#12: SS Adeiny Hechavarria

Name: Adeiny Hechavarria
Position: Shortstop
Acquired: International Free Agent (4 year, 10M contract)
Opening Day age: 22
Height/weight: 5'11", 180 lbs
Best/worst tool: Fielding/bat

Scouting Report: Adeiny Hechavarria was signed by the Blue Jays after he defected from Cuba, and at the time Toronto knew exactly what they were getting: a dynamic defensive shortstop with a major league ready glove but a questionable and aggressive bat. Hechavarria does have a 3/4-to-sidearm delivery on some of his throws, causing them to tail off at the end, and will need to be corrected down the line. His reaction time is extraordinairy, and when accompanied with his speed it gives him great range at shortstop. While there is some belief Hechavarria could develop power down the line, his frame doesn't provide a lot of room for additional muscle so it's unlikely his power will develop much further. His athleticism is unquestioned, so Hechavarria's biggest roadblock to reaching the majors will likely be bat.

2010 Stats: .242/.272/.333 (.605 OPS), 18 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 41 RBI, 13 SB

2010 Analysis: Hechavarria got a late start to the year as he spent much of the first month of the season in extended spring training. He was initially assigned to Dunedin, Toronto's High-A affiliate, due to it's proximity to the Blue Jays Florida facilities as well as it's age-appropriate level of competition. Hechavarria struggled dramatically, with a .509 OPS in 41 games. Surprisingly, he earned a mid-season promotion to Double-A New Hampshire, which was later revealed to be heavily based upon New Hampshire manager Luis Rivera and his spanish speaking coaching staff -- something Hechavarria didn't have in Dunedin. His performance improved all around, with a .665 OPS over the last 61 games of his season. While the offensive performance was still below expectations, the defense came as advertised, as Hechavarria drew the attention of many scouts and prospect gurus for his outstanding glove.

Future outlook: Hechavarria started the 2011 season with Double-A New Hampshire, and will likely spend the entire year there. For Hechavarria to make it as a major league shortstop his bat will need to be more competent as it is now, and it's likely the Blue Jays would like to keep him away from the launching pad in Las Vegas in order to maintain an accurate indication as to whether he's improving or not. If his bat improves as the year moves along, he may begin 2012 in Triple-A with a possible September 2012 promotion to Toronto.

Perfect world projection: Everyday MLB shortstop, hitting at the top of the lineup versus lefties, at the bottom versus righties.

Worst case scenario: Bounces between Triple-A and the major leagues on a variety of teams hoping he can figure out his bat.

Most likely outcome: Part-time MLB shortstop getting 200-300 AB per year, defensive replacement and pinch runner late in games.

Wallace for Gose revisited

On July 29th 2010, Roy Oswalt was traded from the Houston Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor league prospects. One of those prospects, Anthony Gose, was immediately shipped to Toronto in exchange for first baseman Brett Wallace. I, like many others, had a perplexed reaction to news of the trade. Lyle Overbay, the current starting first baseman, was in the last year of his contract, and Cito Gaston had shown no interest in playing Adam Lind at first base. In other words, we were counting on Wallace to step in to start the 2011 season, but as quickly and shockingly as we had acquired him, he was gone.

The explanation that Alex Anthopolous gave to the general public was that, while Brett Wallace will likely be a good hitter, Anthony Gose has the potential to be a great all-around baseball player. This was a viewpoint I could understand. In a division that has lineups filled with perennial All-Stars, "good" just isn't good enough, particularly when speaking of first base. Look no further than Mark Teixeira and now, Adrian Gonzalez, to understand the standards set for an AL East first baseman on a contender. Anthopolous acknowledged the risk but felt it necessary to shoot for high ceiling players and not settle for safety, and the latter might best describe the J.P. Ricciardi era.

Post trade, the 2010 season ended on a rather mediocre note for both players. Anthony Gose, after being assigned to the Blue Jays High-A affiliate in Dunedin, hit .255/.360/.426 in 94 at bats. While the 13 walks and 3 HR were nice to see, the 29 strikeouts and poor SB% (9/14 = 64%) said he still had a ways to go. For Brett Wallace, he finally reached the major leagues, and even saw regular playing time. The results were poor, however, as he posted a .222/.296/.319 slash line, with only 2 HR in 144 AB.

Entering 2011, Anthony Gose was named as the starting center fielder for Toronto's Double-A affiliate, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, while Brett Wallace was named as the Opening Day first baseman for the Houston Astros. Clearly, both the Blue Jays and Astros organizations had lofty expectations of their players, and so far both players have performed quite admirably.

Gose has posted a slash line of .280/.366/.319 (161 AB) with 2 HR, 17 RBI, and 18 SB while playing an exceptional center field. Perhaps most promising about Gose's start is his BB/K ratio, which is currently 19/35, much improved from his previous few seasons. The biggest concern I have with Gose so far is his sub .100 ISO, which is the difference between his slugging percentage and batting average, and is used to measure extra base power. Gose has only hit 4 doubles, 3 triples, and 2 home runs. At 6'1" and 190 lbs, I want to see more. I can live with the low home run totals, but with his wheels he needs to have some solid double and triple totals.

Brett Wallace has hit .318/.391/.459 (148 AB) with 12 doubles, 3 HR, and 15 RBI. Similar to Anthony Gose, Wallace is posting a much better BB/K ratio this year at 17/32, a dramatic improvement over his combined 35/133 between Triple-A and the majors last season. His poor plate discipline was one of the main reasons I, and many other Blue Jays fans, were ok with the trade, so his performance has been a little bittersweet.

I got my first look at Brett Wallace this weekend as Houston made a trip to Toronto for an interleague series. After sitting for the 1st game against the left handed Reyes, Wallace started both the 2nd and 3rd games of the series. I was impressed with his performance, and not just because he managed to smack our pitching staff around. He does have a very nice, smooth swing, and whatever alteration he made to his approach during the offseason to improve his plate discipline was nice, as he showed a lot of patience on some tough pitches. My biggest concern was when I saw Brett Wallace field and run the bases. Wow. I couldn't stop thinking to myself how huge the guy's lower half is, and he's only 24. Wallace clearly needs to make changes in his lifestyle if he wants to have a long baseball career. Secondly, I'm not sure how high of a power ceiling Wallace has. He looks like he could be a consistent .300 hitter, but he seems to have more of a slap approach at the plate, as opposed to the uppercut swing you often see in 30+ HR hitting players. I heard the term "white Ichiro" used over the weekend and, while a mildly amusing joke about Wallace's slap single approach, is hardly accurate.

At the time of the trade, I was puzzled yet accepting, and 10 months later, the feeling is much the same. Gose has established himself in Double-A, while Wallace has established himself as a competent major league hitter. I still believe the Blue Jays will win this trade in the long run, however, as I'm not sure if Wallace will ever hit much more than 20-25 HR with mediocre defense, and numbers like those aren't particularly difficult to acquire for cheap from a veteran through free agency. Anthony Gose still has more inherent risk, but if he reaches the majors and hits, he'll could be one of the most dynamic players the Blue Jays organization has ever had.

The return (breakout?) of Justin Jackson

Last year around this time I wrote a story discussing Blue Jays shortstop prospect Justin Jackson, and how I thought at the time it might be a good idea to considering switching his position -- to pitcher. I cited his lack of success at the plate in his 3+ years of professional ball, his highly regarded throwing arm, and the success story of a former Blue Jays shortstop prospect (Sergio Santos) who had been converted to a reliever after failing at the plate. I felt that, while he was young and still had a chance for success as a positional player, his odds might be better as a reliever, and, if the conversion were to occur, it would be best to do it while he was still ineligible for the Rule 5 draft (any player with 5 or more years of professional ball not on their team's 40 man roster is eligible -- Justin was in his 4th year at the time).

Continuing the Rule 5 draft thought, 2011 is now Justin Jackson's 5th professional season. At the end of the season, the Blue Jays will be forced to decide whether or not to add Jackson to the 40 man or risk exposing him to the other 29 teams in baseball. While odds are low that he would be infact drafted -- the drafting team would need to keep him on their 25 man roster for the entire 2012 season, and Jackson is only in High-A right now -- Jackson appears to be doing his best to guarantee a spot on someone's roster next season, Toronto or otherwise.

While Jackson's glove has never been questioned, his bat has been a major disappointment since being selected as a supplementary 1st round pick (45th overall) in the 2007 draft. From 2007 through 2010, Jackson posted OPS' of .515, .708, .590, and .620. Poor, even for a middle infielder with outstanding defense.

The 2011 season has seen a drastic change in Jackson. First and foremost, he switched positions. After playing shortstop almost exclusively in his first four seasons, Jackson was moved to right field where his arm could still be utilized but playing defense would be less demanding. More visible in the box scores, however, is his dramatic increase in proficiency with that bat. As a disclaimer, it must be pointed out that 2011 is Jackson's 3rd year in Dunedin (though his previous two years totalled only 279 AB in High-A). Playing right field, as well as spot appearances all over the diamond, Jackson has hit .319/.409/.460 for an .869 OPS, far and away better than anything he has done previously. His April success even earned him a spot promotion to Double-A New Hampshire for 3 games where he filled in temporarily as an injury replacement. Jackson even appears to be taking on a leadership role with Dunedin, as evident by his twitter profile (@JaxChillinONE). Jackson cheers on and congratulates his teammates for their games and carries over many of the Blue Jays heart and hustle hashtags with a Dunedin twist -- #babyjays and #babybeastmode.

What the future holds for Jackson obviously no one knows, but Jackson has definitely taken the right approach to the 2011 season and has gotten his career back on track. While it is unlikely he will ever reach the ceiling I hoped for when he was drafted (.300 hitter with 20/20 potential and great defense), Jackson may yet carve out a role for himself on a major league roster down the road. Teams are always looking for players who can field multiple positions -- and field them well -- so if Jackson can carry over this season's early success with the bat and continue hitting as he matures and reaches the upper minors, he could find himself as a highly sought after super-utility player, perhaps something along the line of a Mark DeRosa (with Texas) or Omar Infante (before his "All Star" season).