Josiah Sightler has some of the best raw power in system, can it translate onto the field?

The 15th-round pick got off to a torrid start but struggled in Greensboro, what's next for the former Gamecock?

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While hitting 15 home runs in the SEC is generally good, Josiah Sightler was mostly an afterthought in the 2022 draft. Part of the reason was that he was a senior, giving him less leverage regarding the draft.

Another reason was the fact he was a former two-way player who also underwent Tommy John surgery, which was also going to delay the start of his professional career.

To say that Sightler hit the ground running may have been an understatement, as in the 24 games he played between the Complex League and Single-A Bradenton, he hit .442/.514/.756 with seven home runs, 28 RBI, and a wRC+ of 225.

He picked up 17 hits in his first eight games with Bradenton, reaching base safely each time.

Being a college senior draft pick, it shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise he handled the lower levels so well. Still, even so, it was an impressive stretch for Sightler and started to get him some national attention - popping up on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 prospects for the Pirates.

The actual test was going to come in High-A, eventually Double-A.

His first stint in Greensboro didn’t overly go well, as the power didn’t translate over from Bradenton. After hitting six home runs in 80 plate appearances, but then just seven in nearly double the times at the dish once getting promoted to Greensboro.

There were some borderline swing-and-miss concerns in Bradenton (14% against off-speed, 10.5% fastball), although he didn’t chase a lot (24%), which was exposed in Greensboro. Even though he didn’t chase, he had problems inside the zone, with only a 75.8% In-Zone contact rate.

He struck out 28.7% of the time while walking 7.6% of his plate appearances.

Seeing him struggling almost immediately after getting promoted was really concerning, especially since he is 24 years old now after a late birthday.

While the power didn’t translate on the field, there is no denying the exit velocity numbers we got on him during his time in Bradenton. Of the players logged on Prospects’ Live, only Mason Martin put up a better 95th percentile exit velocity than Sightler.

Conveniently, Martin is comparable to him in exit velocity, as after his departure, you can make a case that Sightler takes over as the guy with the most raw power in the system.

The difference is that Martin is only a few months older and has played in Triple-A, while Sightler has struggled to put that power to use in Greensboro.

He’ll be a player to watch because of that power and the fact that some believe, thanks to his two-way history, you could throw him into right field, which would add some value, but what it will come down to will be how much contact he makes in the future.