He came back from Tommy John surgery, and now he is on the Oakland 60-man roster. Welcome to the bigs, Daulton Jefferies!
- Born: August 2, 1995
- B/T: Left/Right
- 6’0″, 182-lbs
- Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2016 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of California, Berkeley
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
First of all, take a closer look at the IP column before you rave to your friends that you just saw a pitcher have a 71% strikeout rate. Fact is, with his TJS in 2017, and barely returning in 2018, we can throw both years out.
But what he did in 2019 alone, besides showing he was healthy, was to put up fantastic numbers all around. Nicely done, Daulton!
He was like, who ya got? And the batters were like, you think you’re all that? And Jefferies was like, hope you do better next time…
Not much on the spray chart, but what is there is quite balanced.
Yes, it is a trend downward, but it was from an absurdly high level to start with, the trend was gradual, and hey, you try pitching after surgery!
Here is the thing with Jefferies. He dominated batters at A+ and AA, but at his age you expect him to do that. So what we see in those strikeout numbers is not what to expect in the majors. His FB is only a low-90s offering with average spin, but with fantastic command. His mid-80s sinking changeup is a plus pitch, and he can get strikeouts with it. His cutter and his curve are average, but he only needs one of them to be on for him to succeed as a starter. It may only be a SP4, but with that command, it’ll be a good SP4.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #142 on their Top 400.
- BaseballHQ: Not on their Top 100.
- Fangraphs: Not on their Top 120.
- Fantasy Six Pack: #641 on their dynasty list.
- Prospects365: #170 on Ray Butler’s Top 200.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #174 on the Top 487.
- Fantrax: Not on the Top 250.
Warnings
Health, of course, is the big issue with Jefferies. Last year was good to see. This year, as one of an expanded roster of pitchers, the A’s can use him in various ways, and 2020 can be thought of as another step back from his injuries.
Conclusion
I love pitchers who know how to pitch, and Jefferies is all that. I think he’ll have a good career. He won’t be an ace, but Oakland fans will love having him in the rotation. That kind of guy.