Scouting Video: Keon Barnum, 1B, #48 White Sox (2012 Draft)
By The Baseball Beginnings Guy
June 12, 2012
Keon Barnum is a kid with projection in front of him. I only saw him once and felt his raw power was his best tool. You take a look at these swings and you see why I put that on him: quick hands, big hands and forearms, big shoulders, strong chest. The swing here had a big, sweeping upper cut, which is where you dream on your power. As I have said here often, I frequently grow sick of the phrase “leverage” for power hitters. It’s a word of the day, and it’s something stupid from amateur baseball. I can name you 100 big league hitters with great leverage and no pop. So for me, power comes from the hands, the wrists, the forearms, the shoulders, the chest. Most of your high school guys with raw power have to trim their swings a touch when they get to pro ball, and that’s so they can defend the inner half. But guys like this show the swing path, strength and quickness that allow you to dream on a middle-order bat. The rest, as we say in this here wild and crazy business, is up to the kid.
