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Kelvin Beltre Scouting Report

san francisco giants baseball prospects kelvin beltre scouting report
Name: Kelvin Beltre
Position: Infield (2B, SS, 3B)
Birthdate: September 25, 1996
Ht/Wt: 5’11”, 170 lbs.
Bats/Throws: R/R
Hometown: Santo Domingo Centro, Dom. Rep.
High School: None
College: None

Report Date(s) — June 29 – July 3, 2018

Affiliate (League): San Jose Giants (California League)
Level (Org): A-Advanced (San Francisco Giants)


Body/Physical: Lean with some wiry strength through frame; some room left to grow into his body with a bit of physical projection/upside remaining to fill out and add muscle. Decently strong with more coming, should be durable enough to withstand daily grind, but not a significant physical specimen; ultimately average size at best. Lean, thin lower half at present; strong core. Playing some shortstop now, but feels more like a third baseman (maybe second base?) when he fills out, gains weight; not enough foot speed/quickness with frame to stick at short (more on that below).

Makeup/Intangibles: Significant makeup/character questions both internally and through observation here; take it with a grain of salt, but rumor mill unkind to Kelvin Beltre — rumbles questioning his work/reputation as a teammate in house. More observationally, he plainly showed a tendency to shut down, pout, complain after several major defensive miscues across long five-game series in Visalia; didn’t show out well at all there; lacked ability to wipe the slate and move on mentally after defensive mistakes. Errors themselves were one thing, but he dwelled on it, failed to make mental adjustments; mistakes compounded physically, and things continued to get worse. Immaturity here without question, but one must wonder whether it’ll improve in time considering his age, or if these are more deeply ingrained as personality traits and will be tougher to iron out. Regardless, Kelvin Beltre did not make a great first (long) impression in this area.

Tool
Notes

Hit
Wide-set stance, slightly open; high back elbow to start. OK bat speed. Lacks full plate coverage, really wants to pull the ball and more generally looking for pitches middle-in; struggles to consistently go the other way on purpose, or with authority. Poor plate discipline and strike zone awareness; will chase, swings at a lot, generally over-aggressive at the plate. Bat speed and barrel manipulation to do damage when the ball does get in his wheelhouse, but too many holes in strike zone at present. Needs to take more pitches, work counts, draw walks; should improve some with age, but really imperative he learns patience here.

Power
Not a ton of raw power; can occasionally put on a show to his pull-side in BP, but even then lacks real consistent over-the-fence pop. Some power potential in game action betrayed by lack of ability to consistently get into hitter’s counts, tendency to work from behind quite a bit; needs to do a better job of dictating at-bats rather than being dictated to by High-A pitching here, should more often get into hitter’s counts where he can consistently do damage.

Speed
Not great objective foot speed or first step quickness through defensive work based on this look; timed 4.34 and 4.37 up the line from the RHH box (40-grade speed) with a 4.64 turn at first base. Tendency to dog it some out of the box; lacks hustle at points, question focus/lackadaisical look in game situations. Defensively, footwork plays relatively clean side-to-side, but he’s a touch slow to read balls off the bat, lacks that real first-step quickness ideal in the middle infield. Perhaps modest room to improve foot speed and quickness coming, but unlikely to be a burner through it; reactions play better at third base, where he doesn’t have time to think about it.

Glove
Really, really poor showing with the glove across five-game look in Visalia; booted routine balls, kicked grounders at multiple positions, dealt poorly with sunlight and glare (and then failed to make adjustments with position/sunglasses), etc., etc. Every now and then, particularly at third base, flashed leather with a really advanced step-and-dive stab and strong throw, but really struggled to make routine plays. Beltre may be better at third as a reactionary infielder with less time to read balls; seemed to kick a couple when he really had time to think and work through it at second/short more so than just reacting over at third. Lots of work to do across infield here to even become serviceable; no doubt needs reps and experience to get there, but may best be ticketed for third base where he doesn’t have to think as much when reacting to the ball.

Arm
Above-average arm strength; showed off a good arm from shortstop through my looks, will play anywhere across the diamond with it. Accuracy OK; stays through throws, tendency to stay on line without run/fade. Arm will play; decision-making with throws could stand to improve, though that will come with experience/maturity. Arm showed out fine even with significant glove issues in this look.

Analysis/Projection: Undoubtedly, this was not a good first impression of Kelvin Beltre; there’s ample room to improve with quite a bit to work on here on both sides of the ball. To be fair to him, he’s a good-enough athlete with age on his side, and he flashed some occasionally impressive raw tools on occasion, suggesting there is talent here, though it shows itself infrequently/inconsistently. No need to weigh in this bad showing too strongly, and so I’m content to keep his ceiling up slightly just based on upside/athleticism alone, and the potential for him to further develop those raw tools. To that end, I think it’s possible he winds up a platoon/bench option across the middle infield. It’s unlikely you’ll see him stick at shortstop defensively, and while a move to third may be more natural for his glove to hit ceiling, I’m skeptical he’ll hit enough to justify an everyday role there. Lots of work to come for Kelvin Beltre, no doubt; this is a tough report to read, I’m sure, but there’s still plenty of time/room to develop and work towards what could be a valuable role for the San Francisco Giants.

Overall Future Potential (Realistic Role): 45 FV (Infield Platoon/Bench Depth)
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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