CLE
Vidal Brujan, IF
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Scouting report
Recall Ketel Marte's progression, the underlying skills he had early in his big league career and his shortcomings. How could we have collectively anticipated that he'd transform from a light-hitting speedster shortstop into a multi-positional physical freak with a rare power/speed/patience combination? I submit that Bruján shares all of Marte's pre-breakout traits (and has a lot in common with Ozzie Albies, too) and could take a similar leap in his mid-20s, as he progresses further into physical maturity. Like Marte, Bruján is a top-of-the-scale athlete and one of the most electric in-the-box rotators in all of the minor leagues. There are lots of other players whose measurable height and weight read as "small" who simply don't have Bruján's body composition (he's angular, tapered at the waist rather than built like a stick), musculature (you can see his lats through his jersey), or explosiveness. I think he has room to add mass even though he's short, and that he's likely to because he's a dedicated worker, which means some indeterminate amount of power will arrive with time. I also think that he'll continue to harness his hellacious swing, which, based on his contact rates, he already has abnormal control over. I've watched Bruján swing so hard that he corkscrewed himself to the ground, only to pop back up like a Russian folk dancer, but even though he swings that hard, he has good feel for contact and ball/strike recognition, enabling him to grind out tough at-bats and walk a bunch. Let's re-examine the statistical case. Bruján split 2019 between Hi- and Double-A and while his walk rate took a bit of a dip at those levels, his on-paper performance was still well above league average (.277/.346/.389 with 48 bags in 61 attempts, and 28 extra-base hits in 100 games) for the Florida State and Southern Leagues. His exit velo data from 2019 is not great, but remember I'm betting on more of that arriving later. There are scouts who think he can play shortstop, but I think the arm is a little light for that and instead think he'll be play a combination of second base and center field. As I've passed around the early iterations of my Top 100 list for industry feedback, most have told me I'm at least a little too high on Bruján, which I think is useful for readers to know, but I'm sticking to my guns on this one because I think he has a chance to be a star. (Alternate site)