The son of former big leaguer Dion James, Jared has already begun to reward the Braves for the flier they took on him in the 34th round of this year’s MLB First-Year Player Draft.  James was promoted to Rome earlier this month after aptly handling Appy League pitching to the tune of a .298 average with five doubles and one homerun across 121 at bats.  In his 65 at bats since, he has already hit two bombs and three doubles to go with the .292 average against South Atlantic League arms.  Given the small sample size and pedestrian pedigree as a 34th round selection, it would be easy to dismiss the hot start as luck. While that may be part of things, it is far from the whole story here.

James is a lanky 6’1” with long arms and legs that make him appear a little taller than he’s listed.  He is not real thick, but has some present wiry strength with room to add more as the body matures.  He has a level swing with some hand speed and does a very good job keeping the barrel in the zone for an extended period.  In my first look at him, he showed a bit of a slap hitter’s approach at the plate, looking to serve balls to left field and punch balls up the middle, with little in the way of raw power on display during batting practice.  Over the next couple games, however, James not only showed a solid approach and feel for the strike zone, but an ability to really get the head out and turn on velocity with authority when challenged inside.

In those looks he was aggressive early on in counts against hittable fastballs. He didn’t expand or zone and avoided falling behind early, generally putting together some solid at bats.  While he can at times get aggressive in the zone, he has some feel for an approach and isn’t just taking advantage of early cookies – some of which is evident by his solid strikeout to walk rates across both his Rookie League and Class A at-bats.

There’s still a fair amount of work to be done before James starts rocketing up the prospect ranks. Despite an already athletic build, he really needs to get stronger and has room to do so.  Were he a high school sign it would obviously be easier to dream on him, but at 22 years of age the development potential may not be quite the same.  On the bright side, the actions are clean and he shows good hand-eye coordination and athleticism, and given the present body and frame he may just be a bit of a late bloomer physically.

He gets some carry to the gaps in BP and should hit a few more doubles going forward, but I don’t see him being an impactful homerun guy.  He runs okay – 4.30 HP-to-1B –but is better underway as his strides lengthen out, and he is an aggressive base runner constantly looking to take the extra base.  An average defender in left field, he lacks the speed you’d want for a full-time center fielder, and based on the limited power projection he could end up as a bit of a tweener.  He could benefit from continued work during instructional league this fall, and if he performs well there will definitely be a name to watch going into the 2017 season.  Check out my full report on James here.