Atlanta Braves Farm Report: A Preview of the 2019 Mississippi Braves

#4. (3B) CJ Alexander

#25 prospect – 40 FV – ETA: 2021

VIDEO — PLAYER PAGE 

2017:

(in college)

2018: (A+) / (RK)

• 52 G
• .352 BA
• .924 OPS
• 2 HR
• 27 RBI
• 4 SB
• 21.4 K% – 13.7 BB%

2019 Spring Training:

(N/A)

WHAT HE NEEDS TO DO: It’s hard to say too much when the guy just got a promotion a few days ago:

But in all seriousness, congrats CJ!

If you didn’t know this by now, CJ Alexander was drafted literally just last year by the Braves. He was a 20th-round pick in the 2018 Draft. So him being in Double-A in Year 2 is impressive, even if he was a JUCO pick and is 22-years-old.

Diving in to Alexander’s scouting report and several different ‘unofficial’ reports from various sites, I’ve discovered that most offer a ‘wait and see’ analysis when it come to CJ’s skills. And rightfully so, as he has just 52 games of professional baseball under his belt.

But in terms of going forward, I would say Alexander just needs to continue his most-recent game plan at the plate. It’s working quite well so far!

He’s scouted as a corner infield power-guy from the left side, and 52 games definitely didn’t offer enough of a sample size to confirm how accurate that determination is. But just going by his 17 extra-base hits (2 HR / 8 doubles / 7 triples) in 196 at-bats, I’d say yes… he’s got some pop.

With him just being promoted recently, I would lean more towards Alexander sticking with what’s working right now. He shouldn’t try and do too much, and he’s got pretty solid rates at the moment with barely over a 20% K-rate and a double-digit walk-rate at 13.7%. Those rates will play in Double-A and he’s got some wiggle room to regress if it so happens that he struggles out of the gate in 2019.

WHAT TO EXPECT: If I was a guessing man I’d guess that the Braves are more than likely planning on keeping CJ Alexander in Double-A in 2019, unless of course he gives them no choice.

I don’t always believe the ETA, but 2021 sounds pretty accurate. That gives him all of 2019 with Mississippi and then possibly another half season in Double-A before going up to Gwinnett for a year or so. I think that would be a nice length of development for Alexander, but of course he could always move up quicker.

Given that he is strictly a corner infielder at the moment, position-wise he doesn’t have a very clear cut path to the Major League team; but 2021 could look different by the time we get there.

I may be jumping the gun here, but from watching his film and seeing his numbers in 2018, I think CJ Alexander is a great player and will do just fine this season in Double-A. Don’t expect a .900+ OPS in 2019, but with his power he could post a 15-20 homer season and run a respectable batting average at the least.

20th-round picks aren’t usually tearing it up in their first season, so there’s definitely something interesting about CJ Alexander. We just need to see more to know exactly what it is.