ORGANIZATION REPORTS National League
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Pick a batted-ball metric—average exit velocity, max exit velocity, hard-hit percentage—and there’s a good chance third baseman Deyvison de los Santos will be at or near the top of the leaderboard in the D-backs’ system.
“He hits the ball as hard as anybody in our organization—and that’s big leagues down,” D-backs farm director Josh Barfield said.
The results reflect that. In 25 games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, de los Santos hit .329/.421/.610 with 11 extra-base hits, including five home runs, in 95 plate appearances.
The D-backs promoted the 18-year-old to Low-A Visalia in early August.
Though he struck out 25% of the time in the ACL, de los Santos had also shown a willingness to take his walks. He drew 13 before his promotion.
His hitting coach Mark Reed said he saw improvement from his pupil when it came to recognizing and hitting breaking balls.
Reed expects there likely always will be some swing-and-miss to de los Santos’ game, but he also has seen the sort of off-the-charts power potential that would be worth the tradeoff. Reed said he has watched the righthanded-hitting de los Santos hit balls over light towers on the backfields at Salt River Fields.
“I’ve been around a big league team for a long time and seen some guys with huge raw power,” said Reed, former big league bullpen catcher. “At his age, it’s the most I’ve ever seen.
“I’m telling you, the guy will mishit some stuff and they’ll be homers to right-center field. That’s how strong he is.”
De los Santos, who signed for $200,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2019, has a high leg kick and a lot of movement before his swing. He is still learning to sync up consistently to stay on time. He is said to be a hard worker with a good daily routine and a student of the game.
As a bat-first prospect, there is a lot of pressure on de los Santos’ bat. But his ability allows the D-backs to dream on him becoming a middle-of-the-order hitter.
“It’s a long way away from (the majors), but, yeah, he does have some tools that you don’t see from many people, especially the raw power,” Barfield said.
—NICK PIECORO
ATLANTA BRAVES
It started out as a trying season for 22-year-old outfielder Drew Waters, but a scorching hot July with Triple-A Gwinnett turned his campaign around.
Waters hit .301/.351/.573 with five home runs and 11 doubles across 24 July games. Those numbers followed a June in which he hit .188 with two doubles and no homers.
The 2017 second-rounder from Etowah High in Woodstock, Ga., reminded the baseball world why he ranks among the Braves’ best position prospects.
“I think I would assess (my season) a little differently than most,” Waters told Baseball America before the Futures Game in Denver in July. “I would say this: Coming off the
