Jackson Chourio - Baseball America Hype

[Brewcrew82]

58 minutes ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

As was already mentioned, Chourio is, at the moment, the top prospect in the organization according to Baseball America.  In my opinion, however, if Wiemer continues to produce the way he has at AA and then carries it over to AAA he is still #1.  Honestly don’t think it’s fair to Chourio to rocket the 18-year-old to the top because as soon as he struggles a little at A+, AA, whatever, it will take a toll on his confidence.  I mean I don’t think Hedbert ever received this much praise and he even told me himself that he struggled mentally last year and early this year with his struggles after those expectations were placed on him.  Chourio doesn’t need to be compared to Vlad Jr, Tatis Jr, etc.  Can’t imagine what pressure that must put on him.

You’re completely right. It’s not fair to Chourio personally to foist all of these expectations on him so early in his development. It is refreshing, however, to the fan to know that after struggling to develop position players in recent years we potentially have a prospect along the lines of Soto, Vlad Jr., Acuna, etc.

[Joseph Zarr]

Carolina doesn't seem to mind. Hopefully, this publicity will help get more fans in those seats in Zebulon.

 

I definitely understand the concerns of placing silly and unrealistic expectations on a prospect. I personally think, seeing how Jackson carries himself on a nightly basis, none of this is going to make a difference to who he is and what he does. He is really just different. He carries himself with the quiet confidence and, particularly, two-strike confidence of a savvy baseball vet. He is well beyond his years. 

He has that bat speed, that frame, and that whole package. We should be excited. And, with that, we should be patient and veer away from silly and unrealistic demands. Let's just enjoy his play and his evolution as a player - even if it simply doesn't pan out in the ways we imagine it could. From last night's knock...another two-strike piece of work:

 

[CheeseheadInQC]

I wonder when was the last time the Brewers had four in their top 100 was?

As for Chourio, obviously he is young and some struggles will inevitably come, but if he can manage to keep his numbers around where they are now, at that age, with that potential, it is really easy to make the case for him being the Brewers’ No. 1 prospect.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

4 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

I wonder when was the last time the Brewers had four in their top 100 was?

Brewers had 6 in their 2017 Top 100- Lewis Brinson (27), Josh Hader (33), Corey Ray (42), Luis Ortiz (79), Brandon Woodruff (82), and Isan Diaz (93).  They had 4 in their Top 100 for both 2016 and 2018.

[Brewcrew82]

7 hours ago, ARobsBrewCrew said:

Brewers had 6 in their 2017 Top 100- Lewis Brinson (27), Josh Hader (33), Corey Ray (42), Luis Ortiz (79), Brandon Woodruff (82), and Isan Diaz (93).  They had 4 in their Top 100 for both 2016 and 2018.

Also was around the time when we were briefly ranked the number #1 farm system in baseball, if I recall. Safe to say that we traded the right guys out of that group, with the exception of Ray.

[Joseph Zarr]

As an FYI update: Chourio hit the go ahead home homer in the eighth tonight - second HR in as many nights. Quero followed it with a two-run Jack. The game was suspended and will resume in the eighth inning tomorrow. 

[Brewcrew82]

So looking forward to potentially seeing him in Appleton later this summer. Not that there's any need to rush him, but as an Appleton resident I'm going to be pushing for it. ?

[nate82]

9 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

So looking forward to potentially seeing him in Appleton later this summer. Not that there's any need to rush him, but as an Appleton resident I'm going to be pushing for it. ?

I think he is on the same track as Wiemer was last year so earliest would be August for a promotion to Wisconsin.

[RWeeksFan23]

Anybody have any insight on how his defense has been this season?

[Eye Black]

18 minutes ago, RWeeksFan23 said:

Anybody have any insight on how his defense has been this season?

Unless he grows out of the position he seems likely to stick as a centerfielder. The only knock on his defense is his throwing arm, but staying in CF would minimize the importance of that.

[RWeeksFan23]

5 minutes ago, Eye Black said:

Unless he grows out of the position he seems likely to stick as a centerfielder. The only knock on his defense is his throwing arm, but staying in CF would minimize the importance of that.

Is his throwing arm merely below average, or is it Christian Yelich/Juan Pierre level bad?

[Smichaelis9]

34 minutes ago, RWeeksFan23 said:

Is his throwing arm merely below average, or is it Christian Yelich/Juan Pierre level bad?

Chourio basically has 40 or 45 grades on his arm across the board. Yelich’s prospect grades are hard to find, but Pipeline had him at 30 in 2013 and they’re usually, what I’d consider, generous with their arm strength grades. I’ve seen a few throws from Chourio, it looks like a pretty clean release (he was signed as a shortstop after all). I’d say an average arm is about right for him. 

[Eye Black]

5 hours ago, Smichaelis9 said:

Chourio basically has 40 or 45 grades on his arm across the board. Yelich’s prospect grades are hard to find, but Pipeline had him at 30 in 2013 and they’re usually, what I’d consider, generous with their arm strength grades. I’ve seen a few throws from Chourio, it looks like a pretty clean release (he was signed as a shortstop after all). I’d say an average arm is about right for him. 

Exactly, what I’ve seen is mostly classifying his arm as average, or just barely below. It’s basically the lone thing holding him back from being considered a true 5-tool player, but if you’re going to have one average tool out of the five that’s the one I’d chose. 

[Smichaelis9]

Brewers PD tweeted some video of a bunch of Chourio swings from his first month of full season ball. Can really see how advanced the bat control is. He gets the barrel to a ton of different pitches, in a bunch of different locations here. 

 

[homer]

Lots of Chourio in the Baseball America Hot Sheet chat:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/hot-sheet-chat-6722/

[igor67]

I can't think of too many Brewer prospects ever who had gushing BA chat comments like. All but encouraging top 10 prospect aspirations by the end of the year is very uncharacteristic let alone not really down playing a #1 overall rating if he just keeps hitting is well I don't think Braun or Prince ever even sniffed that level of hype.

[Manty Brewer Fan]

29 minutes ago, igor67 said:

I can't think of too many Brewer prospects ever who had gushing BA chat comments like. All but encouraging top 10 prospect aspirations by the end of the year is very uncharacteristic let alone not really down playing a #1 overall rating if he just keeps hitting is well I don't think Braun or Prince ever even sniffed that level of hype.

This hasn't happened for brewers because it rarely happens for anyone.  The last time I remember them gushing this much and they allude to it in their chat, you're talking Soto/Acuna/Tatis type explosions.

[Brewcrew82]

Wow. I'm on the younger side, but I remember that, while Braun, Fielder, and Weeks, were both top 20/10 prospects, they never really approached the level of being considered a potential top overall prospect in all of baseball. Have the Brewers ever had this level of a prospect? I know Surhoff was a #1 draft pick, but not sure if he was that highly regarded as he moved through the minors....

[igor67]

Gary Sheffield maybe? He won Sporting News Minor League player of the year back in 1988, I can't track down the BA top 100 lists from that era but he was the Brewers top prospect 3 years in a row.

[Madhawk23]

Yeah, this is just off the charts and something I don't know if we've ever experienced as Brewer fans?  As others have mentioned, there was certainly hype surrounding guys like Weeks, Prince, Braun, etc. As Igor pointed out, maybe Sheffield - but that was really before Top 100 prospect lists were probably even a "thing," so not sure if we have much history to go off of there? But, I just can't recall ever having a guy that was starting to get this #1 prospect in all of baseball talk. Now....he's still got to prove himself at some higher levels before I think he'll really get into that #1 talk, but it seems like a lot of these talent evaluators all think that he's got that potential.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

The only guy I can think of is Sheffield, hype-wise. Not to sound like I'm 90 years old or anything, but if prospect hype in the early 70s was like it is now Darrell Porter would've had a lot, although probably not this much.

Given his age, I wonder if they're thinking of leaving him at Carolina & letting him experience success, give him an off season of development, then straight to Biloxi in '23 (apologies to any fans in the Fox Valley area as that would suck for you guys).

[nate82]

Didn’t see this posted here.

 

 

[Eye Black]

Baseball America’s Ben Badler and Carlos Collazo discuss Jackson Chourio beginning at the 48;30 mark:

Ben Badler mentions he would slot Jackson Chourio at the top of the current draft class if he were draft eligible (Chourio is younger than many of the others in the mix to go 1-1 this year). 

[Joseph Zarr]

Let's bring the hype-mobile back around the bend:

3-for-3 in Game 2 tonight versus the very good and very tough Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. It was only a seven-inning game as this was a patented lower level double-header. 

An oppo-HR. A triple ripped to deep right center. A single. I mean....sheesh, all...this young man is something else.

 

Do you think this young man loves the game of baseball? Look at the joy on his face on third base after the triple. You just love to see it.

[Manty Brewer Fan]

18 minutes ago, Julio Muchacho said:

Let's bring the hype-mobile back around the bend:

3-for-3 in Game 2 tonight versus the very good and very tough Low-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. It was only a seven-inning game as this was a patented lower level double-header. 

An oppo-HR. A triple ripped to deep right center. A single. I mean....sheesh, all...this young man is something else.

 

Do you think this young man loves the game of baseball? Look at the joy on his face on third base after the triple. You just love to see it.

Was just coming to share the same info.  What’s crazy is the hype he was getting for his May numbers and his June numbers are absolutely blowing them out of the water.  He’s got damn near a 1.500 OPS in June.  We may see him in Appleton before long at this rate.  this is some serious Soto level stuff.