Miami Marlins draft preview: Jacob Berry

I looked at the upcoming draft briefly earlier, but now let’s look at players who the Miami Marlins are likely to draft this year. Today we’ll look at first base and third base prospect Jacob Berry, who MLB.com actually projects as our first round pick. The Miami Marlins pick sixth by the way.

Is Jacob Berry a good pick for the Miami Marlins?

Jacob Berry has a great swing, controls the strike zone and hits for both power and contact. Berry received a 60 rating for hitting and a 65 rating for his power in fact. Berry is not the best defender, receiving a 50 rating for that, or runner as he received a 40 rating for that.

This is what MLB.com said about him:

Equally productive from both sides of the plate, Berry has drawn some comparisons to a switch-hitting version of Andrew Vaughn (the No. 3 choice in 2019) for his ability to hit for power and average while controlling the strike zone. He hammers fastballs and handles breaking balls and changeups well. He has a quality swing and approach from both sides, makes repeated hard contact and shows a propensity for driving the ball in the air.Berry spent most of his freshman season as a DH and played just nine of his 63 games in the field at third base, which has been his primary position with the Tigers. He has below-average speed and average arm strength and he’s rigid at the hot corner, so most scouts believe he’ll have to move elsewhere as a pro. He has looked decent at times in right field but there’s a good chance that he winds up at first base — where he’ll have no problem fitting the offensive profile.

It sounds as if Jacob Berry is a pure hitter who has defensive issues, and in my opinion could even end up as a designated hitter. That actually concerns me quite a bit, as these days positional versatility is highly valued.

I’m not against the Miami Marlins drafting Jacob Berry, but I would like to see him improve defensively first, before truly committing such a top draft pick to him. Of course he could always end up as another Yordan Alvarez.