A late case for Jay Bruce

[colbyjack]

Being the night owl I am tonight, I thought I would give some props for Texas prep outfielder Jay Bruce. As much as Team One Baseball's coverage has dwindled mightily the past couple of years, they did identify Bruce after he played at their National showcase last year, noting his overall talent and polished bat (and T1 did have B.J. Upton as the #1 overall prospect pretty much the entire spring of 2002 when most had Scott Kazmir and Bobby Brownlie #1 on the early draft board).

 

PG added a draft profile for Bruce here:

 

www.perfectgame.org/2005/..._bruce.cfm

 

http://www.perfectgame.org/2005/stories/draft_prospect_watch/images/jay_bruce.jpg

 

He's drawing unfair comparisons to Larry Walker, but one thing that I go back to several conversations here from last year that keeps drawing me back to Bruce is my interest in prep players that are relatively polished. As much as I like Cameron Maybin, and as much as I believe that pure, athletic talent can overcome so many skill deficiencies, it may be hard to take Maybin's talent over Bruce's bat.

 

I haven't seen Bruce play before MLB.com's video. He doesn't have the greatest speed, and he projects better in RF than CF, but again, the bat may be too good to pass up. Just thought I'd throw his name out for discussion. While he's been mentioned by a few people on this forum, and has been identified as a player the Brewers may be interested in, he hasn't been considered seriously by most as a legitimate possibility for the #5 overall pick.

[bjkrautk]

As I try to develop a critical eye for these sorts of things, I couldn't help but notice how far 'up' in the batters box Bruce was on the MLB Scouting footage. It's not an approach that I can remember seeing from other players; most major leaguers I've heard speak on the subject prefer to be as far back as they can in order to maximize their reaction time.

 

As fastballs speed up, and breaking pitches tighten up, is Bruce's approach going to need adjustments down the road?

 

 

(Tried to pull up Maybin's tape to get a comparison. There isn't one on mlb.com. They do, however, have tape on former Brewers draftee Jarrad Page; with all apologies to him -- since he's posted here a time or two IIRC -- I can't remember seeing one player get caught in a rundown and pop up a bunt on the same scouting film....especially when the film comes from multiple games. Also, the 350k videos are now up.)

[lovehate]

Colby (or anyone), how does Bruce's bat at this point compare to Daric Barton and Neil Walker's at the same stage?

[DuluthBrew]

From what I have been reading, I am liking this guy more and more. Is there a chance the Brewers take him at 5? I wouldn't disappointed at all if they did. I don't think he gets past the Mets at 9.

[JoeHova]

bj- I believe that standing that far up in the batter's box is usually an attempt to be able to get to breaking balls before they complete their break. Alfonso Soriano does that too (or used to, I haven't watched many Rangers games this year). The trade off is that you have less time to react, as you say. So, only guys with great bat speed/very quick wrists are likely to be able to get away with standing that far up in the box.

[madbad2000]

I would have no problem if the Brewers went with Bruce. I liked what I saw...a lot. I think his upside is huge....maybe not Maybin huge but I like it.

[xisxisxis]

Any information from a Brewers Workout that anyone wants to share? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[colbyjack]

Colby (or anyone), how does Bruce's bat at this point compare to Daric Barton and Neil Walker's at the same stage?

 

His bat is probably comparable to Barton's at a similar stage. While Neil Walker is a fine hitter, I believe he's going to have to stay behind the plate to be a good pro hitter (meaning, relative to position). Bruce is getting a lot of comparisons to Larry Walker, so that tells you what scouts think of his bat.

 

Is there a chance the Brewers take him at 5?

 

Sure. Read my draft preview, and you'll see he's one of the players I profiled in connection to the Brewers as a possibility.

 

No workout information. It came and went I believe without anyone really knowing about it.