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Xavier Edwards, IF

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Scouting report

As seems to be the case with lots of players whose exit velos are toward the bottom of the big league scale, Edwards is somewhat divisive throughout the industry. Up until this year, it had typically been the in-office analyst types whose Edwards opinions were more tepid, as scouts (especially on the amateur side) loved his speed/contact blend and how hard he played. But his lack of impact contact was, for the first time, noted as a real problem by scouts who saw him in the Fall of 2020. As with Nick Madrigal, Luis Arraez and other players like them, I think hitters with a complete lack of power can still be good everyday players provided that they make a nearly elite amount of contact, and to this point Edwards has. Like Franco, Edwards' 2019 swinging strike rate was just 4.8% (he just doesn't put the ball in play as hard) and his track record of hitting in games extends way back to his underclass high school days. At one point, I thought Edwards could be a slash-and-dash Luis Castillo clone, but he doesn't have the samurai-level feel for contact Castillo did. I still have a high degree of confidence in his bat. All of Edwards' extra-base damage will be done down either baseline, as he'll sneak grounders past the corner infielders and be at second base in the blink of an eye. The Rays plan to deploy him as a multi-positional catalyst, a speedy, Chone Figgins-style player. Like Figgins, Edwards has elite speed and scouts prefer X at positions other than shortstop, but he can play there in a pinch. He'll be a super utility type who provides value commensurate with an everyday player because of the strength of his hit tool. (Alternate site, MLB)