Top 50 Twins Prospects 2009: #22 Jason Pridie

2009 Top 50 Twins Prospects | #22 | Jason Pridie

Position | Outfield

Bats/Throws | Left/Right

Born | October 9, 1983 (Phoenix, Arizona)

School | Prescott High School

Height | 6'1''

Weight | 200 lbs.

2008 Ranking | 14




Breakdown
Jason Pridie was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2002 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. After the 2005 season, the Twins selected him in the December Rule V Draft but with no room on the roster, the Twins sent him back to the Tampa Bay Rays after Spring Training. The Twins later re-acquired him last November along with fellow outfielder Delmon Young and infielder Brendan Harris in exchange for pitchers Matt Garza and Eduardo Morlan as well as infielder Jason Bartlett.

Pridie had a good spring training last season, but manager Ron Gardenhire preferred him as "more of a role guy" and decided to take him out of the competition for the starting center field job. Pridie strikes out a lot which negatively effects his on-base percentage. Other than that he is a very good all-around player. He drives the ball well, he has outstanding speed and has great defense in all three outfield spots. Unfortunately for Pridie, he is the 6th outfield option for the Twins at this point, but he could probably start on quite a few other ball clubs. Last season, it was a tale of two halfs for Pridie. In the first half of the season, he hit .243/.276/.392 with 29 XBH's in 375 AB's. But in the second half, he hit .326/.364/.522 with 21 XBH's in 184 AB's. Quite the difference. Pridie is just looking for an opportunity and I think he'll be able to handle an everyday job at the major league level if given a fair opportunity. Unfortunately, I don't know if that will ever happen with the Twins.

2008 Statistics

Level      G     PA     AVG     OBP     SLG     XBH     HR      SB

AAA      126    502    .270    .305    .435      50     13      25
MLB       10    603    .000    .200    .000       0      0       0

2009 Outlook
Pridie will probably not make the roster out of Spring Training. He has great range and would be a perfect #4 outfielder for any ballclub, but the Twins already have a logjam of outfielders on the major league roster. He'll start the season in Rochester (barring injuries) but I expect him back back up with the Twins at somepoint in 2009 though.

Video
Not Available

Estimated Time of Arrival
2008