Ventura College: Elijah Alexander Scouting Report, April 2017

Ventura, California —— At the top of this post, watch one of our scouting videos of Ventura College freshman outfielder Elijah Alexander, taken from several of his games this spring for the Pirates against various conference and non-conference opponents across southern California junior college baseball programs.

To read Baseball Census’ feature interview with the Ventura College outfielder Elijah Alexander that was also published today, please click here.

Elijah Alexander scouting report notes

There’s no question that whenever Elijah Alexander steps on a baseball field at the junior college level, he’s immediately the most athletic guy there. A two-sport star at Ventura College (baseball, football), Alexander is 5’9″ packed full of muscle, with the raw athleticism to drool over when it comes time to project out the next two or three years of his athletic career. Speed is his best and most obvious trait, working in his favor to steal bases and leg out hits, while also covering a ton of ground in the outfield. That alone ought to make him an interesting project to develop as a lead-off hitter over the next few years, but Alexander can take it a step further, too, with good raw power and a quick, compact stroke that could see a home run bump once he gets to a slightly less pitcher-friendly ballpark. His arm is fine in the outfield, and he’s got the chops to be a true, everyday center fielder: he gets good reads and great jumps on balls, generally takes smart routes in the outfield, and can lay out with the best of ’em to make a catch. He’ll take charge in center, too, and can afford the luxury of playing relatively deep thanks to his quickness and reaction time in running in on pop flies.

The best thing about Elijah Alexander’s game, though, is the nuance in his approach at the plate. You’d expect a super-athlete fresh off the football field to try to hack his way through every at-bat hoping to hit every ball of the scoreboard in right-center field. Alexander’s game isn’t that primitive, and he already comes to the plate every time with a plan in place. He’s content to take pitches, comfortable hitting with two strikes, and open to getting on base via the walk—all traits critical for a guy you want on first base as much as possible to exploit his speed. Yes, he’s got the power to stroke line drives into the right-center field gap with ease, but he’s a middle-opposite field type hitter who can protect with two strikes and, as I’ve seen first hand, can even go so far as to beat out a routine ground ball to shortstop for an infield base hit. A minor hamstring injury hung up a few of my Alexander viewings over the past month, but when he finally got fully healthy again and let loose this week, his acceleration was really something to watch.

There’s no question the outfielder has the ability to play Division I baseball. The only question he must answer for himself, now, is whether he wants to play football at that level, too. Regardless, Elijah Alexander has the look of a Division I center fielder, and beyond that, he’s building the base for a legitimate shot at professional baseball with another year or two of good work at the college level.

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For our feature interview with Ventura College outfielder Elijah Alexander, please click here.

To visit Elijah Alexander’s player page, please click here.

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Elijah Alexander scouting report: 140 characters or less

His raw athleticism stands out, but Elijah Alexander has a bona fide feel for baseball with the tools to play beyond the college level.

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Elijah Alexander scouting report video

Below are three of our Elijah Alexander video clips from his 2017 season playing for Ventura College:

Elijah Alexander scouting report GIFs

Just as with our Elijah Alexander video clips from his 2017 spring season at Ventura College, here are a few GIFs of swings he took in 2017 with the Pirates:

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In this Ventura College / Elijah Alexander baseball scouting report:

Ventura College | Cuesta College | Moorpark College | Pasadena City College | Western State Conference | Elijah Alexander

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