Baltimore Orioles prospect Jonathon Schoop looks good for the future- MLB Update
Jonathan Schoop was named the No.3 prospect for the Baltimore Orioles before the start of the 2012 season and the 21-year-old has done well so far to live up to the expectations.
The six-foot-one Schoop has all what it takes to be a Major League player for a long time to come. At the moment, he will need more time in the Minors to be able to learn the craft further. He is agile and athletic and has loads of hitting ability which
can be polished over time.
The Willemstad, Curacao native was signed by the Orioles in 2008 as a non-drafted free agent. Schoop has moved up through the ranks of the Orioles farm system, representing a number of teams in the Minor League system, starting from Rookie Class DSL Orioles
in Dominican Republic and playing for a number of other teams before making it to Bowie Bay Sox.
He played his entire 2012 season with the Bowie Bay Sox, the Double-A affiliate team of the Orioles. In the 124 games he played in 2012, Jonathan posted a .245 batting average and a .324 on-base percentage. He added 64 runs with 119 hits, 25 of them extra
base hits. He also batted in 56 runs and went long on 14 occasions.
In the four seasons in the Minors, he has played total of 382 games for six different teams and has posted a .266 batting average and a .336 on-base percentage. He has been reasonable with the glove as well and has a .951 fielding percentage.
Schoop was a part of the Rising Stars Game in the Arizona Fall League in 2012 along with another Orioles’ prospect Mike Belfiore. In 2011, he was a part of the All-Star Futures team with Orioles’ infielder Manny Machado.
Jonathan has a fan in Dan Duquette, the executive vice president of baseball operations for the Baltimore Orioles. Dan likes the hitting ability that Jonathan posses. "Schoop can play the middle of the diamond and he can hit. He's got some power," Duquette
said.
As an infielder, he has shown versatility both in the Minor League and in the Arizona Fall League where he fielded in various infield positions. He has a strong arm and the flexibility he presents to the Orioles by being able to field in various positions
will certainly do him a lot of good.
The bottom line that Jonathan Schoop will need sometime before he is ready to it the big leagues. He will need to improve some aspects of his game including adding some more speed while running between the bases and some control of is aggressive style of
play. With these minor adjustments and more playing time, Schoop could be in the big leagues for a long haul.
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