Izaac Pacheco is a six-foot-four 225-pound shortstop out of Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas. Pacheco hits from the left-hand side of the plate and throws with his right. During his senior year of high school, Pacheco batted to a .543/.654/.956 slash line for the Mustangs. To add to those numbers, he was second on his team with 12 doubles, first with four triples, and was tied for the team lead with six home runs. Pacheco also batted in 45 runs, stole 23 bases, and scored 41 runs. The athletic infielder has committed to play baseball at Texas A&M University if he decides not to turn pro. MLB ranks Izaac Pacheco as number 30 on its draft board.
Strengths
Izaac Pacheco has a number of strengths and most of them stem from his athleticism. He has a great arm and is able to make throws on the run that are on target. This helped him as a shortstop in high school and will help him as a third baseman at the professional level. Pacheco’s frame is probably too large to be able to stay at shortstop for long in the pros – especially if he continues to develop muscle and add weight onto his athletic frame. MLB.com shows Pacheco’s arm graded at a 60 out of 80.
Pacheco also has a lot of power for a player his age. He is coming out of high school and MLB.com already has his power rated at a 55 out of 80. Izaac has a long time to continue to develop his power, due to his young age, and should be able to add some more pop to his bat. His athletic frame will likely add strength and power in virtue of the aging process. It is also possible for a drafting team, or Texas A&M, to make adjustments to Pacheco’s swing in order to add power at some point in his career.
Weaknesses
MLB.com lists both Pacheco’s hit and run grades as 45 out of 80 on his scouting report. These are the lowest grades in his scouting report. But, Pacheco stole 30 bases in 71 games from 2017-2020 during the summer circuit. Seven of those stolen bases came during 18 games played heading into his senior year. But, as mentioned above, it’s likely that Pacheco will be adding weight as he matures as an adult. This may hinder his overall speed and agility as his career progresses. In terms of Izaac’s hitting grade, he has a lot of time to work on his hitting in the minors, or at Texas A&M, depending upon what he ultimately chooses to do.
MLB Comp
If Izaac Pacheco continues to develop at the same rate, he could turn out to be like a left-hand hitting Scott Rolen. Rolen played 17 years in the majors with seven of those years being played with the Philadelphia Phillies. In Rolen’s 17 years, he batted to a .281/.364/.490 slash line and averaged 25 home runs and 102 runs batted in per 162 games played. But there is a lot of work to be done in order for Pacheco to become great like Rolen was. Rolen’s third base fielding was outstanding and he won eight gold gloves in his illustrious career. Pacheco’s athleticism and arm should allow him to barehand slow rollers to third and make accurate throws across his body. He has performed the same throws at shortstop, but time will tell whether or not Pacheco can make those plays at the hot corner – and at the professional level.
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