First impressions: Mason House
Mason House was one of the Padres top draft picks in 2017 and he’s had some quality at-bats with the Dust Devils so far this year, but let’s start with the important stuff.
The ‘stache.
Unfortunately, some people have no taste and no class:
Mason, as a periodic fellow bristle-bearer, I have to say, “Thank you for shutting that guy up.”
Besides being ready for the Dust Devils’ upcoming Tom Selleck Night promotion, Mason’s hoping to take a big step forward in developing his talent this year while with the Dust Devils.
Mason was an early-round 2017 draft pick out of high school, Mason House was the Padres #78 overall pick, taken in the second round.
Mason shows some signs of developing into the hitter the Padres drafted him as, posting a quality slash line of .293/.354/.463 in rookie ball last year. Unfortunately, he struck out a lot last year (37% — twice the MLB average) and thus far this year, he’s faced the same challenge, striking out in about 40% of his at-bats.
Last year’s positive numbers were likely overinflated by a high BABIP (.484) and this year he’s been hit hard with the regression stick, posting a .222 BABIP that’s saddled him with a sub-.200 batting average. (BABIP stands for batting average on balls in play. The league average hovers around .300, and players with numbers that are significantly lower that that tend to be victims of bad luck, while those with higher batting averages tend to be getting some lucky bounces. There are other factors that play, like speed and ability to adjust to the defense, but generally this notion holds true.)
A .167 batting average through eight games isn’t pretty, but it’s nothing to panic over. We’re still very early in the season. Mason’s still working out the rough spots in his game, but the talent is there — and the data shows it.
In the first few games, he led the team in percentage of hits that were line drives. Combine that with his low percentage of ground balls and you get some winning at bats like the one after he was heckled for his mustache and this one:
Mason’s considered to have a high ceiling. Prospect analyst John Sicke called him a “high risk, high reward bat.”
Mason’s attitude? “As long as I get better everyday, I’ll be happy.”
And still just 19 with years of time left to develop his game, he’ll have plenty of time in the Padres system to work on improving on his numbers.
Here’s one scouting report on him from the 2017 draft:
House is an excellent athlete with a projectable 6-foot-2 frame. His loose swing helps him generate solid pop, and his outfield defense and speed are above average. Question marks surround House due to the lower level of competition he faced in East Texas and the fact that he hasn’t built up much experience using wood bats yet, but some scouts think that he could develop into a plus-hitting corner outfielder after getting a taste of professional pitching.
This other draft recap adds:
The left-handed thrower and hitter grades above average in all the intangibles. Reports are that he carries himself really well and should be able to progress despite only being 18. House has the attributes to be a star in the league.
The mustache is definitely one of them.
