The San Diego Padres added yet another intriguing prospect to their stacked system. As part of a three-team trade, the Padres ended up with outfielder Taylor Trammell. Trammell entered the year as MLB Pipeline’s 30th prospect and has an incredibly bright future in the league. While he has yet to appear above the AA level, Trammell possesses the bat and raw athleticism to one day develop into an everyday major league starter.
Scouting Report: Taylor Trammell
The first thing that stands out with Trammell is his size. At 6’2” and 215 pounds, Trammel has the ideal build for an outfielder. While he doesn’t have the best game power, he boasts borderline elite speed on the basepaths and as a fielder. Prospects 1500 recorded him going from home to first in 4.07 seconds, which is obviously an impressive feat. He has the speed to turn singles into doubles and has advanced knowledge of the basepaths. Trammell has recorded 17 steals already in 2018 and stole a career-high 41 in 2017. While it’s obviously easier to steal bases against minor-league competition, this skill should translate to the major league level.
Of course, Trammell is more than just a fast set of legs. The 21-year-old boasts an adequate hit tool with ideal patience at the plate. While he doesn’t project as a power hitter, he tends to pull the ball towards the right side of the diamond. He can hit it the other way, but he’ll need to do it with more regularity if he’s to advance his career.
Defensively, Trammell has the raw skills to be an everyday outfielder, but he still needs more time to harness his skill. As previously mentioned, Trammell has elite speed and can get to just about anything hit in his zip code. However, he still needs to work on tracking the ball and he doesn’t have an elite arm. He’ll probably end up as a corner outfielder, as he doesn’t quite have the natural gifts required for center field.
The Numbers
Taylor Trammell currently owns a .236/.350/.338 slash line with a corresponding 108 wRC+ through 377 plate appearances in AA. The average and slugging percentage are obviously lower than preferred, but his high walk rate makes him above-average at getting on base. His 14.3% walk rate is far better than the average minor leaguer, and he’s maintained a similar rate throughout his minor league career.
From a sustainability standpoint, Trammell’s current stat line doesn’t appear to be affected by luck. His .298 BABIP falls right around league-average, meaning that he isn’t getting particularly lucky or unlucky with balls put in play. He strikes out at a 22.5% clip, which isn’t that bad for today’s game. Minor league baseball doesn’t track ground ball or contact data, so we cannot determine how Trammell has hit the ball this year.
Throughout the course of his minor league career, Trammell has a .273/.367/.408 slash line with a corresponding 121 wRC+ in 1,662 plate appearances. These numbers are slightly inflated by his career .347 BABIP, which will inevitably go down as his career progresses. Trammell is so fast on the basepaths that he was able to beat low-minors defense for ground ball singles. These types of hits will go away as his career progresses, and we’re already seeing that in AA.
Taylor Trammell might have some holes in his game, but he’s MLB Pipeline’s 30th prospect for a reason. He’s one of the best athletes in baseball and has a great all-around skillset. He’s got fantastic plate discipline and can change the outcome of any game on the basepaths. While he doesn’t have an elite arm or the most power, he should be a major league regular within the next two years.
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