6′3
200 lbs
R/R
Cypress High School, CA

With the third pick overall this year, the Cubs took the best high school bat and arguable the best bat overall in Josh Vitters. This 18 year old Californian had many Cub fans wondering if he would sign or not, as he waited til 20 minutes before the deadline to ink his deal. But really he was never really a threat not to sign despite his commitment to Arizona State University. The reason his signing took so long was due to his adviser (Casey Close) waiting for the second pick, Mike Moustakas, to sign with Kansas City especially in the last hour when it was apparent that Moustakas and Boras would sign. We’ll delve further into the prospect that is Josh Vitters.

Vitters’ has been on the radar of most scouts the past two years, as a Junior he was part of a long running legacy at a Cypress High School, where he followed his brother [Christian] who was drafted by the A’s last year and is now in Low A Kane County. Before Christian, the SS for Cypress was recently traded Cub prospect Scott Moore. Still he really exploded on the scene in 2007. He absolutely flourished in all major high school events such as the Area Code game, the World Wood Bat Championship, the Aflac Classic, and the Cape Cod Classic. In 2006 as a junior, he posted a .352 (31/88) with 7 2B, 9 HR, 32 RBI while impressing scouts with bat speed and hand-eye coordination. This year as a senior, Josh battled a case of pneumonia early in the high school season yet still ended up batting .371 (26/70) with 6 2B, 1 3B, 8 hrs, 25 RBI.

Batting: Vitters has outstanding bat speed and ability to make great contact with the barrel of the bat. Add in his quick wrists, and he’s able to hit the ball with authority better than any other high school or college bat in the draft. What also separates Vitters from the rest of the high school class, is his sweet fluid swing which is a rarity at the level. As for the hardest skill for hitters to develop, hand-eye coordination, Vitters has shown the ability to handle different velocities, trajectories, and styles of pitching with ease.

Power: Josh has a naturally built-in power stroke that will only increase as he bulks up over the next few years. He’ll be turning what are now doubles or long singles into long balls. There is no question that he has the potential to be a 30-40 homerun hitter hopefully it’s not at a cost of his contact skills.

Speed: Josh isn’t a speedster by any regards but is young and flexible enough to steal 10 bases or so for the next couple of years in the minors. He’s also a smart and has good fundamentals when it comes to running the bases. As he picks up more muscle and grows into his hitting game though, he’ll significantly slowdown what little run game he has.

Defense: Hitting comes so natural to Vitters but defensive game doesn’t. The hours that so many young prospects put into the batting cage, Josh has spend fielding grounders at third. He’s developed sound footwork and decent hands but he reads the ball poorly on hops, and Wrigley’s third base hops are known as one of the worst in baseball. Josh has a decent arm, some scouts think it’ll last while others say he “shot-puts” it over to first and will need a move later.

Biggest Strength: Josh was one of the most polished hitters in the 2007 draft, he has skills that many college hitters don’t possess nor can be taught. Vitters’ hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are nearly off the charts. Up to this point, he has made hitting look easy. The more he climbs the ladder though, the more he’ll face different styles of hitting and will run into roadblocks. He’s already had good success wielding a wooden bat in tournament play. One of the biggest obstacle he might face is soft tossing finesse pitchers, for some reason they always give young talented prospects problems despite the fact that the slow junkballer will likely never get past High A.

Biggest Weakness: Vitters’ hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are too good. At times he swings at pitches he should pass on, trying to make something happen on a pitchers’ pitch instead of waiting for his pitch that he can belt. As he develops, this tendency will lessen but he’ll likely to always be a hitter who swings at pitches he feels he can make contact with especially in times of slumps. Right now, Vitters’ has some difficulty picking up offspeed pitches and often can be caught sitting dead-red on fastballs. This isn’t a horrible problem, it just shows at an early age Josh learned what many good hitters don’t till later in their career, that first pitch fastballs have the highest hit successfulness of all pitches and counts. Later in his career, look for many forced foulballs deeper into counts.

MLB Comparison: Pat Burrell
The two have very similar bat skills at the time of their draft selection; great hand-eye coordination, plus contact, tendency to swing at “bad” pitches, plus power, and defensive questions. As a high schooler and early college days, Burrell played 3B but rather poorly. Vitters is rated as a better defensive player than Burrell but has similar questions in his average arm and range. Depending on Vitters’ ascent offensively, he could be moved up and play 1B/OF to acquise his bat callups. But his bang for the buck is definately as a third baseman even if he’s average or slightly less than. Offensively, some may frown upon the Burrell comparision but Pat is one of the more undervalued bats in the National League. Sure the average isn’t excellent but the ability to work counts, draw walks, and hit for power is at a great clip.

Bob’s Take: Vitters will likely be the first high schooler of the 2007 draft to reach the MLB. He was the safest bet of all early first round talents (not named Price), as there is little doubt that he will not become a regular MLB down the road. Josh has struggled thus far since signing but odds are extremely high that won’t last long. When he gets going, he gets going, look for him to either be challenging for a role with the parent club sometime in 2010. This is not a Lois Montanez (3rd overall pick in 2000) or a Ryan Harvey pick (6th overall pick in 2003), where we wasted our early first round selection on a top highly overall yet flawed high school talent. Vitters comes with amazing accolades, the best we’ve had since late blooming Corey Patterson. The talent is there it’s just when the confidence and develop catches up that is the question. For those you who want to see him video-wise here’s some high school tape.