Jaff Decker is Fine

Padres top prospect Jaff Decker’s .224/.298/.403 line may set off some alarm bells, particularly given that he’s in the Cal League.

But don’t worry.

I was worried in May when he had a very un-Jaff Decker-like 25/3 K/BB in 15 games, not to mention a .140/.210/.263 batting line.

But really, it’s just that month–which can be attributed to post-injury rust–that’s dragging him down. Decker’s hitting .286/.360/.506 in June, which is closer to last year’s .299/.442/.514. He’s still got some work to do with the plate discipline, but he tightened up the K/BB to 19/10 this month, and has said he still believes in having a patient approach, so we’re not dealing with a situation where he’s forcefully changed his hitting mentality.

So just relax. He’s 20 years old and has put up solid numbers aside from his first three weeks. Jaff Decker still projects as a very solid major league player.