Guardians Baseball Insider

Image: Courtesy Jake Fox on Twitter

The Cleveland Indians selected Jake Fox – Shortstop with the third-round pick (95th overall) in the 2021 MLB Draft.

Jake Fox – Shortstop

School: Lakeland Christian HS, FL ;
Age: 18.4;
Height: 6’1; Weight: 185;
Bats: Left; Throws: Right

Jake Fox Pre-Draft Rankings:

IBI – NR

MLB.com – 198

Baseball America – 399

Prospects Live– 229

Willie Hood’s Analysis

An athletic middle infielder with athletic bloodlines -his father was a professional player and other athletes in his family. Fox continued to impress scouts throughout the spring. He is a young for the draft class shortstop that has some projections to second base. He could develop into a solid offensive-oriented second baseman. Signing the youthful Florida commit could require an over-slot bonus to acquire his future services. As a third-round draft choice, this pick is protected (the last-round selections are protected). At this point, he appears to be signable, and that is not believed to be an issue. As a Florida prep player playing for a national powerhouse program, Fox has exposure to high-level competition.

The Florida native is an advanced bat -stop me if you’ve heard this before- with plate discipline. He has a quick bat which could eventually produce average line-drive power. He could develop into an offensive-oriented middle infielder with a good eye at the plate and a patient approach. There has been a little bit of hitch in the swing, but he has made some adjustments to clean up his swing. As the season wore on, he got physically stronger (maturation) but still has just an average arm strength leading to second base projections (mentioned in the paragraph above). Fox is regarded as an instinctive player making the most of his average toolset; he draws comparisons to the University of Florida’s Colby Halter from MLB.com. Fox displays above-average speed on the bases and in the grass, potentially the best of his current tools.

Justin Lada’s take:

Fox’s swing does have a very active hand load with a hitch. It sort of reminds me of Matt Olson’s hand load, but it appears to give Fox a lot of hand and bat control with a very whippy swing. You can clearly see he has good bat speed and there’s some natural loft in the swing, perhaps to that hand load he has. There’s not a ton of defensive tape out there on him but his actions look average or so at shortstop with an average-ish arm. That maybe plays better at second base overall. He definitely profiles as a gap power hitting middle infielder but there looks to be some hidden power in that swing and frame. Like Carson Tucker in 2020, Fox added strength to his frame from his junior to senior year and that helped his hit tool and also helped his speed jump a tick too. He also has some baseball blood lines, as his dad played in the majors briefly and the area scout Cleveland had on him played with his dad, something else the team likes. Fox looks like he has a feel for the strike zone and is contact over power now with some hidden power potential, which clearly fits in with Cleveland’s profile on hitters right now.

Press Release:

Round 3 (#95 overall)

INF JAKE FOX

The University of Florida commit out of Lakeland, Florida’s Christian School, which was ranked in the top-25 USA Today national HS rankings.

Cleveland Scouting Director Scott Barnsby on Jake Fox: