The Blue Jays have a depleted farm system overall, due to graduations and trades, but Rowdy Tellez is an exciting prospect to watch from within the organization. Tellez is a big-bodied first baseman with plus raw power and the ability to hit enough for it to play in game. There are plenty of flaws in Tellez’s game: most notably he is a well below-average runner, with a bad arm and stiff actions at first base making him a potential 40-grade glove there. But at first base, he is going to have to hit anyway, and that is obviously his strength.

Despite only hitting .165 in his first 24 games for the Fisher Cats, Tellez has walked as many times as he’s struck out and that’s not a coincidence. Tellez has a patient approach at the plate, and he tracks pitches deep into the hitting zone. He has quality pitch-recognition skills and showed the ability to track quality breaking balls. He has easy, loose hands from the left side, and he creates separation from the point when he fires his hips to when his hands get going.

He has plus bat speed and unique barrel control through the zone, giving him the ability to square velocity and spin in all quadrants. There is lift in his swing and with his bat speed being generated from his strong wrists and size, Tellez’s raw power is easy plus grade. He makes consistent hard contact in game. Right now, Tellez is having some hard luck, making hard contact but with most of them turning into outs.

Overall, Tellez is going to have to hit to provide value due to his limited skills elsewhere, but he has the tools to do so. If Tellez can reach his ceiling at the plate of an above-average hit tool and above average in-game power, then the rest of his game won’t matter much, and he’ll reach his ceiling of a major league regular. – C.J. Wittmann