Kendall Simmons

Something of a split-camp player, Simmons has a few plus tools including 60-grade raw power and a plus arm, but teams are mixed on his ability to stick at shortstop, as well as his feel to hit. He had a poor summer with a lot of swing and miss, but when Simmons does connect with balls they go a long ways and he's driven homers with authority in front of the right people at times. The power comes more from natural strength than twitchiness, which doesn't ease the concerns that he'll always swing and miss too much to get the most of his juice in-game. Defensively, Simmons has solid hands and defensive actions but again, he's not super twitchy and he's just an average runner, leading many teams to look at him as a third baseman. His spring was inconsistent and he'd occasionally start to barrel balls all over the field, but scouts would also leave fields wondering if he would ever hit, in part because the competition he's facing is not great. There's a good chance Simmons gets drafted higher than his ranking as some teams think he's a shortstop with a plus arm, plus power and a chance to hit while an equal amount see a third baseman with raw power but no way to get to it consistently.