Carlos Jorge - 5/32/23

A relative unknown in the 2020-2021 international free agency class, Jorge has turned heads so far

Prospect Spotlight 🔦

Carlos Jorge 2B – Age: 19 – B/T: L/R, 5’10’’ 180 – Reds (Low A)

• Born: 9/22/2003 (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic)

• Acquired: 1/15/2021 Cincinnati Reds (IFA)

While not a complete unknown, Carlos Jorge (19) - CIN (A) was a mid six figures signing who was not on either the Baseball America or MLB Pipeline Top 50 list. Nevertheless, in the Cincinnati Reds 2020-2021 International Amateur Free Agency review, Ben Badler of Baseball America said that “For a mid-range signing, Jorge could end up one of better bargains of the 2020 class.” Well, two years later that quote looks prophetic, as Jorge has emerged as one of the better players of the entire 2020-2021 international free agency class. While undersized at just 5’9’’, he weighs in at 180 pounds and is on the sturdier side for a 19 year old. He has shown exciting tools and produced well so far into his pro career, so let’s take a look at what makes him interesting.

Throughout Jorge’s professional baseball career, he has done nothing but produce. Jorge came to the US in 2022, where he spent the year in the Arizona Complex League, showing an ability to hit, hit for power and plus base running. He slashed .261/.405/.529 with seven home runs, along with 27 stolen bases (and got caught only four times). Aside from a spike in K% going from the DSL to the ACL (17% in DSL vs. 27% in the ACL), this was an excellent year for Jorge, and one that pushed him into many writers’ prospect lists.

So far in 2023, his production has largely been the same. His batting average has risen to .331, thanks to a .416 BABIP, but the OBP and SLG have roughly remained the same at .409 and .511 respectively. He has shaved a few percentage points off of his K%, which is now at 22%, however the walk rate has also dropped down to 10%. Daytona is a roughly neutral park to play in, so he has not gotten any ballpark favors to juice his batting line much. He continues to be an effective base stealer, with 16 swiped bags against three times caught stealing. For a guy with average speed, his reads are impressive, even with the run prevention game not always emphasized at the minor league level. Something that I really like is the improvements in his batted ball distribution. While his GB/FB rate of 0.95 is roughly the same as what he put up in the Complex League, he is now pulling the ball 46.2% of the time in A ball, as opposed to 37.2% in Rookie ball. Before, over 50% of his batted balls were going the opposite way; now it is just around 27%. This is a good adjustment and a development to watch as he progresses through the minor leagues.