Diamondbacks Prospects Review: Third Baseman

Blaze Alexander

Scouting Report: Hit: 30, Game Power: 40, Raw Power: 55, Speed: 40, Fielding: 50, FV: 35+
ETA: 2023
Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 48th best prospect.
MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 25th best prospect.
Venom Strikes Ranking: Diamondbacks 19th best prospect

Hey, I've seen this one before! Yes, Blaze is on this list too. Blaze easily fits that mold of "utility" players where he's capable of playing all over the infield. He's been playing a lot of shortstop, and that fielding grade indicates he's range-y enough to play there effectively, but a big reason I think he fits here is his arm strength. Fangraphs lumps all fielding ratings into one category, but MLB Pipeline's scouting grades break it up, and Blaze has an excellent arm grade of 70. For reference, that's the grade Carlos Correa got from Baseball Prospectus when he was in the minors. With the bat in his hand, Blaze has been solid. 2021 was a bit of a down year for him, where he slashed .218 / .316 / .372 at High-A Hillsboro. The unnerving thing for me was his strikeout rate of 32.4%, substantially higher than his previous average of around 22%. He started off his 2022 season at AA Amarillo where he's played a whole two games at the time of writing, but he's off to a very hot start where he's gone 3-7 with a double and a homer.