June 4th, 2019 at 10:00 am 
by 0799291000348 
First things first – biographical info on Dodgers first selection in the 2019 MLB First Year Player Draft Kody Hoese (pronounced Hose-ee):
- Date of birth: July 13, 1997
- Height: 6′-4″
- Weight: 200 pounds
- Bats and throws: right-handed
- High school: Griffith High School, Griffith Indiana; as a senior batted .388 with four home runs.
- College: Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana
As a high school senior, Hoese batted .388 with four home runs, and was ranked by Prep Baseball Report and Perfect Game as the top high school shortstop in Indiana. Although he was a two-time All-Indiana baseball player, he was not selected in the 2016 MLB draft and enrolled at Tulane (The Green Wave) to continue his baseball career and education.
Hoese struggled for the Green Wave as a freshman (.213 / .287 / .279 / .566), but played well enough in his second year (.291 / .368 / .435 / .803) to be selected by the Kansas City Royals as a draft-eligible sophomore in the 2018 MLB Draft (35th round). Hoese elected to return to Tulane for his junior season with outstanding results, slashing .391 / .486 / .779 / 1.265, with 23 home runs, 20 doubles, 61 RBI, 72 runs scored, and more walks (39) than strikeouts (34), and was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
(Photo credit – Parker Waters)
The scouting reports on Hoese range from a fringe/average defender at third base (Baseball America), to a plus defender with above average arm strength (MLB Pipeline), with range and quickness to stay at the position even with his size. Fangraphs rated his bat speed as below average, contradicting Baseball Prospect Journal’s assessment of “solid bat speed” to go along with a strong understanding of the strike zone. There does seem to be a consensus amongst scouts that he has natural right-handed power with a disciplined approach that allows him to drive balls from foul line to foul line.
The mixed evaluation of his baseball tools accounts for Hoese still being available when the Dodgers selected him with their 25th overall pick. If the scouting reports were not so mixed, he probably would have profiled as a Top-10 talent in the 2019 MLB draft.
If the Dodgers assessments of Hoese are correct, they got a Top-10 talent with the 25th overall pick of 2019 MLB First Year Player Draft.
Time will tell.
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Posted in 
Bah, bat speed don’t mean SQUAT if you can’t see the ball coming right out of the pitcher’s hand! Just ask former big-league slugger Frank “Big Hurt” Thomas (whose bat speed was surprisingly average at best). And I never trust anything that Baseball America says. They’re so high-minded to the point that it’s totally off-putting. I’ll gladly take the Dodgers’ assessment of Hoese’s true abilities over anyone else’s since their recent track record regarding the draft largely speaks for itself.
😉
I am a fan of Baseball America reports, but there is no doubt that they are not perfect. I have a great deal of confidence in the Dodgers scouting, evaluation, and player development folks. I am looking forward to seeing Hoese start his pro career, I am hoping that he signs quickly, gets a couple of weeks in AZ then moves to Ogden, or perhaps even Great Lakes.
Speaking of Great Lakes, my boy Andre Jackson (who really should be on the Dodger Top 30 prospect list already) just got his ticket punched to High-A Rancho today WOO-HOO! Had a feeling he was on the move after Uceta got sent to AA Tulsa recently.
😉
In the end, it doesn’t matter what ANYONE thinks of the player beyond the team’s in-house experts and management.
I hope the Dodgers stole him at #25 like they stole Cody Bellinger!
SPOT ON!
Folks I am or was not sure the farm system had much in the way of 3B prospects, and after all JT won’t last forever. But Hoese stands to have a legit shot at advancing up to the Dodgers because HE IS A RHB and it’s just possible that eventually in time that he can provide some badly needed sock from the right side of the dish to balance things out.