Last week, Laura Holt said “there could be a little deep-league intrigue here” regarding Jeremiah Jackson. And Laura is THE deep league queen. Then our Great Leader Grey wrote up Jackson in both the Monday and Tuesday recaps. “There’s no hotter schmotato right now in all of baseball. You need to get in on the Jeremiah hot streak. Jeremiah was a bullfrog, and he’s giving me RBIets!” Grey truly is the GOAT. All Jeremiah has done over the last four games is hit three home runs, score five times, and drive in seven. Since making his season debut on August 1st, Jackson has notched a hit in 23 of 28 games. In two of the five games in which he failed to get a hit, he only received one plate appearance as a pinch hitter. He currently has a 13-game hitting streak. It’s time for Son to do his thing.
Jackson is 25 years old, 5′ 11″, 165 pounds, and bats from the right side. He was selected in the second round of the 2018 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Angels. He was traded to the New York Mets after five seasons, then was scooped up by the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent in 2024.
Early on in his minor league career, the strikeout rate was often above 30% while the ISO was in the high-.200s. Once he reached Double-A, the walk rate settled in the 10% range, the strikeout rate was in the high-20s, and the ISO was around .190. His best season was in 2023 when he hit 22 home runs and stole 27 bases in 500 plate appearances.
With Baltimore this season, Jackson has accrued 189 plate appearances in Double-A, 171 in Triple-A, and 106 in MLB. In the minors, the walk rate was cut in half to 4.2% while the strikeout rate plummeted to 14.2%. The power remained robust with a .224 ISO.
In the majors, the slash is .333/.358/.539 with four home runs, 15 runs, and 17 RBI. The walk rate is 3.8%, strikeout rate is 23.6% and ISO is .206. After batting towards the bottom of the lineup, he’s now hit second in the last 13 games.
The most obvious thing that jumps off the page is the .411 BABIP. He’s been extremely lucky, so regression is coming. But that could come next year. Let’s dig in.
The average exit velocity is 90.6 mph, barrel rate is 9.1% and the hard hit rate is 48.1%. All good numbers, so no worries here.
Jackson has a 51.9% ground ball rate and is pulling the ball 40.3% of the time. His ground ball rate was in the 40% area for much of his minor league career, but he did have a high HR/FB rate. That number is at 14.8% so far in the majors. The ground balls coupled with the high BABIP doesn’t make me feel tingly inside, especially with a 52nd percentile sprint speed.
The swinging strike rate is 12.4% while the chase rate is 37%. I’ve learned to appreciate and not ding batters too much in these areas, especially if they are hitting for huge power. But I’m not going to lie and say it’s all sunshine and unicorns.
The 71.9 mph bat speed isn’t elite, but it’s still pretty good.
As for pitch mix, he’s seen sliders 30.9% of the time, and he’s been crushing the pitch, as the 6.9 run value is the highest. He’s seen fastballs 22.8% of the time, and the run value is -0.3.
We know pitchers are always poking and prodding for weaknesses. I have a not-so-sneaky suspicion that Jackson will start seeing fewer sliders and get challenged more with fastballs. It’s well within the range of outcomes that it takes time to adjust. Then he could go hitless, get moved down the order, and possibly be sent back to the minors. Or he continues to mash and leads you to fantasy glory. I have no idea how things transpire, but there are some obvious concerns that need to be entered into the equation.
