In 2021 TJ Hopkins jumped from rookie level Billings (in 2019) up to Double-A Chattanooga. He missed some time with injuries, only playing in 74 games, but hit .269/.341/.436 in his 292 plate appearances for the Lookouts.
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When the 2022 season got started it was another trip to Chattanooga for Hopkins. The outfielder went hitless in the first two games of the season, striking out five times along the way. But over the next two weeks he turned things up, hitting .415 with eight extra-base hits in 11 games. As hot as the stretch was, the next three week stretch was cold. In those 18 games Hopkins went 7-63 (.111) and picked up just four extra-base hits.
Things got moving in the right direction again in mid-May. From the 17th of May through the 16th of June he hit .294/.388/.459 for the Lookouts, hitting four home runs along the way. But in what turned out to be a theme of the season, he cooled off in a hurry. From June 17th through July 16th he would hit just .188 with 5 walks and 32 strikeouts in 22 games.
Returning from the All-Star break on July 22nd, TJ Hopkins got back to swinging a hot bat. Over the next month he hit .340/.375/.617 for Chattanooga over 24 games. That stretch included 12 doubles, a triple, and 4 home runs. It also ended his time in Double-A as he joined the Triple-A Louisville Bats on August 24th.
In the first three weeks with Louisville he hit well, going 19-57 (.333) with seven extra-base hits. But in the final two weeks of the season he played in 9 games and picked up just 5 hits, going 5-37 (.135) to finish out the year.
For all 2022 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
TJ Hopkins Scouting Report
Position: Outfield | B/T: R/R
Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 205 lbs | Acquired: 9th Round, 2019 Draft
Born: January 16, 1997
Hitting | He has a below-average hit tool.
Power | Average game power with above-average raw power.
Speed | He shows above-average speed.
Defense | He’s an average defender.
Arm | He has an average arm.
During the season, TJ Hopkins was hotter than hot and colder than cold. Not very often was there an in-between. He’s going to have to improve that moving forward. In the previous two seasons of his career, Hopkins was a bit of a ground ball hitter, but in 2022 he got the ball in the air at an above-average rate and that helped him start to get more out of his power.
Hopkins needs to be able to hit for power moving forward because he doesn’t project to hit for average. While he can and does use the entire field he’s got plenty of swing and miss in his game that is likely to limit just how much average he’s going to hit for. He’s got good speed, so he could pick up a few additional infield hits, but the hit tool remains below-average.
In the field Hopkins has spent most of his time in left field as a pro, but has experience in both center and right. Left field is his best position of the three, but he can handle all three spots.
It seems that TJ Hopkins does enough of everything that he could be a contributing 4th outfielder in the near future at the big league level. There’s enough power, speed, and defensive flexibility there for that kind of role, but if he can improve his strikeout rate a little bit things could get more interesting.
Video
TJ Hopkins Spray Chart
Interesting Stat on TJ Hopkins
When he was a left fielder (348 PA) he hit .279/.336/.479 with a walk rate of 7% and a strikeout rate of 30%. When he was a right fielder (113 PA) he hit .213/.327/.383 with a walk rate of 13% and a strikeout rate of 24%.