Richie
Palacios

4/25/18 - Thin frame with strength and quickness present, listed at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds on the roster.  May be a bit smaller than listed. Premium athlete with quickness in his hands and feet.  Plays the infield with confidence in his hands, handling his pre-game work with ease and a flare. The feet have quickness but he allows himself to play through some in-between hops and works with a narrow base on routine balls, trusting his hands to handle and exchange the baseball.  Consistency waned on the routine ball at game speed, but the athletic play, on the move, was made with ease and accuracy. Funneling to the midsection, the arm uses a scap load action to get the ball up and out quickly. Stiff on his front side, rotating around the front leg, carry is slightly below average, again with more accuracy on the athletic play. Most exchanges worked with one shuffle into the throw, getting the ball out quickly, compensating a little for the arm strength. Offensively, a left handed hitter, Palacios has an extremely quick bat that can do a lot of damage from the small frame. Electric through the zone, Palacios works from a balanced athletic stance with his hands just off his back shoulder. Vertical bat and short stride, without a load, still has a quick direct path for the barrel through contact. Typically, without a load in that bat position, we would see a loop on the swing path, but the hand strength and hand quickness gets the barrel on plane quickly. Somewhat pull oriented in game one, going 0-3, Palacios worked to stay on the ball longer on day two, producing three hard barrel contacts in five at-bats. A well-above average runner, he does not get out of the box well, working onto his backside to finish swings. Home to first times ranged 4.34 – 4.44 on the weekend. The speed does play on the base paths, looking to run and disrupt the game. 3.11 steal time on a play where he took 2B and then scored as the ball got into centerfield. The centerfielder simply hit his cutoff man and Palacios, tracking the ball over his shoulder, scored without a throw when he saw the throw go to the shortstop. The frame will need to continue to add strength to handle a longer schedule at the next level and the athleticism will give him plenty of opportunity to stay at shortstop. Speed of the game and the arm carry may force a move to 2B or more of a utility role as he continues to move through a system. The athleticism and instincts should translate to the outfield if necessary, but he will get the chance to stay on the infield.