26. Jayce Boyd, 1B
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 185
DOB: 12/30/1990 (Age: 22)
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Hit: 50/55+ Power: 40/45 Arm: 60/60 Field: 60/60 Speed: 35/40
A sixth round pick in 2012, Jayce Boyd is a talented young first baseman with a lot of potential. He can swing a pretty potent bat, as evidenced by his .330/.410/.461 slash across Savannah and St. Lucie in 2013. At the time of his promotion from Savannah, he was batting .361 and was tearing the cover off the ball. In 458 combined at-bats, he banged out nine home runs, two triples, and 29 doubles with a solid 61:61 BB:K ratio. He drove in an impressive 83 runs as well.
Although Boyd has the build for tremendous power, he doesn’t always show it at the plate. He does, however, always threaten with gap power at the least. He has been working on cutting down his strikeouts, and it shows in the fact that he has been able to sustain a high average in his recent work in the minor leagues. If you combine that with the fact that he’s a plus-defender overall at first base — good arm, good hands, good range — you find the makings of a pretty solid first baseman.
Outlook: Boyd has a pretty advanced approach at the plate and a sweet swing, for the most part. I think, at the time of being drafted, Alex Nelson at Amazin Avenue compared him to J.T. Snow and I’d be lying if I said I could think of a better ceiling than that one. A great defender with average to above-average offensive talent, turning out to be J.T. Snow would be pretty awesome. I’m guilty of not giving Boyd enough credit at times, partially because I fall into the trap of hoping for more power out of him — but that doesn’t discredit the fact that he’s a solid player overall. He should find himself in Binghamton this year, taking over the spot left by Allan Dykstra — and hopefully finding similar success.
MMN Top 40 Prospects
26. Jayce Boyd
Didn¨t he have surgery after the season for some arm/shoulder thing that prevented him from playing the field the last month or so? Any word on how that went?
Let’s also keep in mind that Boyd was playing with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and instructed not to throw from the end of June on. He played DH exclusively after 6/28, IIRC. It’s certainly possible that the condition negatively affected his swing, as well.