As part of Perfect Game's recurring PG in the Pros series David Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to past installments of the PG in the Pros series for other reports on prospects, both past and present.


Previous 2017-18 PG in the Pros features: NL West | NL Central | NL East | AL East | AL Central


Houston Astros

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Carlos Correa, Mark Appel, Mike Foltynewicz, Lance McCullers
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Brett Phillips, Colin Moran
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Alex Bregman
PG in the Pros, 2016-17 – Derek Fisher

Kyle Tucker, OF

Tucker was a very well known player from the beginning of his high school career, in part because of his future big league older brother, Preston, but also because Tucker himself was talented enough to start for the powerful Plant High School program in Tampa as a freshman. He hit .379-2-12 in 20 games that year and went on to post .435-28-94 numbers with 69 walks and only 18 strikeouts over his four-year high school career.

Tucker was a completely different athlete than his brother, with a long and lean 6-foot-4, 175-pound body that stood out from the beginning, and a set of very projectable athletic tools. One thing they shared, of course, was the ability to create lefthanded bat speed and make very consistent hard contact.

Tucker played at numerous WWBA events throughout his high school career with the All American Prospects along with playing in the 2014 PG National Showcase and being selected for the PG All-American Classic. He was very active on the summer circuit, also appearing at the Tournament of Stars, the 17u WWBA National Championship and the Area Code Games before his senior year, giving national scouts a thorough chance to evaluate him.



Although it was certainly effective, Tucker's swing was by no means the prettiest, with both uncommon length and pronounced lift, although the raw bat speed and the uncanny ability to square up the ball were both evident. In baseball parlance, Tucker hit from under the ball. He was a severe fly ball hitter who hit some of the highest and most majestic 6.5 to 7.0 second fly balls seen on the summer circuit in a long time. Along with his very discerning eye at the plate, Tucker's approach was already ideally suited for today's professional game.

With solid run and throw tools, plenty of projection left in his body and a potential impact bat, Tucker was one of the fastest rising prospects going into the 2015 draft. He was the second high school player selected overall after fellow Floridian Brendan Rodgers, going fifth overall to the Astros and signing for a $4 million bonus after initially being committed to Florida.


Los Angeles Angels

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Kaleb Cowart, Randal Grichuk
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Nick Tropeano, Cam Bedrosian
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Joe Gatto
PG in the Pros, 2016-17 – Matt Thaiss

Jahmai Jones, OF

Jones grew up in an accomplished football family in Roswell, Ga., and it looked for a while like Jones would follow in the footsteps of his late father Andre, who played wide receiver on Notre Dame's 1988 national championship team and later in the NFL, and his brother T.J., who also played wide receiver in the NFL. Despite a strong 5-foot-11, 210-pound build that looked more like a running back, Jones caught 70 passes for 1,071 yards and 12 touchdowns as a sophomore at Wesleyan High School. He then surprisingly quit football to concentrate solely on baseball.

Jones was a regular on the WWBA circuit starting in his freshman year, playing first with the Georgia Roadrunners and later with Team Elite and was named to 11 All-Tournament teams along with playing for three tournament champions. He was a middle infielder until his junior year before his straight-line speed and his compact and strong build made it evident that he would fit better in center field as his career developed.



Aside from his speed and general athleticism, Jones’ biggest strength on the field was his righthanded bat speed, which he generated easily from a pretty simple and direct approach with a fluid weight transfer into contact. He didn't have big lift in his swing but simply overpowered the ball at times. His report from the 2014 PG National Showcase, where he was named to the PG All-American Classic, read as follows.

Very strong, thick build, retains his looseness and quick twitch athleticism. Played with a sore hamstring and didn't run the 60-yard dash; 6.5-6.6 runner when healthy. Righthanded hitter, very quick, strong hands with a direct path to the ball, excellent raw bat speed, ball explodes off the barrel, overpowers the ball, line drive plane but has the strength to power the ball over the fence, mid-field to pull approach, big hitting tools that perform in games. Former infielder who is just adjusting to the outfield, has the speed, athleticism and arm strength to be a standout on defense as well. Verbal commitment to North Carolina. Selected for the Perfect Game All-American Classic.

Jones had a strong senior year at Wesleyan, hitting .464 with four home runs and 24 stolen bases in 20 games and his stock was solid heading into the draft, although there was some concern about his signability with North Carolina in the picture. Helping Jones in his evaluation with the scouting community were two important factors. First, he was still 17 years old at draft time and a year younger than many of his high school peers. In addition, Jones received rave reviews for his maturity and makeup off the field and scouts felt confident about his future.

Perfect Game had Jones ranked 26th in the 2015 high school class heading into the draft in what was an unusually strong crop of high school outfielders. Jones lasted until the 70th overall pick and was the 10th high school outfielder taken, with the Angels signing him for a $1.1 million bonus, $220,000 over slot for that pick.


Oakland Athletics

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Addison Russell, Michael Choice, Bobby Wahl, Daniel Robertson
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Matt Olson, Chad Pinder
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Casey Meisner
PG in the Pros, 2016-17 – Jharel Cotton

A.J. Puk, LHP

Since Perfect Game was founded in the eastern Iowa city of Cedar Rapids in 1995, there have been numerous hometown top prospects to literally come through the PG building, with nine-year big league outfielder Ryan Sweeney being the most prominent. Cedar Rapids Washington High School product A.J. Puk has a chance to surpass Sweeney, however.

Puk comes from an athletically gifted family and grew quickly, already measuring in at 6-foot-4, 190-pounds as a freshman. He was a promising young quarterback early in his high school years before concentrating just on baseball as he kept growing and getting better at baseball.

Puk's velocity shot up from 78 mph to 86 mph over the course of a couple of months of his freshman year, making everyone in the Cedar Rapids area take notice. He was equally talented at hitting a baseball, with a smooth and graceful lefthanded swing that mirrored his easy arm action on the mound. Puk's dual talents improved step-in-step through his high school days and he always enjoyed the offensive side of the game, although it was obvious to all the Perfect Game staff that his future was on the mound, especially as he continued to grow and his stuff and ability to use it improved.



Puk was chosen as a PG All-American before his senior year and was the 23rd ranked high school prospect in the country going into the 2013 draft, but a very strong academic background and a desire to keep playing on both sides of the ball tilted the hand to attending Florida. The Tigers tipped their cap to Puk with a 35th round selection.

The hitting aspect of Puk's game quickly disappeared, as he only received 23 at-bats in three college seasons, all as a sophomore. His sophomore year was his best on the mound as well, as he went 9-4, 3.81 with 104 strikeouts in 78 innings and there was plenty of speculation going into 2016 that Puk had a chance to go first overall in the draft if he had a strong spring. That didn't happen, though, as Puk went 2-3, 3.05 in 73 innings, showing potential top of the rotation stuff at times but also showing inconsistency and wavering command.

The A's were the beneficiaries of Puk's small slide, picking him sixth overall and eventually signing the now 6-foot-7, 230-pound lefthander for a $4,069,200 bonus.


Seattle Mariners

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Taijuan Walker, Edwin Diaz, Tyler Marlette
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – D.J. Peterson, Austin Wilson
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Drew Jackson
PG in the Pros, 2016-17 – Tyler O'Neill

Kyle Lewis, OF

Lewis ranks as one of the most unlikely college first round picks ever judging on how far he came from his high school days at Shiloh High School in Georgia.

Lewis played in seven WWBA tournaments for the Georgia Stars and BigStix Gamers, including an appearance at the 2012 WWBA World Championship with the Gamers. He also participated in the 2011 Southeast Underclass Showcase, where he received a PG grade of 8. Lewis had an impressive 6-foot-4, 190-pound build back then and some raw righthanded bat speed but hadn't developed as an athlete yet and was actually playing first base. He ran a 7.28 60-yard dash and had well below average raw arm strength.

Lewis developed enough over the course of the next year to be offered a scholarship to Mercer and was also an above average student. But he wasn't ranked in the Top 500 in the PG class rankings and it's unlikely he was scouted before the 2013 draft.

As a freshman at Mercer, Lewis picked up 89 at-bats and hit a respectable .281-2-17. He went to the Great Lakes Summer League following the season and really accelerated his development, hitting .342-6-36 in 39 games and carried that over to his next two seasons at Mercer, where he hit .367-17-56 as a sophomore and .395-20-72 as a junior while seeing his walk total increase from 19 to 66.



Despite his dominating spring performances at Mercer, the most important time from a scouting perspective in Lewis' college career was the 2015 Cape Cod League season. Mercer hit .300-7-24 while showing outstanding raw bat speed and power. His ability to carry his hitting ability to wood bat college leagues two straight summers was notable as scouts wouldn't often see him hit against high level pitching during the spring.

Impressively, Lewis' peripheral tools also improved significantly over his college days to where he was evaluated as a solid average runner and thrower capable of playing right field professionally after playing center field at Mercer. That would have been hard to project five years prior when he was in high school.

There were still concerns about Lewis' swing going into the 2016 draft due to the number of moving parts and variables but the bat speed and overall tool package spoke the loudest. The Mariners selected Lewis with the 11th overall pick and signed him for a $3,286,700 bonus.


Texas Rangers

Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Roughned Odor, Luis Sardinas, Nick Williams, Joey Gallo
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Alex Gonzalez, Lewis Brinson, Travis Demeritte
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Luis Ortiz
PG in the Pros, 2016-17 – Josh Morgan

Willie Calhoun, OF

Calhoun rarely traveled outside his home state of California in high school but the times that Perfect Game scouts were able to see him he left a very positive impression, although not for the reasons that he's a top prospect with the Rangers today.

He played for NorCal at the 2012 17u Perfect Game World Series as a 5-foot-9, 175-pound lefthanded hitting second baseman. His two best tools were his quickness, which gave him lots of infield range at second base, and his line drive swing that had plenty of raw bat speed. When this scout saw him later that summer at the Area Code Games, I filed these notes:

Quick-twitch athlete, has bat speed, hits the ball hard, surprising pop, long actions at second base and lack of arm strength limits him, could be offensive second base type, scouts seem to really like him.

Calhoun later played at the 2013 18u WWBA National Championship and left a very similar impression, with lots of notes about his easy, fluid actions on defense and his strong line drive bat.

Calhoun was committed to Arizona and passed on a 17th round selection by Tampa Bay out of high school. He played frequently as a freshman, getting 146 at-bats, but only hit .247-0-19 and transferred to Yavapai Junior College for his sophomore year.

At Yavapai, Calhoun gained 15 pounds of muscle and completely revamped his swing before putting together an incredible sophomore season. After hitting no home runs at Arizona and rarely showing any raw power in high school, Calhoun hit .432-31-85 with 38 walks and only 13 strikeouts in 63 games for Yavapai. He also lost much of his quickness on defense with his extra weight but the tradeoff certainly seemed worthwhile. The Dodgers picked Calhoun in the fourth round in 2015 (he was traded to Texas as part of the Yu Darvish deal) and signed him for a $347,500 bonus and Calhoun added 11 more home runs across three minor league levels the rest of the summer to prove his power surge was no fluke.