Welcome to the first of my year-long 2021 Dynasty Baseball Profile series.
I will be chronicling some lesser-known prospects that, depending on your league size, you might want to target in a trade or pick up off the waiver wire.
The first player to have the honor of being profiled is one of my favorite under the radar prospects, Alexfri Planez.
#Indians 19yr old OF prospect Alexfri Planez taking cuts in his native Caracas, Venezuela. Hopefully he along w/ fellow Venezuelan (SS) prospect Brayan Rocchio will have their countries travel restrictions lifted soon to participate in off-season instructs.@ajplanez33 #Future pic.twitter.com/Cea8gDtL2w
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) September 18, 2020
2021 Dynasty Baseball Profile: Alexfri Planez
Get prepared for the upcoming Fantasy Baseball season by using the Fantasy Pros Draft Wizard.
Profile
Alexfri Planez is a 19-year-old Outfielder from Caracas who is in the Cleveland Indians Minor League system. He was a J2 signee from the 2017 class.
Standing at 6' 2" and weighing 180 pounds, Planez actually looks to be bigger than he is listed. He is especially thick in his lower half and has the body type that should allow room to grow.
Alexfri spent 2018 in the Dominican Summer League where he played 61 games and got 271 plate appearances. He hit a respectable .279 with nine home runs and five stolen bases.
In 2019 he played in the Arizona League logging 25 plate appearances in just six games. Of course, there was no game action in 2020, which leaves a lot to wonder about the type of player that this young man can become.
Let's take a look at each of his tools, where they are now, and where I project them to be at his prime.
Hit
The first thing you notice with his swing is a large leg kick. He uses this as a timing mechanism and routinely keeps proper balance. However, he does not always maintain proper mechanics which leads to quite a bit of swing and miss in his game.
Hand-eye coordination is on par for his development and as most prospects his age breaking balls are a struggle for him.
Current Grade: 40 Prime Grade: 45
Power
This is where Alexfri butters his bread! He has already shown plus-plus raw power with a nice loft to his swing. The leg kick mentioned in the hit portion provides tremendous body torque that quickly and powerfully gets his hands through the zone.
Current Grade:60 Prime Grade: 70
Run
For his current size, he is a capable runner. His speed is more likely going to help him in the field more than on the base paths. At peak, he might be able to get double-digit steals. I expect him to run less and less and his body fills out to full maturity.
Current Grade:45 Prime Grade: 40
Arm
He has an accurate yet fairly strong arm. He will likely end playing in right field because he has the arm to allow it.
Current Grade: 55 Prime Grade 60
Field
Currently plays in centerfield. His lack of above-average speed, combined with his strong arm has all the making of a corner outfielder. He does cover decent ground and will not be a negative defensively.
Current Grade: 50 Future Grade: 50
Overall
Planez has a tremendous ceiling but comes with a lot of risk. The power is going to be there and if his hit tool can continue to develop at a steady rate he has the chance to be a middle-of-the-order thumper. A prime stat line could be in the .270, 40 home runs and 10 stolen base neighborhood.
I would expect to see Planez making his way into a lot of top 100 lists by this same time next year. He is going to have the opportunity in 2021 for a lot of people to finally get their eyes on him and the tools he possesses.
He will be a fun player to keep an eye on in a fabulous Cleveland farm system. Because of how well they develop young talent I like Planez a little more than I would if he a variety of other farm systems.
Current Grade: 45 Future Grade: 55
Make sure you bookmark our Fantasy Baseball page to consume all of our 2021 MLB content!
1 comment
[…] have already written about Alexfri Planez and Brayan Rocchio from […]