J.P. Crawford is going from Reading to Lehigh Valley in what is his final tuneup on his way to the majors. Think of the IronPigs as finishing school for the talented shortstop, as I don’t expect him to spend as much time there as Maikel Franco and Nick Williams will ultimately spend there. Crawford’s approach is major league ready and we saw that this spring. Right now he can struggle to make quality contact when he gets himself into a hitting position, but he has shown improvement there. He is also working to use his lower half more to tap into his power, the results have been mixed but encouraging. He still needs work on base stealing success, but that will never be a huge part of his game.
On defense Crawford still needs to work on not rushing the easy plays as he will still occasionally boot a ball or drop a transfer doing too much. Those mistakes are already less than they were last year and should go away completely over time. Otherwise he is a plus defender who gets to a lot of baseballs. I have heard Gold Glove defense projections for him, I do think that is a bit optimistic in an era where Lindor and Simmons exist, but he will be one of the better defenders.
I expect Crawford to be in the big leagues this summer, he is becoming too advanced for the minor leagues.
Photo by Baseball Betsy
Bah! I’m going to see Reading next Thursday. They couldn’t wait a week?
Why is everyone so convinced J P Crawford is going to be a star? He is a hitting 260 with few homers on not many stolen bases. He still makes too many errors and there is no need to rush him. Looks like an average short stop to me.
I’ll make a list for you.
1. Probably because he walks more than he k’s.
2. Probably because he has at least a 60 grade hit tool.
3. Probably because he has the makings of a plus defender. He has good range and a good arm.
4. Probably because he has the body to grow into 13-18 hr’s a year.
5. Probably because he has great doubles power.
6. Probably because he has great plate discipline and has the makings of an obp machine.
7. Probably because his base running has the ability to be good he just needs coached up.
I am big fan of Crawford and believe that he will be a great MLB player for a lot of years. I don’t think that he will ever hit 30 hr’s or steal 40 bases but I believe that a lot of fans wrap to much value into “gaudy stats” like hr’s sb wins losses etc. Any team would be extatic to have Crawford as a prospect. You just need to have realistic expectations.
I hear you, but Dominic Brown was projected to be a 30 hr/year all star player. And he turned out to be a bust. Projections don’t mean much until you see results.
Crawford leads the minors in unintentional walks and BB%-K% as a 21 year old shortstop in AAA. If that doesn’t work for you I am not sure any prospect will work for you.