Weekly Prospects Check In: Jeff Hendrix

Okay so I know what many of you are thinking on this beautiful Monday morning. "Who? Who the hell is Jeff Hendrix?" Hear me out and check it out because he is one of the prospects I had in mind when I came up with the idea to check in with prospects every single day.Hendrix is a prospect that not many knew when he was drafted and is a prospect that probably many don't know now, but they should.

Hendrix is an outfielder currently with the Tampa Yankees and at the time of this writing the center fielder was boasting a .654 batting average in his last 31 games. That's not a couple days or even a week's worth of sample size. That is a full month worth of games. Wow.

Year	Age	Lev	G	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	22	A-A+	68	306	40	86	17	1	30	12	36	68	.330	.416	.421	.838
2016	22	A	62	278	36	70	16	1	25	11	35	62	.299	.397	.389	.786
2016	22	A+	6	28	4	16	1	0	5	1	1	6	.593	.607	.704	1.311

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Riverdogs Press Release: Jeff Hendrix SAL Player of the Week

RiverDogs Center Fielder Hendrix Named SAL Player of the Week

Speedy Outfielder Has Torn Up the Competition after stint on the DL

CHARLESTON, SC – The South Atlantic League has announced that RiverDogs outfielder Jeff Hendrix has been named the SAL Player of the Week for the week of May 30-June 5. The Corvallis, OR native batted .625/.667/.750 in six games over the past week, going 15-for-24 while adding three doubles and five RBIs to garner the league’s weekly accolades.

Hendrix’s huge week at the plate was highlighted by a career 5-for-5 night while driving in three key runs to help the RiverDogs snap out of a four game losing streak in a 7-5 comeback win over Greenville on June 1.

After coming off the disabled list on May 28 after a seven day stint off the active roster, Hendrix has been a different hitter at the plate, going 16-for-27 (.593) to bump his batting average up 65 points to a.272, the highest it’s been since the third day of the season. The 22-year old left handed bat has posted a .370 on-base percentage while slugging .352 on the season with one home run and 16 RBI as the RiverDogs’ main leadoff hitter.

Along with his production at the plate, Hendrix has been phenomenal in center field, appearing in 42 games in the field without committing an error.

The Oregon State product was originally selected by the New York Yankees in the 4th round of the 2015 draft after three years with his hometown Beavers where he garnered Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors in each of his last two seasons in Corvallis.

Hendrix spent his rookie campaign with Short Season Staten Island where he hit .229/.332/.586 with 14 RBIs in 65 games with the Baby Bombers while ranking fifth in the New York-Penn League in runs scored (42).

It is the first league weekly honors for Hendrix in his career, and the second Player/Pitcher of the Week award issued to a Charleston player this season after LHP Nestor Cortes was named the SAL Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 16-22.

The first-place RiverDogs (32-22) will start a brief three-game road stint against the Rome Braves (22-33) starting on Monday night at 7:05pm, before returning to Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park for a seven-game homestand against the Asheville Tourists and Augusta GreenJackets, the two teams locked in second place, 4.5 games behind first-place Charleston in the Southern Division.

Ticket information for the RiverDogs’ homestand can be secured by contacting the box office at (843) 577-DOGS (3647) or online atwww.riverdogs.com. Those that can’t make it to the park can follow every pitch of the RiverDogs season on WTMA 1250 AM and streaming online at riverdogs.com.

Most Popular Prospect Article of the Week: Baseball America: 2015 Draft Report Card: Yankees

The great minds at Baseball American have released their final 2015 MLB Draft Report Cards now that the 2015 season is all but over. Many of the players drafted in the June draft are now in winter leagues and such but Baseball America released their report cards anyway. The pitchers are hidden behind the paywall but the positional players are free and seen below. If you have a subscription click HERE and check out the pitchers as well, I hear BA was quite nice to James Kaprielian. Enjoy.


POSITION PLAYERS


BEST PURE HITTER: The Yankees had strong belief in the hands and contact ability of 3B Donny Sands(8), and he rewarded them with a .309/.405/.364 debut in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

BEST POWER HITTER: OF Jhalan Jackson (7) set a Florida Southern record with 20 homers in the spring and hit five more in his debut, as did OF Trey Amburgey (13). Both have big power that is not limited to pull side. OF Isaiah Gilliam (20) is the increasingly-rare switch-hitter with power from both sides. 

FASTEST RUNNER: OF Jeff Hendrix (4) consistently turns in 4.0-4.1 second times to first base from the left side, and his speed plays defensively in center field as well. 

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER: SS Kyle Holder (1) was the best defensive player in the draft class. He has body control, short-area quickness, a plus arm and easy actions, making him a potentially 70 defender.

Baseball America: 2015 Draft Report Card: Yankees

The great minds at Baseball American have released their final 2015 MLB Draft Report Cards now that the 2015 season is all but over. Many of the players drafted in the June draft are now in winter leagues and such but Baseball America released their report cards anyway. The pitchers are hidden behind the paywall but the positional players are free and seen below. If you have a subscription click HERE and check out the pitchers as well, I hear BA was quite nice to James Kaprielian. Enjoy.


POSITION PLAYERS


BEST PURE HITTER: The Yankees had strong belief in the hands and contact ability of 3B Donny Sands(8), and he rewarded them with a .309/.405/.364 debut in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

BEST POWER HITTER: OF Jhalan Jackson (7) set a Florida Southern record with 20 homers in the spring and hit five more in his debut, as did OF Trey Amburgey (13). Both have big power that is not limited to pull side. OF Isaiah Gilliam (20) is the increasingly-rare switch-hitter with power from both sides. 

FASTEST RUNNER: OF Jeff Hendrix (4) consistently turns in 4.0-4.1 second times to first base from the left side, and his speed plays defensively in center field as well. 

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER: SS Kyle Holder (1) was the best defensive player in the draft class. He has body control, short-area quickness, a plus arm and easy actions, making him a potentially 70 defender.

Yankees Final 2015 Draft Pool Tracker

The New York Yankees had quite the haul in the 2015 MLB First Year Players Draft which included signing -- of their 41 draft picks. New York signed each of their first 19 draft picks and 33 of their first 36 draft picks as the team continues to rebuild the farm system from the inside out. Here is one last final look at the draft pool now that everything is finalized. Enjoy the future.

*bold denotes a player that did not sign

1. RHP James Kaprielian - 16th overall
1. SS Kyle Holder - 30th
2. LHP Jeff Degano - 57th
3. RHP Drew Finley - 92nd
4. CF Jeff Hendrix - 123rd
5. RHP Chance Adams - 153rd
6. 2B Brandon Wagner - 183rd
7. RF Jhalan Jackson - 213th
8. 3B Donny Sands - 243rd
9. 1B Ryan Krill - 273rd
10. LHP James Reeves - 303rd
11. LHP Josh Rogers - 333rd
12. CF Terrance Robertson - 363rd
13. CF Trey Amburgey - 393rd
14. RHP Will Carter - 423rd
15. RHP Bret Marks - 453rd
16. RHP Kolton Mahoney - 483rd
17. RHP Brody Koerner - 513th
18. LF Zack Zehner - 543rd
19. RHP Mark Seyler - 573rd
20. 1B Isiah Gilliam - 603rd
21. RHP Josh Roeder - 633rd
22. RHP Cody Carroll - 663rd
23. RHP Garrett Mundell - 693rd
24. RHP Patrick O'Brien - 723rd
25. C Austin Afenir - 753rd
26. RHP Icezack Flemming - 783rd
27. 1B Michael Hicks - 813th
28. RHP David Sosebee 843rd
29. 1B Kane Sweeney - 873rd
30. RHP Chad Martin - 903rd
31. RHP Hobie Harris - 933rd
32. RHP Alex Robinett - 963rd
33. RHP Christian Morris - 993rd
34. LHP Andrew Miller - 1023rd
35. RHP Alex Bisacca - 1053rd
36. RHP Dustin Cook - 1083rd
37. 3B Matthew Schmidt - 1113th 
38. 2B Mike Garzillo - 1143rd
39. SS Deacon Liput - 1173rd
40. C Will Albertson - 1203rd

Yankees 2015 MLB Draft Results - Day Two

by: Ben Embry

The Yankees selected two more players from my top 200 rankings on day 2 of the MLB Draft; day 2 features rounds 3-10.  New York selected HS RHP Drew Finley in the 3rd round with the 92nd overall pick.  Finley is a 6'3 200 lb pitcher committed to play at USC.  He has a three pitch mix with the curveball being a future plus pitch.  His fastball sits in the high 80s to low 90s but he's projected to add velocity as he fills out.  Drew is the son of former big leaguer and current Dodgers executive David Finley.  Drew ranked 55th on my board.  Keith Law was the high man on Drew with a ranking of 24.  He ranked 56th on MLB.com's list and 60th on Baseball America's list.  Any way you slice it, he was a good value at pick #92.

The Yankees selected Oregon State CF Jeff Hendrix in the 4th round with the 123rd overall pick.  Hendrix stands 6' tall and weighs 198 lbs.  There's some question about his defensive home, with the options either being CF or LF.  I assume the Yankees think he'll play in CF based on his draft position.  His swing needs some refinement.  Baseball America ranked him the 156th best prospect in the class and projects him as a 4th OF.  He came in at 194 on my board.

Rounds 11-40 will begin at noon tomorrow and can be tracked on MLB.com.  I would expect New York to add one or two more players from my top 200 list and hopefully they've saved enough from earlier rounds to sign one of them.  I'm hoping they add some good young prep arms, regardless of whether they're on my top 200 or not.  This is something they did not do last year somehow.  You never know when some of them can turn into gems, (Bryan Mitchell and Brady Lail being two examples), but if nothing else those rookie level squads are going to need some arms.