Oakland Athletics Prospect Daulton Jefferies To Undergo Surgery
After a shoulder issue dropped Daulton Jefferies from an early first-round draft talent to the Oakland Athletics pick in the competitive balance round, he’s having more surgery.
Oakland Athletics pitcher Daulton Jefferies was selected last summer from Cal in the competitive balance portion of the MLB draft, the 37th overall selection.
Many would be overjoyed to have been selected at all, let alone to have been selected before the second round, but Jefferies was a guy who was projected to be a top-10 selection before injury during his college season with Cal dropped him down the draft board.
News came out this week from the Oakland Athletics that Jefferies will now have to undergo Tommy John surgery.
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Of course, it seems like this is more a thing that is notable when a prospect DOESN’T have Tommy John anymore, but in Jefferies case, this seems to be a disappointing thing just due to the immense talent that he possesses.
Daulton Jefferies’ scouting report reads like a dominant starter – a 92-95 MPH fastball with excellent movement and location, a plus change, a plus-plus slider, good deception in his delivery and repeatability to his mechanics.
However, the big knock on Jefferies all along has been his size, at a listed 6′ and 180 pounds, and that smaller frame generating those pitches has apparently taken their toll on him.
When healthy as a pro, Jefferies has been tremendous thus far, throwing just 18 1/3 innings, but posting a 3/23 BB/K ratio in those innings.
Hopefully, Jefferies can return to the mound quickly, but it does lend to the idea is that sometimes the best talent can end up being knocked out before ever getting a chance to see the major leagues.
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A bit of video on Jefferies to get an idea on the pitcher he could be: