DOB: 05/08/1994
Height/Weight: 6’3” 170 lbs.
Bats/Throws: R/R
Future Tools: 70 glove, 60 speed, 60 arm, 55 power Role: 60—First-division center fielder
BP (15) -
Brinson gets the bronze medal in this system, but more than one source (internally and externally) believed he was robbed of the gold by the Russian judge. There’s the potential for five above-average tools, which wasn’t the case in 2014. He now shows a shorter stroke capable of hard contact to all parts of the field, along with a more advanced approach. There’s always been plus raw power, and that pop shows up in games thanks to his strong wrists and his ability to use the lower half to create leverage. If there’s a concern offensively it’s that he still gets pull-happy, and while the strikeout rates have dropped each year, this is still the type of player who is going to swing and miss. A lot.
Brinson’s offense hasn’t caught up to the defense, but that’s a compliment to the glove rather than an insult to the bat. His plus speed helps him get to pretty much everything in center field. He has the type of arm strength you’d love to see in your right fielder, and swoon for when you see that it plays in center.
There were only a handful of players more impressive than Brinson in the Arizona Fall League, and it helped confirm what those who saw him all year had been saying. Even with the strikeouts, this is player who can impact the game in essentially every realistic way you could ask for.
Bret Sayre’s Fantasy Take: The fantasy ceiling is tremendous here. If Brinson can just hit .260, he could be a fantasy superstar, doing things similar to what we expect now from George Springer. There’s certainly OF1 potential with 20/20 seasons in his future, but he has nowhere near the fantasy floor of Mazara—then again, few do.
Often forgotten in Texas' swarm of more famous hitting prospects, Brinson does something neither Joey Gallo nor Nomar Mazara -- nor even former Rangers prospect Nick Williams, now in the Phillies' system -- can do: play premium defense at a position in the middle of the field. That gives Brinson a fairly high floor, because his glove and ability to hit a mistake pitch out of the park will play in the big leagues, even if he settles in as a great backup outfielder. His ceiling is much higher than that, as he has incredible bat speed and wrist strength that should produce 30-homer seasons if he can make enough contact.
Brinson is wiry-strong with quick-twitch actions, and the Rangers have raved about his work ethic from Day 1 -- which is good, since he still has work to do as he continues to improve his contact rate. His 2015 line was helped by playing in High Desert, although he did hit everywhere in the Cal League, even in games played at something like one g. He's an above-average runner who's comfortably a 70 defender in center, with instinctual reads on balls that allow him to cover a tremendous amount of ground. He's more disciplined at the plate now than he was in 2013 and makes better decisions on when to swing and also when to try and stay back on a ball to put his bat speed to better use.
There haven't been many center fielders with this kind of profile. The most obvious comparable is Mike Cameron, another power/speed/strikeout guy with a great glove in center, although Brinson brings more pop and less speed to the table. You can pick your hoped-for upside from a short list; it's players like Carlos Beltran, Steve Finley, young Curtis Granderson, Ray Lankford, even the player we hoped Grady Sizemore was going to be.
MLB.com (16) - Hit: 55 | Power: 60 | Run: 60 | Arm: 55 | Field: 60 | Overall: 60
Brinson's impressive raw tools got him drafted 29th overall in 2012 and earned him a $1.625 million bonus, but he quickly learned that they'd only take him so far. He did record a 20-20 season in his first full year as a pro, but he also finished second in the Minors with 191 strikeouts. As Brinson has made adjustments, he has cut his whiff rate from 38 percent to 25 percent to 21 percent over the past three seasons, while his OPS has soared from .749 to .812 to 1.004 (third in the Minors in 2015).
Brinson has smoothed out his right-handed swing, learned to recognize pitches and improved his approach since signing. He'll never be a contact hitter but should hit for a solid average with plenty of pop. Few players in the Minors can match Brinson's combination of power and speed, and he could be a 30-30 player if he continues to refine his skills and can avoid the leg injuries that slowed him at times the past two years.
Brinson is learning in center field as well, working on his routes and throwing accuracy. He has the speed to run down balls from gap to gap, the arm strength to keep baserunners honest and the ability to play anywhere in the outfield he's needed.
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