Rank History
| Year | Team | Position | Team Rank | OFP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | MIA | 1B | 8 | 45 |
Grades Update: May 2021
| OFP | Role | Hit | Power | Field | Arm | Run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45 | 40 | 45 | 50 | 60 | 50 | 30 |
May 2021 Report
Evaluator: Jake Martin
Age: 24 yr
Height: 6-4
Weight: 217 lbs
Hits/Throws: L/L
Acquired: 2013 IFA (MIN)
RuleV: On 40-Man Roster
Physical Description: 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame. As strange as it may sound, it looks like he could still add additional muscle. Despite his large size, he looks moderately wiry, and could add mass. Lost too much weight before the 2018 season and regained muscle going into the 2019 season.
Hit: Moderately open stance with low hands by waist. Pretty upright with a little bit of plate lean. Knees point together and fairly narrow base. Large leg lift before striding towards the pitcher. Hands stay low during leg lift which is pretty rare. Swing is mostly hands, could use a lot more of his lower body. Back knee points towards ball as he hits it and clears his back leg forward during and after contact, but would get a lot more force into the ball if he got his back leg closer to the ground to utilize his strong lower half. Creates opposite field contact on fly balls by under-rotating back leg. Lots of pull side ground balls and line drives. During Diaz's first professional season, he walked more than he struck out. While he still strikes out less than average, he has been more strikeout prone in recent seasons. Really aggressive at the plate, does not walk very often. During limited big league time in 2020, he struck out 29% of the time and walked 5% of the time. Those are clearly numbers that would not find sustainable big league success. Grade: 45
Power: Diaz generates average to above-average Major League pop. His swing plane is pretty level, especially since he uses mostly hands and not a ton of lower half. He hits the ball hard thanks to his massive size and bat speed. Diaz does possess some athleticism but not a lot of top speed. Most of his extra base hits are in part to how hard he hits the ball. The main thing holding back is the use of his lower half and his swing plane. He could make more contact and hit the ball in the air more if he used his strong lower half, driving knee down towards the ball and moving forward through contact. Grade: 50
Field: Solid defensive first baseman. Has shown plus skills defensively including footwork, hands, and reactions. His athleticism greatly assists with his fielding ability. Might deteriorate with age if he adds on more size to his massive frame. Might be worth it to sacrifice some defensive skills for power and hitting anyways. Grade: 60
Arm: Not that an arm is all that important over at first base, but Diaz has an average arm. Plays similarly to other major league first basemen in terms of power, strength, and accuracy. Grade: 50
Run: Typically given average or slightly below-average marks running, which is fairly typical for a first baseman. However, during his short amount of time in the Major Leagues in 2020, he was ranked at the 8th percentile among players for sprint speed. Not a burner by any means and will most likely get slower with age. Grade: 30
Overall: If all of the above tools were for a player who played shortstop or catcher, they would be on pace to be a Major League starter. However, Lewin Diaz is an average hitting first baseman who did not do well during his Major League debut. There is some value attributed to being an average hitter and an above-average defender at first base but not a lot of upside if that description paints the whole picture. Diaz could improve his upside and value if he makes a swing adjustment utilizing his lower half more effectively. He has made adjustments in his career and does have strength and athleticism in his frame so it is completely possible for Diaz to contribute more value. As for now, he is sort of a high floor, low ceiling guy.
OFP: 45
Role: 40 - Second Division Regular
Risk: Moderate
