Ockimey might be the highest regarded bat in the entire Rule 5 draft, major-league ready or not. He hasn’t impressed past AA yet, so he could see some early season struggles and would definitely fit better with a rebuilding team. He has major swing and miss issues and may have to be a platoon bat based on his .564 OPS against left-handers. Additionally, his ceiling is limited due to only having the defensive ability to play 1st base or DH. Even with all these concerns, Ockimey represents an intriguing option. Not only does he has 60, maybe 70-grade raw power, but he has walked at least 10% of the time in every season of his professional career. He is able to hit it out to all fields, even. He may not be as valuable as his name value suggests, but I can’t imagine no team takes a flyer on him, as they could see a Justin Bour-type player in him.
The Brewers may still be holding out hope that the mustached former 2nd round pick can stick it as a starting pitcher, but for any team that wants to add him to their Opening Day roster now, he can become a reliever now and skip past AAA. As he split innings as a starter and reliever in 2018, his K/9 jumped up by 2.6 as a reliever, which tells you how he will translate. MLBPipeline.com had him rated as the Brewers 17th ranked prospect at midseason, noting that he can throw all 4 of his pitches for strikes. Not many relievers utilize 4 pitches (Victor Arano, Collin McHugh, and Jeremy Jeffress come to mind), but either way, Ponce seems to be able to translate.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
