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Signed by the Minnesota Twins out of the Dominican Republic for $450,000 as an international amateur free agent back in 2014, outfielder Jean Carlos Arias spent 2017 with the rookie-level GCL Twins of the Gulf Coast League. This summer marked his third in professional baseball — two with the GCL Twins after spending the 2015 season with the DSL Twins — and across his entire career now, Arias has slashed .276/.341/.441/.781 over 456 at-bats across 137 games. In 2017 alone, the left-handed hitting outfielder slashed .298/.359/.476/.835 over 48 games (168 at-bats), with seven doubles, four triples, five home runs, ten stolen bases, 14 walks, and 42 strikeouts.

Still a very raw, undeveloped athlete at just 19 years old (DOB: January 14, 1998), Jean Carlos Arias has some time to grow into his game as he keeps going through the Twins’ player development process, and his athleticism could push him forward quickly if he starts to figure out the nuances of the pro game. Below, you’ll find our full Jean Carlos Arias scouting report, including game notes, game video, tool grades, projection analysis, and more on the Minnesota Twins outfielder.




Jean Carlos Arias, Minnesota Twins — 2017 Scouting Report

Dates observed in 2017: July 26

TOOL (FV)
NOTES & COMMENTS
Hit (45)
High hands, high back elbow. Slightly open stance to start, comes closed at stride. Some leverage and fly ball movements in his swing, but inconsistent barrel path and lacking feel for manipulation. Leverage to pull side, but struggles to keep hands in and keep balls fair. Lacks power behind hacks on pitches away; will bleed out on front foot from time to time and sacrifice leverage, especially to opposite field. Above-average hand-eye coordination and decent contact skills, some ability to adjust late to off-speed. Over-aggressive, but seems to show average pitch recognition.
Power (35)
Little by way of over-the-fence pop; inconsistent barrel path with little feel for manipulating the barrel. Difficult staying inside balls on inner half, despite that being a red zone for him to make good barrel contact. Average bat speed, but can muscle up and get rotational. Above-average foot speed will help with gap-to-gap power. Unlikely to ever be much of a home run hitter.
Glove (50)
Good feel for center field with efficient footwork and plus foot speed (more below). Sees ball well off the bat, good reads on fly balls and particularly on running in on pop flies and bloopers. Vocal communication skills to direct traffic. Enough range to stick at center field long term.
Arm (50)
Average to maybe slightly-above-average arm strength; good carry and velocity on throws. Clean, efficient throwing mechanics. Probably not enough of an arm to play right field everyday, but satisfactory for center and left field.
Speed (60)
Had him 4.11 - 4.14 out of the LHH box. Some jailbreak; better when he gets to top speed. Best asset is ability to really stride out to top speed in outfield chasing down fly balls. Decent feel for running the bases; aggressive and a good athlete. Still learning left on how to manipulate pitchers and read pick-off moves. May never be plus base-swiping threat, but could put up above-average steal numbers with development.
Intangibles
Still a very raw athlete. Needs time to develop. Still feeling out some of the nuances of the game even after his third year in pro ball at 19 years old; tools are raw and athletic now and still developing into actual baseball skills. To that end, struggles to consistently execute his full offensive approach. Far from a finished product, but enough in raw tools and athleticism to keep following through the low minors.

Jean Carlos Arias Scouting Report, Minnesota — 2017 Game Video




Jean Carlos Arias Scouting Report — Notes & Analysis

Jean Carlos Arias is a better athlete than he is a baseball player right now, with physical tools and gifts that haven’t yet come through as high-level baseball moves. To that end, the Minnesota Twins have ample development left to be done here before Arias can be seen as a viable prospect, but he certainly has the tools to be a fringe candidate for those end-of-year prospect lists over the next few seasons depending on his growth, and how that translates to on-field performance.

Related: Our scouting report on interesting Twins 2B Emmanuel Morel

He’ll need to improve quite a bit at the plate, specifically; his speed and athleticism translate fairly well in the field and on the bases, but Arias is still raw at the plate and too often takes bad swings on bad pitches, drawing weak and ineffective contact despite possessing the strength and athleticism that should produce modest leverage. This is all a process, of course, and I’d love to see Jean Carlos Arias hit again in a year or two to monitor improvements. He’s got an outside chance to be special for the Minnesota Twins if he can put the ample athleticism together with a more refined idea of how to play the professional game, but will likely plateau before then and settle into a defense-first bench/platoon role.




Jean Carlos Arias Scouting Report — Future Projection

Still just 19 years old — Jean Carlos Arias will be 20 before the 2018 season — the outfielder is likely ticketed for Elizabethton come June, but there’s an outside shot he gets a chance to perform in the Low-A Midwest League after putting together a pretty solid all-around year in the GCL this summer. To stick in full-season ball, he’ll need to hammer out approach inconsistencies at the plate, figure out how to leave his hands inside pitches on the inner half to keep line drives fair rather than foul, and better learn to hit the ball with authority to the opposite field without flying out on his font foot and losing leverage in his lower half. There’s more than enough speed and athleticism in Arias’ profile to give him some wiggle room at the plate, so long as he can find some consistency in approach.

Long-term, it’s tough to project out his full path considering his age and the significant amount of development left to be done, but I think it’s likely the Minnesota Twins may eventually have themselves a platoon/bench option in the outfield here. Better-than-expected development at the plate could eventually push Jean Carlos Arias into a second-division/fringe everyday role. There’s a lot of time between now and then for further notes and observations to help fill out this profile.

Overall Future Potential (Future Value): Still ample development to be done here; realistic shot at platoon/bench role with chance to be a second-division starter depending on growth (45/47.5)

MLB ETA: 2021




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Bobby DeMuro

Bobby DeMuro is the founder of Baseball Census. A former college and independent league baseball player, he now watches more than 200 games a year working full time for the site. You can follow him on Twitter @BobbyDeMuro for more.

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  1. Minnesota Twins RHP Ryan Eades Scouting Report, 2017

    December 4, 2017 at 10:40 pm

    […] Minnesota Twins OF Jean Carlos Arias — CLICK HERE […]

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