Jermaine Palacios - 2017

[goulik]

Jermaine Palacios: SS Cedar Rapids Kernels

Born: July 19, 1996  Barquisimeto Venezuela
Signed: International Free Agent in 2013 out of Venezuela

 

Palacios played in the DSL in 2014 after signing as 17 year old international free agent. His signing bonus is a mystery waiting to be solved.

 

Palacios Split 2015 between the GCL Twins and Elizabethton. He played in 26 and 31 games respectively hitting a combined 370/398/540 for a 939 OPS. He had 23 doubles, 4 triples, 3 home runs, and 9 stolen bases in 235 at bats. His bat opened eyes early pushing him up prospect charts rapidly but 16 errors in Elizabethton (20 combined on the season) also left a lot of people concerned about his ability to stay at short. He finished the year with a 918 FPCT.

 

In 2016 Palacios was a little snake bitten. He began the year slowly in CR but just when his bat picked up and just as his numbers began to rise, he went on the DL and lost much of the rest of the season. He finished 222/276/287 with a 564 OPS in 261 at bats. His FPCT rose to 952 on 14 errors so while his bat was disappointing, hope grew that the glove might come around.

 

2017 has been a year to redeem himself at the same level and Palacios is doing just that so far. In his first 68 at bats, he has hit 397/438/574 with a 1012 OPS. This year he has two errors with a FPCT of 972. He has already tied last years 3 triples and 3 home runs. It is early but if he can keep up this pace, I would predict a mid-season promotion to the Miracle right after his appearance in the Midwest league all star game.

[goulik]

Mid-West Player of the Week

Follow this link to Seth's summary, comment #6

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/25599-2017-twins-minor-league-awards/

[goulik]

Twins Minor League Player of the Week: Jermaine Palacios (see comment #9)

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/25599-2017-twins-minor-league-awards/?do=findComment&comment=612565

 

Palacios has logged 89 at bats in 21 games and is hitting 393/432/573 for a 1005 OPS. He has 3 doubles, 5 triples, and a homer.

 

Defensively, he has played all 184.1 innings at Short with a 955 FPCT. He has committed 4 errors in 89 chances. 10 of those were turned into double plays.

[goulik]

Palacios has now scored 31 runs in 36 games plus 20 RBI's. That is pretty solid production without looking too deeply at stats. His Slash is down to 336/381/537 for a 918 OPS. He has 8 doubles, 5 triples and 4 four baggers in 160 plate appearances. He has struck out 27 times and only walked 7 but he has also been hit by a pitch 4 times. In 10 Stolen Base attempts, he has been caught 4 times for a 60% success rate.

 

Defensively, he has logged all 315.1 innings at SS with 156 chances resulting in 148 outs and 8 errrors for a .949 FPCT and a RF/9 of 4.22. He has also assisted in 17 double plays.

[bluechipper]

6 HR's now for Palacios after coming into this season with 4 in his career. With him still being just 20 years old, I wonder how much additional power he can come into. 

 

For comparison, Jorge Polanco played in CR at age 19, and he hit .308 with 5 HR's and an .813 OPS. Palacios is at a .922 OPS currently. They both put up similar numbers at Elizabethton in their age 18 breakout seasons too.

[Mike Sixel]

Exciting, for sure!

[goulik]

In 206 at bats, Palacios is hittting 3230/367/519 with an 886 OPS. He has slugged 10 doubles, 5 triples and 7 home runs. It looks like he needs to work on his base running as he has 8 stolen bases out of 15 attempts. He is also more of a swing the bat type guy as he only has 10 walks to 38 strike outs. That really stands out to me after just updating Lamonte Wades page.

 

Defensively, Palacios has a 957 FPCT which is his best % since coming over to the states. He has played all 440 inningns at SS and commited 9 errors on the season. He has also helped turn 24 Double Plays.

[goulik]

Palacios had a great day:

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/26277-article-twins-minor-league-report-69-palacios-tallies-13-total-bases/?do=findComment&comment=635640

 

He now has 12 doubles, 6 triples, and 10 Home runs. With all that, his slugging is still lower than his breakout 2015 season. His 327/368/566 slash does not have any career high numbers in it and his OBP is only higher than last years final OBP. He only has 10 walks to 40 Ks this year. Overall he has 75 career walks to 147 Ks so he is walking less than normal. To me, all of this suggests sustainability.

 

Also interesting to me is that Palacios has not played anywhere but SS the last two years after playing all four infield positions and LF in his first two seasons. To me this suggests that the brass see him as a SS and are going to give him all the time in the world to prove he belongs. I hope his FPCT can rise above the current .956 but that remains a career high FPCT since coming to the states. In 2017, He has 10 errors in 227 chances while turning 24 DPs

[goulik]

Palacios has been called up to High A after hitting 320/362/544 with a 907 OPS. He has hit 13 doubles, 6 triples, and 11 Home Runs. He walked only 12 times and struck out 46. Defensively, he played all 586 innings at SS. He committed 10 errors so far this year for a 961 FPCT

 

I expect that he will go through an adjustment period in FM.

[goulik]

Well, I have really been dropping the ball on keeping up with one of the Twins rising MiLB stars but here is an update:

 

Palacios is doing well at Fort Myers despite a recent slump. He is only hitting 218 with 8 hits in 37 at bats over the past 10 games. Despite his batting Average dropping 15 points in that span, his FM slash is still 297/319/400. I think he will be fine. He has accumulated 175 at bats with the Miracle striking out 38 times and only accepting 4 walks. That's normal for him, he never has walked much.

 

The unusual things for this year are still happening. He has added 2 more home runs and has his season total up to 13. He only had 4 CAREER home runs before this year. (He only hit 1 last year) Jermaine has 182 at bats more than any previous season. He has also stolen 10 more bases since his promotion raising his season total to19 stolen bases on the year. His previous high was 14 in the DSL (of course there are all those extra at bats he has had...)

 

Palacios continues to be used exclusively at SS which is a good sign. He has committed 5 errors since the promotion in 169 chances for a .970 FPCT.

 

I know a lot of people really like our recent draft picks, recognize what Gordon is doing, and understand our need for starting pitchers, but I really believe Palacios is right up there among our top 5 prospects in our organization.

[goulik]

Palacios ended up splitting his season right down the middle between CR and FM this year with 62 games for each team. He had a combined 296/333/454 slash with a 788 OPS but most of the power came before the promotion. His 544 slugging in Low A was offset by 359 in High A.

 

He stole 20 bases but was caught 15 times. Attempting to steal 35 bases was double any previous years attempts so both a skill he is working on and one that seems to be coming along.

 

Given his splits, Palacios is sure to begin next year in FM again but given his career trajectory I would not be surprised to see him in Chattanooga by mid season with a 2019 debut possible. With Palacios rise, Gordon as a trade piece becomes a reasonable strategy down the road. Personally, I believe Palacios could be the better of the two long term.

[goulik]

So. A month or so late but let's put a wrap on Palacios' season. He finished with a combined slash line of 296/333/454 for a 788 OPS but that was pulled way down by his FM slash of 269/303/359. What really stands out to me is the power difference. While slugging 13/6/11 2B/3B/HRs at CR, he only hit 8/4/2 at FM. He played 62 games for each club so he is still obviously adjusting to the higher level (and what is considered a pitchers league)

Defensively, there was no fall off. His stats are nearly identical at both levels and his FPCT was identical at .961 at both levels.

When on base, Palacios was much more aggressive than in previous years. He stole 20 bases and was caught 15 times. That's almost triple the attempts from previous seasons (including both healthy seasons).

I think the most important thing Palacios did this year was staying healthy. If he can stay healthy, Palacios should be a fast riser on prospect lists. In a few years I see him replacing Gordon or whoever else is in front of him at Short Stop and becoming the long term solution there. Palacios and Polanco make Gordon a viable trade piece for starting pitching this off season and viable replacement for Dozier down the line (after his 2-3 year extension expires)

Next season, expect Palacios to return to FM until somewhere around the draft when he will be promoted to AA. Personally, I could see him as a call up sometime in 2019 (September?) and pushing for a full time 25 man roster spot in 2020.

[goulik]

Quoted from Twins website: Organizational All Stars

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/stephen-gonsalves-john-curtiss-ready-to-contribute/c-261941320

 

Shortstop -- Jermaine Palacios, Cedar Rapids (62 games), Fort Myers (62 games): Palacios rebounded from a poor 2016 at Cedar Rapids, adding almost 100 points to his batting average by hitting .320 with the Kernels and nearly doubling his slugging percentage to .544 -- numbers that would have finished second and first, respectively, in the Midwest League over a full season. The No. 25 prospect in the system, he had a tough time adjusting after moving up to Class A Advanced Fort Myers but still hit .269 and stole 11 bases, and if his personal history is any indication, he should take a step forward in his second tour of the Florida State League next year.

"We feel real good about the [shortstop] position. We added [top overall pick] Royce Lewis, we have Nick Gordon ahead of JP and we have Wander Javier who's just now getting his feet on the ground in the states," Radcliff said. "We've got a lot of guys with upside and ceiling, and [Palacios] had the best year of all those guys. He did the most damage offensively and continues to show that he'll be able to stay at short, which was our concern."