Jon Denney

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Jon Denney
 

 
Height: 6'2
Weight: 205 lbs
DOB: 9/28/1994
High School: Yukon High School (Oklahoma)
Committed to: Arkansas
Signing Date: 6/14/13 
Signing Bonus: $875,000.00
Pick/Slot: 81/$671,200.00
Position: Catcher
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
BA Draft Class Rank: 25
Soxprospects.com Initial Rank: 16
 
 
Baseball America snippets: 
 

The Red Sox have agreed to terms on an $875,000 bonus with third-rounder Jonathan Denney, contingent on him passing a physical. That’s well in excess of the $671,200 assigned value for his No. 81 slot and more reflective of his status as the draft’s third-best catcher.
 
Among backstops, Denney ranked behind only first-round choices Ryan McGuire (No. 14, Pirates) and Nick Ciuffo (No. 21, Rays). Denney had a chance to go in the first round as well but unexpectedly lasted until the second day of the draft.
A product of Yukon (Okla.) High, Denney starred on the showcase circuit last summer, repeatedly showing above-average power. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder also has solid arm strength and still is cleaning up his receiving. He had committed to Arkansas.

 
 

Denney established himself as a potential first-round pick with his performance on the showcase circuit last summer, highlighted by a 431-foot homer at the Area Code Games and a 2-for-3 day with a double at the Under Armour All-American Game. Denney's calling card is his righthanded power, which he generates with quality bat speed and strength. He may have to tone down his aggressive approach when he faces better pitching in college (he's an Arkansas recruit) or pro ball, however. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder should provide enough offense to profile at first base if he can't stick at catcher, but that shouldn't be an issue. Denney has solid arm strength, though he needs to refine his footwork to get the most out of his throws. He has the hands to be an effective receiver and moves well behind the plate. Denney's bat speed and stock were down a little, but he still has a good chance to become just the second Oklahoma high school catcher taken in the first round, after Darrell Porter was the No. 4 overall choice in 1970.

 
mlb.com snippet: 
 

Scouting Grades* (present/future): Hit: 4/6 | Power: 5/6 | Run: 4/4 | Arm: 6/6 | Field: 4/5 | Overall: 4/6
 
In a deep class of high school catchers, there might be other names who have gotten more attention to date, but Denney could be as good, if not better, than all of them when all is said and done.
Denney has the complete package for the position, with advanced receiving skills and a plus arm. He has some power in his bat as well and showed off his offensive skills at the Area Code Games over the summer.
He continued showing all-around ability both at and behind the plate during his senior year, moving him past other prep backstops on this list.

 
Over The Monster Article
 
ESPN Article
 
Denny will be starting the season with the club's GCL affiliate the Gulf Coast Red Sox. (Jet Blue Park)
 

Jon Denney #26 @jondenney26 



 




Headed to Florida!! Starting Rookie ball in Jet Blue Stadium! #blessed#excitedtostartmydream twitter.com/jondenney26/st…

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Soxprospects.com has a page up for him here: http://www.soxprospects.com/players/denney-jon.htm
 
Their scouting report:

[SIZE=8pt]Athletic catcher with plus power. Very high ceiling. Good bat speed.
     Projects to have average to above-average hit tool. Defense lags behind
     the bat at this point, but the tools are there to be an above-average
     defensive catcher.  Strong arm but throwing mechanics could use some
     work. Athleticism should allow him to move to a corner outfield spot in
     the future if needed. Committed to the University of Arkansas.[/SIZE]

 
His high school line this year.
 
459/600/991 (That's AVG/OBP/SLG)

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

In Denny's first game he went 1 for 3 with a walk, a run driven in on a single and a stolen base.
 
Slash line starts at 333/500/333.
 
Edit: He stole a base!

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

After two games, he has 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 RBI, 1 run and 1 SB for a 400/625/400 line.
 
I'll probably do weekly updates from here on out but he's off to a great start in his first two games.  It's nice to see him come out of the gate hot.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

After 6 games his slash line is 278/435/389.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Denney played in two more games this past week and saw his slash line drop slightly to 273/429/364.  That OBP has his wOBA and wRC+ sitting pretty at .397 and 142 respectively.  He's currently sporting a 21.4% walk rate and a 25% strike out rate.  Obviously the SSS flag is being flown high right now.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

216/396/297.  He's showing good patience and plate discipline, but no real power yet.  The batting average is low, which may mean he's not doing much when he does decide to swing, but being able to lay off bad pitches early in his career is a good sign.  He was playing against high school pitchers two months ago, so this is a big leap and will require some adjustment.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Denny's average continues to plummet.  He had a rough week at the plate.
 
176/354/235 on the season (17 games and 51 ABs).  Over the last ten games he's at 121/293/152.  Hopefully he adjusts soon, but it's possible we won't see him take a real step forward with the bat until the 2014 season.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

188/342/234.  Average up a tick, everything else down a tick.  He played in 4 more games bringing him up to 24.  Still no home runs, and only 3 doubles to date.  23 strikeouts and 14 walks in 76 PAs for a 30.3% strikeout rate and an 18.4% walk rate.  Obviously he needs to get the strikeouts down, but he's walking at a decent clip.  It looks pretty clear that he's simply over matched and isn't making contact when he swings.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Apparently I had his games played in wrong since he played in 5 games this week and is at 26 total according to milb.com and fangraphs.  His line improved to 203/379/243.  He walked 4 times and struck out 6.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Denney has not played since the last update, but ESPN had a piece up about him on the 22nd.
 
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/30409/ball-denney-adjusting-to-pro-life-in-gcl

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Rant Sports did a piece on Denney.
 

He has the highest ceiling of any catcher in the Red Sox system, despite there being a catcher higher in this countdown.

 
That's the first time I've seen anyone suggest his ceiling is higher than Swihart's.  Of course, this is a site that has Bryce Brentz in the top 10 and ranks Allen Webster number 3.  So take it with a grain of salt.  Even still, after a rough debut, it's nice to see someone saying something nice about Denney... even if I'd never heard of the site before.

 

[Pearl Wilson]

He seems to have some growing up to do.
 

Denney, 19, was arrested at 2:22 a.m., at least his second run-in with law enforcement in the last three months. Police had pulled him over at 11:57 p.m. Wednesday night after he "accelerated quickly," causing his Ford F-150 Raptor to fishtail, according to the report. Denney furnished a license that was restricted for business and emergency purposes after an alleged DUI in Arkansas, the report said.

When asked by police why he was in the Fort Myers Beach area, Denney, according to police, replied: "Partying and looking to get some [expletive]."
Police issued a citation, according to the report, and Denney called a friend to drive him home.

About two hours later, the report said, police saw Denney enter his truck and drive out of a parking lot. When pulled over and asked why he was driving, Denney said he was giving a woman a ride, according to the report. "Denney then became belligerent and started to cuss" at the police officers, the report said.

According to police, Denney said "he was a Boston Red Sox player and he didn't care [sic] he had money and made more money than we would ever see." When handcuffed, the report said, Denney said "he would be out in no time because of who he played for and that he made three million a year."

 
Passan

 

[Jimy Hendrix]

He's a kid so there's hope he grows out of it, but anyone who pulls out the "I make more money than you so fuck you!" card is a first class asshole, and anyone who does it to cops is a moron to boot.

 

[Jack Sox]

Yeah, I hope the Sox consider giving him the Josh Sale treatment and send him home indefinitely. There's entitlement and then there's what Denney pulled.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

This isn't new news, but it's worth adding to the thread.  The Sox put together a program for Denney to help him work through the problems he's having.
 
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2014/03/red_sox_intend_to_help_jon_denney_following_his_ar.html
 
They don't appear to have said more since then, so it might be a while before anything worth mentioning hits the public consciousness.  Hopefully Denny realizes his future is at stake here, faces up to his shortcomings and works to better himself as a person.  Maybe then he'll be able to focus on getting his career on track.

 

[soxhop411]

Chris Hatfield ‏@SPChrisHatfield  2m
Right on cue, was apparently activated today. (Will admit I thought he wasn't playing this yr "@MCFADDEN08 What's the deal with Jon Denney?"
 
https://twitter.com/SPChrisHatfield/status/488770431432658944
 
Where will the Sox place him?

 

[mabrowndog]

Where will the Sox place him?

 
GCL, which gives them 5 catchers at that affiliate. So they'll probably be moving Ben Moore up to Lowell shortly.

 

[mabrowndog]

It's been just over a week without him having seen any game action yet, and now there's this from Sox Prospects:
 

Chris Hatfield @SPChrisHatfield  ·  43m

The Red Sox have placed Jon Denney back on the Restricted List. One gets the feeling that it's just not going to happen there.
 
Chris Hatfield @SPChrisHatfield  ·  41m

[There's a] scouting saying that makeup is the hardest thing to scout. Looks like this might be case where that proved true.

 
Chris Hatfield @SPChrisHatfield  ·  40m

As far as we've heard there wasn't necessarily one particular incident that led to this decision.

 
As a 3rd-rounder who cost $875k to sign last year, this would be a pretty big whiff for the system.

 

[MakMan44]

So, do they look to trade him or out right release him?

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

I don't think he has any value right now. Even as a throw in he's not going to make any kind of significant impact on a deal.

 

[OptimusPapi]

The dude is twenty years old. He also was highly rated in the draft with some thinking he was a first rounder, I would imagine it would be tough just washing your hands of him, Maybe shut him down for the rest of the year and let him have an off season of contemplating his dreams of being a big leaguer are fading away would do some good? Its just frustrating if maturity was what prevented the Sox from having another top catching prospect in the upper minors in a few years.

 

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

Given the recent goings-on with Kukuk, I was curious what Denney's status was and found a relatively recent (though inconclusive) update:

 

The Red Sox remain unsure whether minor league catcher Jon Denney will play in games at the start of 2015. 
 
Denney was arrested during 2014 spring training camp for driving with a suspended license and acting belligerent with the police. His license had been suspended because a previous DUI arrest.
 
The Red Sox put together a program for Denney and he didn't play in any games during the 2014 season. 
 
"He's still working on some things at home and time will tell on that one," Red Sox director of player development Ben Crockett told The Eagle-Tribune when asked if everything was squared away to where Denney would be back next year and playing in minor league games.
 

 

[soxhop411]

“@PeteAbe: Catcher Jon Denney, who missed all season after being arrested in spring training, was not invited to #RedSox minor league ST.”

 

[Bigpupp]

Any reason why they have not just released him?

 

[mabrowndog]

Just spitballing, but it could be they're exercising patience with him if he's being treated for dependency issues. He's still just 20 years old.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

I wouldn't read too much into the lack of a spring training invite. Typically an invite is given to top prospects and veteran minor leaguers who have "earned" a trip out there to help fill out the early rosters. Denney is no longer a top prospect (he was... briefly) and has certainly not earned an invite. All this means is that he's where we thought he was; in the aftermath of some really shitty decisions and not yet playing ball for a Red Sox affiliate. He may get cut, he may not. I don't think not being invited to spring training is an indication either way.

 

[Pilgrim]

I wouldn't read too much into the lack of a spring training invite. Typically an invite is given to top prospects and veteran minor leaguers who have "earned" a trip out there to help fill out the early rosters. Denney is no longer a top prospect (he was... briefly) and has certainly not earned an invite. All this means is that he's where we thought he was; in the aftermath of some really shitty decisions and not yet playing ball for a Red Sox affiliate. He may get cut, he may not. I don't think not being invited to spring training is an indication either way.

The tweet specifically says minor league spring training.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Whoops. No excuses. Just flat out missed that. My bad.

 

[Rasputin]

Whoops. No excuses. Just flat out missed that. My bad.

 
Don't be surprised if you don't get an invite to sosh spring training. You're not 20 anymore.

 

[DaubachmanTurnerOD]

Anyone able to find an update on Denney? I didn't turn anything up with a quick search.

 

[jsinger121]

Anyone able to find an update on Denney? I didn't turn anything up with a quick search.

Restricted list likely to never play again.

 

[DaubachmanTurnerOD]

Restricted list likely to never play again.

Thanks jsinger.

That seems a bit extreme to me, based on the little I've heard, but perhaps I've minimized it too much in my mind.

 

[drtooth]

10/20---Denney released.  What a waste of talent.  Hope this kid gets his life together.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Denney has signed with Kansas City. It would sting to see him succeed somewhere else, but you can't blame the Sox for letting him go. And at the end of the day, you have to hope he's able to turn his life around.

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2016/03/jon_denney_ex-boston_red_sox_p.html