James Jones - LHP, Long Island

[Chisoxfn]

You might be wondering why I'm about to spend the time to do a write-up on a potential 10th or even 15th round prospect, but its because this guy has a lot of tools, but hasn't put it together (see a quote from a scout further on below in this post). Every scout I've seen talks about this guy as having a top 2 or 3 arm round and a 1st round fastball. He was also the #3 ranked prospect in the Northwoods Summer League (a collegiate summer league). But those same scouts seem to indicate he's either going to be a star or a bust, all depends on what happens with his secondary stuff and as of now, the switch hasn't flipped as he's been repulsive at Long Island (College) and the scout quote below isn't old, his stuff is still there, just a matter of stuff clicking.

 

The big reason I want to talk about him is that the Sox have done a good job finding this guys who didn't produce in college but had pretty big time arms. Some of them have panned out or looked like decent picks (Hudson/Carter), others (see Nick Lemon), haven't. But bottom line, these are the type of picks that can make a draft truley stellar and Jones has a low to mid 90's fastball with action from the left side. He also throws a slider and curve, but both are considered major project pitches and I read one scout's take who said he needs to just give up on one because its preventing him from finding any consistency as he tends to open wide and really has no feel for either pitch currently (although he'll throw one or two good ones a game). His 2nd best pitch is his fringe change-up where he currently slows down his delivery so he definately doesn't have a feel for it, but scouts feel it could be a solid 3rd pitch in time and he actually shows decent command given the trouble he has had finding secondary stuff.

 

He was pre-season #30 on Baseball America's top collegiate prospect list. He's also a very good collegiate hitter who plays 1B and OF and was widely regarded as the top defensive Cfer in the Eastern League. His everyday play also makes him a great sleeper candidate as he's yet to really focus on pitching. Bottom line, this is the type of guy you take and let your coaches work with him and if he pans out, great, if he doesn't, your talking about a latter round pick so its not the end of the world.

 

From One Scout:

"The arm works great. The arm action is as good as you're going to find, and it's a fast arm. Physically—not the way he throws but the way he looks and the way he moves around the mound, the looseness of him—he reminds me of (former Yankees No. 1 overall pick) Brien Taylor. But he doesn't have that kind of arm. This kid has a better arm action than Brien Taylor. They both had something in common: they didn't have a good breaking ball. But Taylor threw harder and had better command."

 

Player Profile (Long Island)

http://www.liuathletics.com/roster.aspx?rp...p;path=baseball

 

Season Stats (as of 5/18/09):

1-9, 7.40 ERA, 12 GS, 69.1 INN, 94 H, 64 K, 28 BB

[BearSox]

Sounds like a player we would definitely be looking at. IIRC, Dexter Carter's line his final year at Old Dominion were as bad, if not worse than those.

[OilCan]

".....and with the teams' third round selection, the Chicago White Sox select James Jones, LHP..."