After having a huge senior season at Sam Houston State in 2021 where he hit .367/.474/.696 the Cincinnati Reds selected Jack Rogers in the 9th round of the draft. he would play in 22 games following the draft, but struggled after a long layoff between the end of his college season and when he got back on the field following the draft.
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The Reds sent Jack Rogers to High-A Dayton to begin the season in 2022. To say that he struggled would be an understatement. He went 0-his first nine games of the season. He then played in just 12 games over the next month, going 6-36 (.167) before he was sent down to Single-A Daytona on May 24th. Rogers didn’t get things going there right away, either, going 2-14 in his first five games with the Tortugas.
On May 31st he went 2-4 with two doubles and from there he started to pile up hits. From May 31st through July 1st he hit .330/.398/.567 with 15 extra-base hits in 27 games played. Following that run, though, he went into a 2-week slump where he went just 6-42 with two walks and 24 strikeouts.
Things began to heat back up on July 17th, but he would only play in three games after that before missing the next two weeks with a stint on the injured list. He picked up where he left off, though, and didn’t slow down much the rest of the season. In his final 28 games of the year – dating back to that July 17th game – he hit .320/.404/.580 with 13 extra-base hits.
For all 2022 Season Reviews and Scouting Reports – click here (these will come out during the week throughout the offseason).
Jack Rogers Scouting Report
Position: Outfield/1B | B/T: L/L
Height: 6′ 2″ | Weight: 205 lbs | Acquired: 9th Round, 2021 Draft
Born: April 5, 1999
Hitting | He has a below-average hit tool.
Power | He has average power with above-average raw power.
Speed | He’s a fringe-average runner.
Defense | He’s currently a below-average fielder.
Arm | He has an average arm.
There are parts of Jack Rogers game that can stand out. He can hit the ball quite hard at times and his power can be impressive. At first base his arm sticks out, and it’s plenty strong enough for right field.
But there are also areas where he struggles. Rogers struck out 37% of the time he stepped to the plate in 2022. The difficulties getting the bat on the ball don’t allow his hit tool or his power to play to their potential and is something that he will have to improve upon as he climbs the ladder in the minors. In the field he’s struggled, too. During the 2022 season he posted a .913 fielding percentage between left and right fields. During college he pitched at times, played first base, and played some outfield. With more experience in the field he could improve as there’s no obvious reason that he couldn’t be an average defender.
From a tools perspective, Jack Rogers has everything that could lead to a big league starter in the corner outfield spots. But he’s going to have to improve the rate at which he gets the bat on the ball for that to have any chance of happening. There’s just too many strikeouts taking place for him to hit enough at the highest level and take advantage of the tools he’s got.
Video
Jack Rogers Spray Chart
Interesting Stat on Jack Rogers
He crushed the ball early in the count. Rogers hit .486 and slugged .797 when he made contact on the 1st or 2nd pitch of an at-bat.
Felt bad for Jack at Dayton. He was 0 for April and by mid-April he had so much weight on his shoulders that any success was impossible. One encouraging thing was his walks to strikeouts was better in Dayton where you would assume control of pitchers would be better.
Interesting trade of former 1st rounders today between Marlins and A’s. JJ Bleday for A.J Puk.