The Los Angeles Dodgers made a Bradley junior second
baseman’s life goal come true in the MLB First Year Players Draft recently when
they took Chris Godinez with their 18th round pick, 552nd
overall. Godinez was expected to come out of the draft somewhere between the 10th
and 20th round showing he has obvious talent and/or upside but the
Dodgers apparently didn’t see enough to justify keeping him on the roster and
released him on March 10th. The New York Yankees saw something in
Godinez that the Dodgers did not and signed him to a minor league deal this
month allowing Godinez’s dream to reach the Major Leagues continue with his
second organization in his young professional career. Let’s meet him. This is
Meet a Prospect: The Chris Godinez Edition.
Chris Godinez stands 5’9” and weighs in at 182 pounds which
is a nice stature and build for a middle infielder. Godinez was not your
typical middle infielder though as he brought a big bat as an amateur player
appearing in 48 games and batting .302 with five home runs and 19 RBI in his
final season before the 2015 Draft. Godinez did most of his damage as a leadoff
hitter drawing many praises by his coaches for his speed and athleticism.
Godinez came into his final season before the draft with question marks
surrounding him and that speed after sitting out nearly his entire sophomore
season with a pair of torn hamstrings, one on each leg, but his legs looked
healthy enough in his junior season to justify the Dodgers taking a chance on
him.
Godinez has a rocket for an arm and was actually used as a
closer during his senior year at Lake Forest High School. Godinez was moved to
the middle infield while at Bradley College and took over for Rob Elliot and took
over at the position due to injury just before conference play began in 2012.
Godinez responded with all eyes on him by hitting .462 with four stolen bases
and four runs scored in the opening series at Southern Illinois. Godinez
remained the team’s starting second baseman throughout his freshman year and
earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America honors. Godinez impressed
throughout his collegiate career with a high contact average and batting
average along with a great batters eye, 44 walks and 14 HBP’s in his junior
season are evident of that, and even reached base in 30 consecutive games at
one point.
Godinez told reporters after being drafted and signing with
the Dodgers that both the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees also showed
interest in him during the draft but obviously Los Angeles beat them both to
the bunch. Like the Yankees have a tendency to do though they ended up getting
their man in the end anyway so let’s all take this opportunity to not only
welcome Chris into the organization and onto the team but also let’s welcome
him to the family. Good luck Chris, we’re rooting for you.
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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)