Brett Jackson, once a top prospect , has somewhat fallen off the board in the past year and a half. Back in 2011 MLB.com ranked Jackson 2nd in the organization among prospects and 3rd in 2012. This year, however, he has fallen down to 13th in the Cubs system. This is due to his performance last year and mostly due to his very poor performance this season. Last season Brett earned a call-up to the major league team and in 44 games he hit .175/.303/.342 with 4 home runs.
The most concerning part about his small stay in the majors was the amount of times he was striking out. In those 44 games he struck out 41.5% of the time which totaled 59 strikeouts in 142 plate appearances. This is seeming to be a growing concern for Jackson as he carried over the strikeouts to this season. In AAA Iowa he was striking out at a 31.8% rate in 61 games, where he was then demoted to AA Tennessee where he was striking out at a rate of 35.5% in 25 games.
For Jackson to be an above average player at the major league level he needs to get the strikeouts down. But, there is still hope yet for the left handed outfielder! One thing that he does extremely well is walk. His walk rate last season at Iowa was 10.1% in 106 games. This season at Tennessee he’s walking at a rate of 12.9%. Because of this attribute the Cubs front office hasn’t given up on Jackson. Jed and Theo love guys who can get on base and make things happen, and that’s exactly what Jackson can do. Brett can also steal bases. He stole 26 bases and was only caught 5 times last season in AAA. Another thing he can do is hit for some power. Last year he hit 15 home runs, 22 doubles, and 12 triples at Iowa in those 106 games.
Brett Jackson is a player the Cubs need in the future, so hopefully he can get back on track and limit his strikeouts. If he can do that, then he should have a long major league career ahead of him.
Cubbie Little League 