Indians Top 100 Prospects: #44 Jared Goedert

44. Jared Goedert - Second Base/Third Base
Born: 05/25/1985 - Height: 6'1" - Weight: 180 - Bats: Right - Throws: Right

Year	Age	Team	Lvl	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2006	21	Mahoning Vy	A-	63	238	31	64	14	2	3	27	19	28	1	.269	.328	.382	.710
2007	22	Lake County	A	46	165	44	60	10	0	16	51	35	29	0	.364	.475	.715	1.190
	22	Kinston	A+	35	125	23	32	9	0	4	23	23	25	1	.256	.369	.424	.793
2008	23	Kinston	A+	126	467	75	119	23	1	10	74	57	77	1	.255	.336	.373	.709
		Career		270	995	173	275	56	3	33	175	134	159	3	.276	.363	.438	.801

History: The Indians originally drafted Goedert out of high school in the 36th round of the 2003 Draft, but he chose to go to college and the Indians took him again when he was eligible in the 9th round of the 2006 Draft out of Kansas State.

Strengths & Opportunities: Goedert is not a true power hitter, but instead more of a line drive gap-to-gap hitter who likely projects to be a 15-20 home run hitter in the big leagues. He is not a big assuming player nor overly strong, but the ball explodes off his bat and he has the ability to hit the ball out to any part of the ballpark. He is a quiet, mentally tough player with sound mechanics and generates good backspin on the ball with a good downward movement with his swing. He hits the ball where it is pitched, and is short to the ball. His low maintenance swing helps create a nice, consistent bat path to the ball and line drive stroke that help generate most of his power. He has shown a very good eye at the plate with the ability to consistently put the ball in play (career 134-159 BB/K). He has shown the ability to hit well with two strikes, which is an approach that was stressed to him his whole life (his dad was his high school coach) and through college.

While he can definitely hit, his defense is just average. He is not flashy defensively, but he makes all the routine plays and has an above average arm. To make him more versatile, the Indians moved him from third base to second base near the end of May in 2007 and he handled the transition well. He has had some trouble adjusting to the much shorter throws to first base and his feet are kind of heavy at second base, but overall he has been solid when he has played there showing some good agility and a strong arm on plays up the middle and turning double plays.

He is working on getting a better load at the plate by not cutting off on his front foot and instead using his legs and backside a little more. His defense at third base has been really solid, and he has shown much improvement playing second base. Second base is still very foreign to him, so the Indians will continue to work with him on his positioning and turning the double play. He has a shoulder issue which he has been battling since he came into the Indians organization, and it resulted in left labrum surgery in October 2006. He has re-injured it a few times post surgery which has led to some missed time the last two seasons.

Outlook: Goedert's big power numbers early in 2007 at Single-A Lake County are starting to look more and more like an aberration where his performance the rest of his time when you subtract out his two month stint in Lake County may be a better indicator of what kind of prospect he is, a fringe major league player. He plays at two positions of need in the organization, third base and second base, and he should open the 2009 season as the third baseman at Double-A Akron and occasionally play some second base.

Photo courtesy of Ken Carr

Jared Goedert MinorLeagueBaseball.com stats page

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