Jackson Strong Scouting Report

Jackson Strong Scouting Report

Physical Description

He’s listed at 6’1”, 185 lbs and that seems about right. When standing in the box, he moves his bat up and down in sync with his front foot — the bat moves more than his foot. He’s got a little step before swinging as well. His stance is a little wider than shoulder width and his step doesn’t really widen it much more. He’s got a slight knee bend while waiting for the ball and his hips are bent just to the point that his shoulders are above his knees. For me, it’s very reminiscent of Justyn-Henry Malloy but from the left side.

Hit — 40

Jackson has done a tremendous job of keeping the ball off the ground. He has a very high BABIP, but some of that could be because he’s got some speed. He’s also pull heavy with 43.4% of his BIP to right field. Strong has a pretty high walk rate, 12.6%, and he swings outside of the zone 6% less than the average at the A level. That doesn’t come without concern, though. He has a very high K% and is Whiffing an above average rate. There is a lot of progress that still needs to happen, but I like the underlying metrics.

Power — 40

Hard hit rate is slightly above average and has shown the ability to hit for extra bases. When hitting the ball hard, he’s got a 1.632 SLG, which is 400 points higher than the league. So when he does hit it hard, he’s getting tons of extra bases, and it’s falling. He’s for sure got plenty of XBH power in the bat and can see 10-12 HRs.

Speed — 60

Jackson has some good speed. From one infield single that I was able to measure, I got him at 4.06 from home to first. That wasn’t in-person, though, so I’m hesitant to say he’s 65 runner. He’s 7-for-9 in the stolen base department, and he’s able to get to most balls hit to him in CF. His 5 doubles and 3 triples shows that if he connects with the ball, he can run to get into scoring position. 

Defense — 55

I’m not sure if I’ve seen him take a bad route. And his 1 error in 154 innings played on CF would suggest that it could be the norm. From what I’ve seen, he’s done really well and right now could be an above average defender. 

Arm — 50

His throws have looked fair, strong and accurate. I don’t know if I would say it’s well above average because I haven’t seen him rip it yet, so for now I’ll give it a 50. 

Overall Outlook

Jackson Strong has tons of tools. He’s shown some pop, he’s currently hitting for average, he has tons of speed, and makes defense look easy. The thing that will hold him back is the strikeout numbers. Not many guys can survive a 30% K% in low-A ball. While he’s getting to be the average age for his league, he’s still young enough that he has time to work on it.