Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on C Jonathan Morales

Jonathan Morales established himself as arguably the top catching prospect in the Atlanta Braves system. What’s ahead in his 2017?

Player Profile

The Atlanta Braves drafted Jonathan Morales out of Miami-Dade College, Kendall Campus in the 25th round of the 2015 draft.

A native Puerto Rican, Morales was assigned to the Gulf Coast League affiliate by the Braves. In that assignment, he hit very well, going .304/.377/.511 with 7 home runs and 2 stolen bases, posting an identical 9.21% walk and strikeout rate.

After spending three games as a pinch hitter in the Caribbean Series for Puerto Rico, Morales jumped over advanced rookie Danville to low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League.

Morales benefited from the heavy defensive instruction in Rome, seeing monster defensive improvements on the season over some heavy questions with 11 passed balls in just 34 games behind the plate in 2015 to just 8 in nearly twice the games in 2016.

Morales opened the season splitting catching duties with fellow 2015 draftee Lucas Herbert, but as Herbert showed struggles on both the offensive and defensive end, Morales began starting 3-4 of every 5 days, tallying 113 games on the season, 64 of them at catcher.

Offensively, he had ups and downs, but he had a solid overall season at the plate in 2016. His overall line was .269/.313/.356 with 4 home runs and 3 stolen bases, also posting 25 doubles. Morales also posted a 5.4% walk rate and 11.9% strikeout rate.

In the postseason for Rome, Morales caught 7 games, finishing with a .306/.333/.423 line for the playoffs with a 1/3 BB/K line and 3 doubles.

Morales played quite a bit more in the Caribbean Series this winter, hitting .267 in 15 plate appearances. In the championship game, he drove in the winning run for Puerto Rico to win the series.

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