Ahuna is a sophmore SS at KU who has taken massive strides in his development after an impressive freshman campaign in the Big 12. In 2021 he slashed .314/.413/.422 while playing solid defense up the middle. When I went back to watch him this year, I was pleasantly surprised to see a little more strength on his bones and a swing with much more aggression and power producing traits such as a more pronounced leg kick and a slightly steeper path through the zone.
Upon this writing and with one game left in his season, Ahuna is slashing .394/.469/.637 so he hasn’t only made significant aesthetic changes to his stroke at the plate, but they are showing up in his production in game action. I don’t ever see him getting plus grades thrown on his defense in the future, but he’s a quick-twitch athlete with quality hands and enough arm strength to stay at SS long-term which is an incredibly appealing feature of Ahuna’s profile as well.
Ahuna still has a very lean, medium frame with plenty of room to fill out in coming years and still not have to worry it moves him off SS because of that added weight/strength. If you show up to BP, Ahuna will surprise you as he already will show 50-grade raw juice, with his most impressive power coming to the center of the field. His BB rate and OBP this will catch some eyes, but it’s important to remember he was really the only significant threat in KU’s lineup, so a lot of teams didn’t even bother and gave him his free passes. With that being said, I think he’ll produce average wak rates and show ML average plate discipline in his pro career. He’s consistently given me 55 run times from home to first and doesn’t lose that speed underway either.
I’m confident in saying I was higher than most on Ahuna last season and I would have been comfortable projecting him as a high-quality utility infielder (40 future value) at the ML level in his peak. However, after his adjustments at the plate that has led to more slugging in his game as well his continued defensive development make me comfortable putting a future 50 future value on him and would count on him being a late first round draft pick once he’s eligible in the 2023 MLB Draft.
