Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on Alex Jackson
The Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Alex Jackson from the Seattle Mariners along with a player to be named for Robert Whalen and Max Povse, two fairly advanced pitching prospects. Will he be worth the cost the team paid?
Who Is He?
The Atlanta Braves were certainly aware of Jackson as a high schooler. He was arguably the most-hyped high school hitter since Bryce Harper, twice being selected as an Under Armour All American, the first (and still only) time that had happened (take into mind that UA All-American awards haven’t been around THAT long, though). The Mariners were more than happy to have Jackson fall to them at the 6th pick in the 2014 draft.
However, even before the draft, it wasn’t consensus that Jackson was a no-doubt guy in the same vein as Harper by any means, and there were some significant questions about the added size he put on between his junior and senior years. Keith Law of ESPN put up an excellent article just ahead of the draft profiling Jackson and fellow San Diego area prep Brady Aiken, who ended up going #1 in the draft that season and causing all kinds of issues when the Astros reneged on their verbal agreement due to worries on his elbow.
The Mariners started Jackson at their Arizona Rookie League team in 2014, and he showed the good and bad in his game, as he slashed .280/.344/.476 with 10 extra base hits in just 94 plate appearances. However, the “forced loft” that was being discussed leading into the draft showed up in his swing and miss as he struck out 25.53% of the time, which is quite high for a guy who had a plus grade on his contact ability coming into the draft.
In 2015, the Mariners skipped Jackson over their advanced rookie league team straight to their short-season team in the Northwest League. He showed much of the same issue there, hitting .239/.365/.466 before a promotion to low-A Clinton in the Midwest League, where he really struggled to a .453 OPS.
All together in his 2015 season, he made 318 trips to the plate, with a combined .207/.318/.365 line. He hit 17 doubles, a triple, and 8 home runs. His walk rate of 8.5% wasn’t exceptional, but it was acceptable. However, his strikeout rate continued to balloon, to 30.19% combined.
The Mariners had him repeat Clinton in 2016, and he had some improvement, slashing .243/.332/.408 with 20 doubles, a triple, and 11 home runs. He had a 8.9% walk rate and a 27% strikeout rate.
Next: Jackson's scouting report