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Jacob May


kwill
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I wanted to see what others thought of Jacob May. He like Tilson has an injury riddled past but is having a solid spring training. I know Spring Training are tainted given the small sample size and pitchers are often working on certain things.

 

He is a 25 year old prospect that has some very good tools. He has never really put up the stats to be given a shot at a major league spot but who are we kidding, what is the downside of giving him the nod at centerfield? If this season has anything going for it is that you afforded to give opportunities to guys who normally would be stuck as career minor leaguers. Peter Bourjos is not exactly a viable long term solution.

 

What is amazing about May is that he has never had any power to his game. He plays solid defense and can steal some bases. He does not have terrible strikeout numbers in the minor leagues sporting a 22.4% K percentage last year. The real knock on his game is that he just has no power with only 3 home runs in 750 at bats the past 2 season.

 

I look at his size 5-10/180 according to Fangraphs which this would make sense given his low power numbers. I decided to take a look at his twitter page and some of the pictures out of camp. May looks pretty solidly built with muscle. It could be his swing path is more for grounders given his speed. I was wondering has anybody seen May up-close to see if he listed wrong.

 

https://twitter.com/Jacob_May1?ref_src=twsr...7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

 

My hope is that in the process the Sox are able find a few regular major leaguers who could be starters in the future. Would love to hear some other Soxtalk thoughts on him.

 

 

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QUOTE (kwill @ Mar 27, 2017 -> 01:26 AM)
I wanted to see what others thought of Jacob May. He like Tilson has an injury riddled past but is having a solid spring training. I know Spring Training are tainted given the small sample size and pitchers are often working on certain things.

 

He is a 25 year old prospect that has some very good tools. He has never really put up the stats to be given a shot at a major league spot but who are we kidding, what is the downside of giving him the nod at centerfield? If this season has anything going for it is that you afforded to give opportunities to guys who normally would be stuck as career minor leaguers. Peter Bourjos is not exactly a viable long term solution.

 

What is amazing about May is that he has never had any power to his game. He plays solid defense and can steal some bases. He does not have terrible strikeout numbers in the minor leagues sporting a 22.4% K percentage last year. The real knock on his game is that he just has no power with only 3 home runs in 750 at bats the past 2 season.

 

I look at his size 5-10/180 according to Fangraphs which this would make sense given his low power numbers. I decided to take a look at his twitter page and some of the pictures out of camp. May looks pretty solidly built with muscle. It could be his swing path is more for grounders given his speed. I was wondering has anybody seen May up-close to see if he listed wrong.

 

https://twitter.com/Jacob_May1?ref_src=twsr...7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

 

 

My hope is that in the process the Sox are able find a few regular major leaguers who could be starters in the future. Would love to hear some other Soxtalk thoughts on him.

 

Not a bad idea. Especially a guy like him with speed was probably told to just make contact. If he can get some lift though, he would be much more valuable.

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The guys who are veteran/out of options get first crack to prove something. If the veterans are useful they are trade bait. You delay service time considerations on the guys in the minors. Once service time is out of the way if the guy in the majors can be flipped fine. If he has not performed, he can be released and then you begin a wave of auditions using best performing minor leaguer. If they stick, fine , if they don't swap out. It will be interesting because the WS also need to look into the future. It can be assumed we will make trades and often where we get more prospects back. The influx of prospects may cause some 40 man roster decisions. Maybe adding some of our older suspect/prospects to deals as sweetners will help manage that or you add some very young guys who are further from the 40 man.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2017 -> 07:23 AM)
Because he really hasn't proven anything, there is no need to rush him to the majors. Let him and Engel force their way on to the major league roster via Charlotte.

One of them should be getting AB's at the major league level, imo. We aren't a contending club, so this is the time to see if someone can make it and May has played well enough in spring to get that chance.

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QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 27, 2017 -> 10:53 AM)
One of them should be getting AB's at the major league level, imo. We aren't a contending club, so this is the time to see if someone can make it and May has played well enough in spring to get that chance.

 

I'd bet money they will get a chance. With Avi and Burjos both in starting roles, plus the inevitable give away of Melky, jobs will open up. That part I am not worried about. I am more worried about spring training being a fluke for guys like May.

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QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Mar 27, 2017 -> 11:00 PM)
Not sure if it really makes a difference for a fringe prospect like May, but why not keep him in the minors for a couple weeks to get the extra year of control just in case he becomes something in the big leagues?

He'd get signed to a cheap extension early if he's any good.

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QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Mar 28, 2017 -> 12:00 AM)
Not sure if it really makes a difference for a fringe prospect like May, but why not keep him in the minors for a couple weeks to get the extra year of control just in case he becomes something in the big leagues?

 

If May somehow defies expectations and produces then the Sox still have him under control for plenty of time. Could always sign him to an early extension? That is getting way way way ahead of ourselves though

 

May is fortunate that we are rebuilding, otherwise he's be stuck in the minors still

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May is the type of guy where you need to figure out what you have in him during a year like this. Let him get some bats and see if you actually have something there because who knows. If he sucks then at least you know and he can 'help' you lose some games, if he's better than expected then hey maybe we have an outfielder going forward.

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May is a bad offensive baseball player. Hopefully he adds some value defensively. Speaks volumes to how bad the system is/was that he is going to be playing. Maybe the idea really is to lose as much as possible this year

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QUOTE (steveno89 @ Mar 28, 2017 -> 08:03 AM)
If May somehow defies expectations and produces then the Sox still have him under control for plenty of time. Could always sign him to an early extension? That is getting way way way ahead of ourselves though

 

May is fortunate that we are rebuilding, otherwise he's be stuck in the minors still

 

Plus, speed is his game and if he does manage to stay up for 6 years, his first year of a potential new deal would be his age 31 season. He likely won't get a big deal.

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QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Mar 28, 2017 -> 08:12 AM)
Plus, speed is his game and if he does manage to stay up for 6 years, his first year of a potential new deal would be his age 31 season. He likely won't get a big deal.

 

May's .662 OPS at AAA last season does not inspire much confidence for him to be anything more than a 4th outfielder/pinch runner

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Saladinos bat was supposed to be terrible too. But if he can somehow scrape out a .720 Ops like Salad with plus plus OF defense then congrats we don't need to buy that on the open market. Something we have spent a lot on with players like bonifacio.

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