexander has a significant build, and that was one of the draft concerns about him. He stands a true 6’5″ and is listed at 215 pounds. I could believe as many as 10-15 pounds heavier than that, and it’s definitely not bad weight at all. He has a wide shoulder, wide hip build to his frame that allows him to be plenty athletic at his current size.
Hitting
Contact (55) – Alexander has excellent balance through his swing. He begins with his shoulders a hair beyond shoulder width apart, and toe taps back toward his body before taking a stride forward, keeping his weight transfer to the back leg up until the point of contact very well.
This allows Alexander to generate excellent force behind his contact, and it will allow him to consistently generate decent batting average numbers in the minor leagues.
His hands are quiet in placement, cocking up and back just a hair as he begins his stride, but with exceptional wrist strength to get the bat through the zone. The one concern that I could possibly have with his current set up and stance is that he can pull his head at times and focus out to the field at the point of impact on the bat to ball.
Power (65) – Already, Alexander is able to generate exceptional gap power with a swing plane that lends itself to hard screamers around the field. He doesn’t tend to exaggerate his follow through for launch angle, simply generating excellent power at a good slight uppercut plane, which should translate to better power as he climbs the ladder. He’s a guy who could be considered to have plus-plus raw power.
Eye (60) – Often guys with minimal “big college” experience will get fooled with breaking stuff or chase way out of the zone, but that’s not an issue with C.J. If anything, his issue could be that he seeks out a perfect pitch rather than attacking a great pitch to hit, and sometimes that lands him on the bench or ends up with him protecting with two strikes and having to offer at pitches that he would rather not.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (45) – A 40-grade raw runner due to slow take off, Alexander plays up his raw speed with impressive instincts and more 50-grade speed when underway. He showed those instincts on the bases with the Braves system in his first year, legging out 7 triples and stealing 4 bases in 6 attempts.
Defense (50) – This is where the biggest question on C.J.’s future currently lies. The video available on Alexander is limited from the defensive end, but what is there shows very good hands with fringe-average range. Talking with scouts about him, that is exactly the report I got on him, with a comparison given to Brian Dozier‘s play at second, as Dozier is not terribly rangy or gifted with his arm at second, but anything he gets to, he gobbles up and rarely errs on.
Arm (60) – This is another area that is tough to gauge from what I could find for available video. It is clear that there is tremendous power behind Alexander’s arm, but in a few videos, he was fairly inaccurate throwing across the diamond, so I am going to go with a conservative plus grade here. One thing to consider is that at his size, if he was to move off the position and not move to first, it’d be to an outfield corner, so that raw arm strength could be a definite advantage.
MLB Player Comp
Two players stick out quickly when you watch Alexander both in the field and at the plate. Guys who are as big as Alexander and play the hot corner are a rarity. Doing a search for players who have been over 6’4″ and played 60% of a 500-PA season at third brought up just three options. Incredibly, two were guys I was thinking of!
Travis Shaw might be the best all-around comparison to Alexander. He has similar defensive skills in that he’s not terribly rangy at third, but he has very good hands when something is hit within his range, and his arm is excellent. At the plate, Shaw is coming off back-to-back 30+ home run seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers, and having that kind of power in the lineup would certainly be welcome.
However, Shaw’s swing and approach at the plate are a bit violent for me compared to Alexander, so the guy who came to mind at the plate was former Silver Slugger winner Aubrey Huff. While his off-field stuff was an absolute mess at times, Huff had an incredibly simple swing that generated tremendous power upon contact, and his eye allowed him to keep his walk and strikeout rates modest.
Of course, Huff defensively was not Shaw, so there’s the comp…Aubrey Shaw – or Travis Huff.
(For those wondering, the third player to accumulate 500 PA as a 3B standing at least 6’4″ was Jim Thome.)
The Spring Training invite definitely caught a lot of people off guard, as Alexander’s performance was a pleasant surprise, but he was viewed even in his own draft class as potentially the 2nd or even 3rd best hitter in the Atlanta Braves 2018 draft class.
The other member that would likely be considered ahead of Alexander, Grayson Jenista, was also invited to spring, so there could be something the Braves are doing with their top college bats from the 2018 draft to attempt to accelerate their timeline.
Alexander’s size will leave many traditional scouts planning his future at first base, a corner outfield position, or even designated hitter, but he’s shown more than enough athleticism to handle the hot corner to this point, and with the relative lack of depth at the position, he could rocket quickly through the system in 2019. His left-handed power could end up being a very welcome complement to the right-handed power of the young players the Atlanta Braves have either in the majors already or on the cusp of it.
Next. Acuna is #1. dark
Whether he’s an outfielder or a third baseman or even Freddie Freeman‘s heir apparent (Freddie’s contract is up after 2021), Alexander has been significantly more than the Atlanta Braves could ever have hoped for when they chose him in the 20th round last June!
