Hit: 45/60
Plate Discipline: 50/55
Raw Power: 45/50
Game Power: 35/45
Run: 50/50
Fielding: 45/50
Arm Strength: 45/45
Athleticism: 50/50
Future Value: 50 (average everyday player)
As I’ve been watching Spring Training games daily of any team that has a televised broadcast, several of those have been Dodgers games. Jorbit Vivas is a Minor Leaguer in their system who has been getting an AB or two at the end of many of their games and he’s really stood out to me in a positive way.
Vivas stands only 5-foot-10 and looks to be physically mature enough that there’s very little to project on the frame for the future going into his age-22 season. Vivas spent all of 2022 in Great Lakes (A+) where he posted a .269/.374/.401 slash and a 63/58 BB/K ratio with 10 HR and 36 XBH total.
Although Vivas lacks physical projection, there’s a particular aspect of his game that especially intrigues me, and that’s his bat-to-ball skills. Vivas put up a ridiculous 89% in-zone contact rate in 2022 and he does so with especially aggressive intent in his strokes, which is rare out of contact-oriented hitters.
At the plate, Vivas works out of a square stance with a slight knee-bend and high back elbow setup. He utilizes a leg lift trigger and has a medium hand load that brings his bat to a vertical position. Vivas has a high slot-entry when his hands fire and does a nice job of staying balanced throughout his stroke, which tends to have aggressive intent behind it. His bat path has a significant amount of loft in it while still being adjustable to handle different quadrants of the zone.
Along with Vivas innate ability to put balls in play, he’s also shown advanced plate discipline in his Minor League career, especially the last two seasons. In 2021 he walked 12.7% of the time and then last season he did so 11.1% of the time. I see Vivas having a plus hit tool at the ML level in the future, with the potential to also provide solid-average on-base value.
Vivas has the ability to spray hard contact to all-fields of the diamond and has more than enough pull-side juice to leave the yard on down and in pitches especially. The contacts I spoke with graded Vivas’ raw power during BP in the fringe-average to average range, but Vivas strikes me as one of those players who tend to show more juice in game action rather than pre-game BP. I don’t see Vivas being a banger at the ML level, but I think he’ll be capable of putting up 45-grade (17-20 HR) game-power while producing most of his power in the form of doubles and triples.
I couldn’t find much video of Vivas on the defensive side of the ball from years past, so I relied on the contacts I have that have seen Vivas live in the past year. Entering the 2023 season, Vivas has played 205 games at 2B and 106 at 3B, but every scout contact I spoke with sees the keystone position as his permanent home in the future, citing a fringe-average arm and Vivas looking much more comfortable at 2B.
If you made it this far, it’s probably apparent I’m high on Vivas and believe he’s going to provide enough offensive production especially to eventually be an average, every day second baseman. He’s definitely a name I plan on following closely throughout Spring Training and throughout the Minor League season. All signs point to him beginning the 2023 season in the Texas League at the Dodgers affiliate club in Tulsa.