Atlanta Braves catching prospect Alex Jackson stays hot in Arizona Fall League, blasts another homer

Braves catching prospect continues to stay hot in AFL

By now, you’ve probably at least heard the name, but if not, we come baring gifts of joy.  The Atlanta Braves have a very talents catching prospect named Alex Jackson.

The 21-year-old was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round of the 2014 out of Rancho Bernardo High School where he mostly played the catcher position.  Once he was drafted, the Mariners decided that the outfield would be a better longterm position for his bat.

His bat lagged in the 2015 and 2016 seasons playing in Single-A and it seemed as though the Mariners thought he was a bust.

In comes the Atlanta Braves — and former General Manager John Coppolella — and they sweet talked the Mariners into a pretty sweet deal.  On November 28, 2016, the Braves sent Rob Whalen and Max Povse to Seattle in-exchange for the former 1st round pick.

The Braves saw Jackson as a catcher — and actually were hoping to draft him in 2014 as a catcher — and wanted to move him back to that position.

Since being with the Braves organization, all he’s done is hit.  In 2017, with the Mississippi Braves and Florida Fire Frogs, he hit 19 home runs, 21 doubles, 65 RBIs and ended the season with a combined .267 batting average.

To get more at-bats and extended time playing his new-old position, the Braves decided to send Jackson to the Arizona Fall League.  Heading west, he was kinda overshadowed by top prospects Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley, Max Fried and Touki Toussaint, but that didn’t stop Jackson from showing up day one hot.

13 games into the 2017 Arizona Fall League, Jackson is batting .351 with five home runs.  He belted his fifth homer of the young season on Wednesday afternoon.  Those five homers have came in the last nine AFL games.

Jackson is heating up and it’s great to see, but don’t get too excited just yet on his young kid.  He still has to take many more strides before we see him in Atlanta.  Though he’s moving in the right direction, it’s probably still going to be at the earliest Opening Day 2019 before he’s up in ATL.

This is from 10/18, but you can watch his swing…PS: it looks nice!

Alex Jackson on Arizona Fall League and going back to the catcher position in 2017

And my favorite tweet of the day comes from Alex Jackson’s teammate and another one of Braves prospects that is pitching with the Peoria Javelinas as well in the AFL…Toussaint…

Next: An updated check on Matt Adams trade partners