The Astros 2015 draft class has a chance to be something special, thanks to two of the top five overall picks (Alex Bregman at #2 and Kyle Tucker at #5) and some savvy maneuvering that landed them another potential top ten overall talent in the supplemental round in Daz Cameron (#37 overall). Tucker, the youngest of the trio – two days younger than Cameron, in fact – is making a name for himself as one of the more impressive young bats in the Midwest League.

Tucker’s main draw is his uncanny ability to find the barrel. It’s a skill he showed off as an amateur and earned him the title of “best pure hitter in the high school class” from some evaluators. He casts the barrel as he loads up, which is a ding against him for some, but he makes the mechanics work for him, and he does a solid job getting his swing plane in sync with the pitch plane, producing loud contact to all fields. He has enough hand-eye coordination and wrist strength to manipulate the barrel and find the baseball at contact, and his overall feel and contact-friendly swing helps him project to a potential plus hit tool. The power projects to be average at maturity as he grows into his body and adds muscle, with the projectable frame looking like it can add at least ten pounds of good weight in time.

In the field, Tucker has enough arm for right field, and he takes average routes to the baseball at present. He’s currently an above-average runner with 4.25 times HP-to-1B, but as the body continues to mature the speed should scale back some. Overall, it’s a corner-outfield profile with the potential to produce at the plate, giving him a good chance at a future as a first-division right fielder. – Mauricio Rubio