2. Isan Diaz, SS
Birthdate: 5/27/96 (20 years old)
Level(s) Played in 2016: low A
Stats in 2016: .264/.358/.469, 20 HR, 11 SB
Last offseason, the Brewers traded away their starting shortstop in Jean Segura, in part to make way for Orlando Arcia, who did eventually get the call in the second half of 2017, but also because of the opportunity to acquire a premium talent like Diaz.
Diaz is a guy that I was pushing up last offseason before his trade to Milwaukee as a guy who could explode onto the prospect radar in 2016 after very solid seasons in the Arizona Rookie League and then the Pioneer League in 2014-2015.
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The Brewers sent Diaz to the Midwest League for his full-season debut, and he showed the raw tools that both make him exciting as a prospect and show that he’s got some refinement left in his game.
Diaz has excellent pop off the bat, and only a fairly line-drive approach kept him from hitting even more home runs in 2016. He had 34 doubles and 5 triples to accompany his 20 home runs, however, showing his tremendous raw power.
Diaz isn’t a premium runner, but he does have very good instincts on the bases, which allowed him to steal 11 bases on the season and flash his skills going first to third on singles to the outfield.
Diaz has flashed the ability to play shortstop, but with Arcia in place as a premium defender at short, Diaz could slide to second, where his skills would rate extremely high among second basemen defensively.
Diaz will start at high-A in 2017, but he’s the type of player that I could see the Brewers pushing if he keeps up the excellent showing he had in 2016.
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