C.J. Hinojosa Stats & Scouting Report

AB	350
AVG	.223
OBP	.284
SLG	.329
HR	7

Full name Christopher Jesse Hinojosa
Born 07/15/1994 in Houston, TX
Profile Ht.: 5'10" / Wt.: 185 / Bats: R / Throws: R
School Texas
Drafted in the 11th round (336th overall) by the San Francisco Giants in 2015 (signed for $200,000).

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Hinojosa picked a bad time to have a bad year. A 26th-round pick of the Astros out of high school, Hinojosa was a hero for Texas in the 2014 College World Series, getting a hit in all five of the Longhorns games. But his offensive production and defensively reliability has gotten worse each of his three years at Texas, and his .242/.321/.403 stat line was worst among Texas' regulars. Hinojosa has played through a hand injury, but he's also pressed too much after a slow start. At this point it's hard to project him as more than a below-average hitter with similar power. Defensively, Hinojosa has fringe-average range and an average arm that makes him a better fit as a second baseman or utility infielder than an everyday shortstop. He needs to become a more reliable defender.

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Organization Prospect Rankings

Hinojosa was a College World Series star as a sophomore at Texas, but a poor junior season helped him slide to the 11th round in 2015. Since then he's looked more like the scrappy tough out he was earlier in his Longhorns career than the player who sacrificed contact for a modest power bump as a junior. Hinojosa is the kind of player the Giants seem to collect in waves. He's best when he's spraying the ball around the field, and is especially pesky at poking line drives down the right-field line, but he has a lot of fringe-average to average tools and no real plus tool on his scouting report. He plays shortstop plausibly enough defensively to fill-in, but he lacks the range to play there everyday. Hinojosa missed the start of the 2017 season with a quad strain, but when he returned he went right back to looking like a future big league utility infielder. Unfortunately, he tore his Achilles tendon at the end of the season and could miss time early in 2018.
The Giants marry analytics and scouting and have for some time, but when it comes to drafting college players, San Francisco never has been scared to take a toolsy college player with mediocre statistics. Hinojosa was one of the top high school talents from the 2012 draft to make it to campus in 2013. He starred for Texas on its College World Series team in 2014, but slumped badly as a junior. As a pro, Hinojosa quickly hit his way to Double-A Richmond in 2016, where he held his own. He swings with a flat bat path through the hitting zone that gives him a chance to be a solid-average hitter who sprays line drives. Hinojosa has well below-average power, but he can yank a ball over the fence if a pitcher gets careless. That power gets him in trouble when he chases fastballs up and out of the zone that he's better off taking. Defensively, he's capable of being an average defender at shortstop with solid hands and instincts to go with an above-average arm. Hinojosa projects as a utility infielder who can play short, second base and third base, but if he keeps improving at the plate, he could be a second-division regular.

Draft Prospects

Hinojosa picked a bad time to have a bad year. A 26th-round pick of the Astros out of high school, Hinojosa was a hero for Texas in the 2014 College World Series, getting a hit in all five of the Longhorns games. But his offensive production and defensively reliability has gotten worse each of his three years at Texas, and his .242/.321/.403 stat line was worst among Texas' regulars. Hinojosa has played through a hand injury, but he's also pressed too much after a slow start. At this point it's hard to project him as more than a below-average hitter with similar power. Defensively, Hinojosa has fringe-average range and an average arm that makes him a better fit as a second baseman or utility infielder than an everyday shortstop. He needs to become a more reliable defender.
Hinojosa planned to graduate early from high school last winter so he could enroll at Texas and become the Longhorns' starting shortstop this spring. But his academic load became overwhelming, so he opted to graduate with his class in June. Hinojosa has one plus tool: his righthanded bat. The 5-foot-11, 185-pounder has a quick bat and sees pitches well, allowing him to drive the ball to all fields with good pop for a middle infielder. His average speed and solid arm play up because of his instincts, which give him a chance to stick at shortstop in pro ball. He makes all the plays and would have pushed projected first-rounder Gavin Cecchini to second base on the U.S. 18-and-under team last summer had Hinojosa not injured his non-throwing shoulder. Scouts still don't think any team will be able to sign him away from Texas. They also were disappointed that he let his 5-foot-11, 185-pound frame get a little soft this year, though that didn't stop him from playing well before he had surgery to repair a dislocated left shoulder in April.