Payton Eeles, where will he be on prospect lists?

[Trov]

Many a casual fan will say "who" when they see the name.  The deep minor league following fans will know the name.  For those who have not followed him this year, he is 24, 5 foot 5 inches, one inch shorter than Jose Altuve.  He is in his first year in any MLB affiliated team.  He went 4 years of college and always put up good numbers in college, but never at any major schools.  Mainly, you see a guy his size and just assume they do not turn into MLB players.  I am sure some scouts would say if only he was 6 foot. 

He went undrafted and played independent ball last year, putting up decent numbers, less than college but still good.  He started independent league again this year, in 6 games he hit 3 HR and had OPS over 1000.  Then the Twins signed him.  He started in low A Fort Myers, a pitcher league generally, and he lit it up.  Over 34 games he slashed .331/.448/.517.  He was moved up to high A, where he did not slow down much.  Slashing .275/.473/.425, that was over 13 games. Then fans were shocked when he quickly went to AAA over other prospects like Keaschell who has been tearing up AA, but is only 21.  

What has Eeles done at AAA this year?  He is slashing .268/.411/.451. in 24 games.  He has walked more than struck out.  He has similar numbers, OPS wise to current MLB players Miranda, Martin, and Wallner.  Of course Wallner has much more power than all of the others. He is doing better than Julien who took world by storm last year in his call up, but faltered much this year. On defense Eeles has played all over the infield, 3b, SS, and 2b, as well as 3 games in LF.

There is no way he will be super high on prospect lists due to his age, lack of pedigree, and his size, but if he continues to play like he has this year, we will see him on prospect lists and may be seeing him in a MLB uniform next year. He will be another fun story of the kid that never gave up, not that he is old, but sure has to be having some scouts wonder how they missed on him.  I am not saying the kid will be some super star, but if he was drafted out of college in higher round we would be talking about him along with several other prospects. The fact that he walks more than strikes out, can steal some bases, and has enough pop to hit a HR, 7 in minors this year in 70 games, if you add the 3 from the 6 games of independent ball that is 13 in 76 games.  He is not just a singles hitter. 

I have read his defense is not great, but he is more than just a 1b or DH guy.  Personally, I would put him somewhere around 10 to 15 in rankings, without looking at recent drafted guys.  He is ahead of Schobel who MLB had him this year before draft at 11.  

[DJL44]

His height helps him get on base but probably limits him defensively to LF/2B.

[Mike Sixel]

He's intriguing for sure. The kind of guy really bad teams should be signing

[Trov]

4 hours ago, DJL44 said:

His height helps him get on base but probably limits him defensively to LF/2B.

I get the thought that height would help with getting on base, because of walks, but it takes more than just that.  For example Altuve the closest in height at MLB level that I know of, walks across all his plate appearances, including minors at 7.4 percent. Eeles walks at 13.1 percent.  Altuve also strikes out at 12.7 percent Eeles 12 percent.  Eeles is his college and independent league as well as this year with Twins, and Altuve includes his MLB level, but Altuve appears to be pretty close in his minor league time as well. 

I would agree that his defense is limited most likely to 2nd base but Julien is limited to that as well and he was high on prospect list last year.  I think most people do not care about the limited defense as long as guys can hit.  It becomes more of an issue if they cannot hit well.