Baseball Prospectus | | Eyewitness Scouting Report


	Erick Mejia Born: 11/09/1994 (Age: 21)
	Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
	Height: 5' 11"	Weight: 195
	Primary Position: SS
	Secondary Position: 2B

Thin frame, lanky, long limbs, moderate athleticism, some quick-twitch in his movements; square shoulders, modest height to his waist, some room to fill out with additional strength, frame not conducive to adding bulk

Evaluator	Wilson Karaman
Report Date	05/31/2016
Dates Seen	8x April-May 2016
Affiliate	Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (High A, Dodgers)

MLB ETA	Risk Factor	OFP	Video
2018	High	40	Yes

Tool	Future Grade	Report
Hit	40	Similar setup from both sides, wide base, weight on front side, hands tight off back ear; noisy load, big leg kick, aggressive waggle, extremely deep load with a pronounced hitch, more fluid from the left side; gets good early rhythm, balanced, aggressive leg kick from left side, toned down some on right, heavy front foot, late setting front side, hips stay closed, linear path, hands swing; solid hand-eye, quick wrists; barrel will drag, swing gets loopy, more swing-and-miss than ideal for the profile, will get beat in-zone by average velocity, spin can disrupt timing; gets out of the box well, will steal base hits chopping and dashing from the left side
Power	20	Linear path, minimal leverage; up-the-middle approach, low liners and ground balls, occasional carry, can shoot the gap and turn doubles into triples; limited power projection
Baserunning/Speed	60	LH: 3.95 dig, 4.08 average on five clocks; RH: 4.18 on two; short finish to swing, gets out of the box well, quick start-up, long arm swings, second gear, can really fly underway; inconsistent reading pitchers, gets tentative on leads, over-aggressive on reads, will run into outs
Glove	45	Quick feet with average range at short, tends to jab off left foot, longer crossover up the middle, step shorter to his left; raw reads on contact, will struggle to find hops, game speed can get too quick, rushes actions and lacks focus at times; physical tools to play short, choppy present actions, raw defender there; profiles better at second, with super-utility reps in center and left a possibility
Arm	55	Raw arm strength pushes plus, fringe-average accuracy, 50 present utility; high-effort release, struggles to repeat mechanics when set, comes out of his throws when he reaches back on one from the hole, ball will tail and sail when he throws on the run

Signed as an IFA by Seattle at the end of the 2011-12 signing period, traded to LA for Joe Weiland, January 2016. Mejia is a small, fast middle infielder who shows some bat-to-ball ability, but whose bottom-of-the-scale power and some issues with spin recognition will allow advanced pitchers to attack him aggressively. His physicality suggests he should be able to grow into a passable defender at short, though his range is borderline and raw reads have the defensive utility playing down at present. The arm strength is there for the left side, but the mechanics and release are not.

I'm not convinced he gets on base enough to make it work, and the defensive value still requires significant projection, but there's squint-and-see it potential for a versatile utility player on the end of a big league bench.