In case you don’t follow minor league baseball. There is a guy down in Iowa (triple A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs), who is hitting the ball like crazy. The thing is, it’s nothing new for Jake Fox, he was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft outof the University of Michigan. All he has done since he has been in the minors is hit the long ball, to the tune of 117 dingers as of yesterday, including 12 so far this season. So far this year in just 74 at bats, he is hitting 0.446/12/31, those numbers are just ridiculous.
So here is the question I was asking myself, he is in triple A, a skip away from the majors and he is obviously killing the ball in the minors. Why isn’t he in the majors? So I did some snooping and aparently he is a very bad fielder. The only position they trust him at is first base. Although he has played in the outfield. Why in the world has no American League team inquired about him as a DH? I mean what team wouldn’t want a 0.275/25/80 DH hitter in the middleof their lineup?
I understand why he hasn’t been called up to the majors as there is no room for him in Chicago, but this guy deserves a shot in the majors. He had a small taste in 2007 and did horrible, but it’s now almost 2 years since then and he is entering his prime at 26 years old. He is ready for the pros and what ever team lands him (since he probably won’t stay with the Cubbies),is going to be awfully happy he is their DH. Like I said he is capable of 0.280/25/80 easy, there isn’t one team in the AL that couldn’t use him. What is the most you have to give up? A single prospect? Probably not even a top 10 in the organization prospect.
So that brings us to his current value as a baseball card. After a search of eBay I came away with 2 of his autographs. Both will run you around $10 – $15, but for a guy that is absolutely exploding in the minors, I would consider this the buy low. I could see it just skyrocketing to $100 or so if he gets promoted and continues to hit like he is in the minors. Below are the two cards I found that have his autograph. I am curious if anyone else has seen himplay and what your opinion of him is.
April 29, 2009 at 3:32 pm
I am reminded of the immortal words of William Munny, killer of women and children, who said:
“deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it”
April 29, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I do remember seeing him play in Double-A against the Mudcats a couple of years ago, but I can’t give you any meaningful insight from that. But when I look at his stats, I don’t see anything overly impressive besides what he did last year in Double-A in his third season at that level. Also, here are his Pecota projections from Baseball Prospectus:
.233-.288-.412 with 17 HRs and 61 RBI.
His comparables include Tim McIntosh and Mitch Lyden, and two guys that I’ve never heard of. I don’t think he’s a prospect – especially if he’s a poor fielder.
April 29, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I saw Jake locally at Double A Tennessee, at Catcher, First Base, Third Base and Outfield. He wasn’t an awful fielder by any means, not spectacular but I never saw him flat out suck. He was also EXTREAMLY fan friendly. We used to sit on the outfield berm grass and talk to him between innings and during pitcher changes. He always had a smile and kind word for the fans.
August 6, 2009 at 4:21 am
I played baseball in college for a small school in southern California. My coach happened to coach Jake at Michigan. So, every year before spring training, he would come and practice with us for a week or two. The guy can flat out hit. Not only does he have the physical talent, he is an extremely hard worker. Even when he practiced with us no namers, he would work at least as hard as anyone out there and always try to get better. He is only going to improve, and with that work ethic, he is going to be able to play defense somewhere. On top of that, he’s a great guy. He would hang with us and play video games with us and just be very socialable. He is going to be a very good baseball player and a great teammate.