Unowned

Drew Mendoza, IF

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Scouting report

Mendoza had some first round buzz early in his high school career because he had at least 70-grade raw power projection, but he struck out a lot and his stock fell a bit down the stretch while his price tag did not, so he ended up at Florida State. There he continued to strike out while posting relatively modest underclass statlines before exploding as a junior in 2019. He still struck out a ton, but also slugged just shy of .600 and walked 23% of the time. Some scouts describe his approach as more passive than patient, which contributes to a healthy heaping of true three outcomes. There's real risk that Mendoza's hit tool is just a binary "no," and that he ends up flaming out in Double-A. But he also has so much raw power that his swing might be made so simple that he can cut down on the K's and become a viable role player. Because the power here is so titanic, we suppose there's more ceiling than that, but a good realistic outcome for Mendoza would be to become a 1B/DH platoon partner and high-leverage bench bat. (Alternate site, Fall Instructional League)