Jordan Weems

mabrowndog

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Dec 23, 2003
39,676
Falmouth, MA
Jordan Blake Weems
Catcher
 

 
DOB: November 7, 1992
Born: Columbus, GA
B/T: Left/Right
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 175 lbs
High School: Columbus (GA)
Drafted: 2011, 3rd Round (#111 overall)
Signed: July 26, 2011 (Scout: Tim Hyers)
Bonus: $500,000 (slot = $274,500)
MLB Debut: 8/13/2011
Options Used: 0 of 3
Rule 5 Draft Eligible: 2015
Minor League Free Agency: 2017
 
LINKS
 
* Baseball-Reference.com minors page
* MiLB.com page
* SoxProspects profile
* Baseball America page
* Baseball Prospectus page
* Baseball Cube page
* Fangraphs page
* Minor League Central page
 
More photos:

(Credit/Tom Priddy)
 

(Credit/Darrell Snow)
 

(Credit/Richard Shiro)
 
 
SCOUTING REPORTS
 
* Grew 8 inches (from 5'7") and added 50 lbs (from 120) between July 2008 (age 15 yrs 8 mos) and June 2010 (age 17 yrs 7 mos) as measured by Perfect Game.org ... Pop time behind the plate recorded as 1.98 seconds at their Jupiter, Florida event in October 2010 ... In April 2011, was ranked #225 nationally among high school prospects for the 2011 Amateur Draft.
 
* Ranked #188 by Baseball America among prospects for the 2011 Amateur Draft:
 
188. Jordan Weems, c
Columbus (Ga.) HS
Weems has taken advantage of his bloodlines, his own improved play, the down year in Georgia and the dearth of catching to jump up draft boards. He helped lead Columbus High to a state championship in 2010, and he helped the team reach the state 3-A semifinals this season. He hopes to become the third member of his family to get drafted, joining father Rick (1980, 15th round, Cardinals) and brother Chase (2007, sixth round, Yankees). Weems is tall and lanky at a listed 6-foot-3, 180 pounds, and lacks present strength. Scouts have to project his hitting ability and power because of his lack of physicality. His arm gets easy above-average grades, and he posts sub-2.0-second pop times. He's a decent receiver now who projects to be average with more strength. Weems is committed to Georgia State.
 
* ESPN.com post-draft profile (by Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com)
 
Weems is something of a string bean at 6-foot-3, 180 pounds, but he possesses an above-average arm behind the plate and scouts like his swing. Much of his projection rides on his adding size and strength. Weems led Columbus to a repeat state championship by hitting .443 with six home runs and 26 RBIs in 39 games.
 
* SoxProspects.com profile:
 
Lean, lanky build. Smooth, compact swing, but presently hits with a lot of upper body. Solid-average power projection. Brings head of the bat quickly through zone. Needs improvement creating plate coverage with his swing. Tends to open hips early to pull off the ball. Moves well laterally on defense, with quick reactions and solid body control. Strong arm, but slow releasing the ball and coming out of his crouch. Projects to stay behind the plate in the near-term. Could eventually grow off the position.
 
* Alex Speier's review of Sox system catchers (WEEI.com, 9/24/2013)
 
Jordan Weems (age 20)
 
Single-A: 61 games, .204/.301/.244, 0 HR, 25 walks, 60 strikeouts, 16 percent caught stealing
 
Notes: Weems was taken by the Sox in the third round of the 2011 draft. He showed an advanced enough approach that he was assigned (along with fellow 2011 draftee Blake Swihart) to Single-A Greenville at the start of 2012, but he simply has yet to hit. He’s still young enough that there is a chance he could claim some prospect status.
 

mabrowndog

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Early on in 2014, it appeared Weems was destined for his fourth straight year of Mendoza-level production as a professional. As a post-draft rookie he'd struggled with a .182/.308/.227/.535 line and 16 K with just 2 XBH in 52 PA for the GCL Sox, but continued his work at Fort Myers in the Instructional League. Then in his first two full seasons, both for low-A Greenville, he put up nearly identical lines of .201/.308/.238/.546 in 2012 (345 PA) and .204/.301/.244/.545 in 2013 (229 PA). His K rates in both seasons were also equally atrocious (25.2%, 26.2%), while his walk rates went from bad to awful (12.7%, 10.9).
 
He began this year once again at Greenville and was actually much, much worse: A .166/.283/.215/.497 line with 68 K (a whopping 35.2%) in 193 PA over 50 games. I'd love to know what discussions the Red Sox minor league brain trust had as they tried to assess what to do with their disaster-in-the-making, but they ultimately decided on the most counter-intuitive thing imaginable:
 
They promoted him.
 
Weems played his first game for high-A Salem on June 20, going 1-for-3 with a double. Five days later he clubbed his first home run as a pro, a 2-run shot. But for much of his first 2 weeks there, it was more famine than feast as he hit .172/.273/.310/.583 with 10 K and just 4 BB in 33 PA over 9 games.
 
Then, suddenly and almost magically, the light seemed to turn on. On July 8 he had the first of 4 straight multi-hit games. He would hit safely in 8 straight and has now done so in 12 of 15 games. His line over that stretch: .415/.483/.472/.955 over 61 PA. He's still striking out a lot (14, or 23.0%) and not walking much (5, or 8.2%). But even with a ridiculous .564 BABIP this has to be seen as something positive. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking, since he's got a 14.3 LD rate for Salem so far -- the same rate he had with Greenville earlier this year. Overall he's hit .329/.409/.415/.823 in 94 PA at the high-A level.
 
So who knows? If his production spike is stemming from some legitimately solid contact, and he keeps it up for the season's final month, the Sox might have themselves a legit off-season trade chip. If it's all from batted ball luck and his numbers regress, there'll be a loud flushing sound as a half-million bucks goes down the drain.
 

SoxJox

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Dec 22, 2003
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Typical progression of a "kid" who grew too fast, outpaced everyone around him through the formative teen years, and now finds himself among like-progressive players in his early 20's - only on the lower production side.  The classic MLB-dream profile that winds up nowhere for many.
 
Maybe, as more often is NOT the case, he'll grow into it. I wouldn't count on it - especially as a catcher, though the position absorbs less-than-spectacular offfensive projections - as long as pitch-calling and defensive skills counter-balance the offensive blight.  It seems the days of truly offensively and defensively well-balanced catchers is in a hiatus.  Yes, yes.  Spot exceptions.  But days of yore seem past.
 
From Speier's newsletter today:

In the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League, former catcher Jordan Weems (a 2011 third-rounder) allowed just one hit in four shutout innings. In 11 2/3 innings so far in his conversion, he has a 1.54 ERA with five strikeouts and just two walks.