Scouting Report

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Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 40 | Run: 80 | Arm: 55 | Field: 60 | Overall: 50 

Head is the best position prospect to come out of Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.) HS, which has produced three big league pitchers in John Ely, Eric Hillman and Larry Rothschild. Few players in this Draft can match his combination of hitting ability and speed, and he has pushed his way into the first round after looking a bit stronger at the plate as a senior. He flipped his college commitment from Michigan to Clemson after coach Erik Bakich moved from the Wolverines to the Tigers. 

Head has top-of-the-scale speed and knows how to use it, especially in center field. His quality reads and routes boost his range, allowing him to chase down balls from gap to gap, and he also enhances his solid arm strength by getting to grounders quickly. His wheels also make him a dangerous basestealing threat and help him turn ground balls into singles. 

A left-handed hitter, Head generally employs a gap-to-gap approach but can get pull-happy at times. He's not especially physical but does have plenty of bat speed and can drive the ball to right field. Most scouts think he'll max out at 12-15 home runs per year, but he doesn't have to be a big power threat to be valuable. 

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 40 | Run: 80 | Arm: 55 | Field: 60 | Overall: 50

An Illlinois high school product, Head exhibited one of the most exciting combos of speed and pure hitting ability in the 2023 prep class. Typical of their willingness to bet on loud tools at premium positions, the Padres took the Clemson commit with the 25th overall pick and signed him for a below-slot $2.8 million. And typical of their willingness to trade almost any prospect at any time, they shipped him to the Marlins 10 months later as the headliner in the Luis Arraez deal. He injured his left hip in June and required season-ending surgery.

The 6-foot outfielder instantly became one of the fastest runners in the Minors with elite speed he’s able to use all over the diamond. Those wheels make him an impressive defender in center with gap-to-gap coverage, and he’s able to gather good momentum to generate above-average arm strength when he needs a cannon. Head should be a stolen-base threat too, and he can also turn infield grounders into base knocks with the way he fires out of the left-handed batter’s box.

That’s good news because Head’s power remains the biggest question about his game. While he looked stronger at the dish in front of scouts in his Draft spring, he put the ball on the ground at a 56 percent clip in his brief pro debut. Entering his age-19 season, he has plenty of time to develop more in-game pop and could get to 12-15 homers per season while he lets the rest of his game provide plenty of flash.

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 40 | Run: 80 | Arm: 55 | Field: 60 | Overall: 50 

Head is the best position prospect to come out of Homewood-Flossmoor (Ill.) HS, which has produced three big league pitchers in John Ely, Eric Hillman and Larry Rothschild. Few players in the 2023 Draft matched his combination of hitting ability and speed, and he pushed his way into the first round after looking a bit stronger at the plate as a senior. San Diego selected him 25th overall in July and signed him below slot at $2.8 million. 

Head has top-of-the-scale speed and knows how to use it, especially in center field. His quality reads and routes boost his range, enabling him to chase down balls from gap to gap, and he enhances his solid arm strength by getting to grounders quickly. His wheels also make him a dangerous basestealing threat and help him turn ground balls into singles. 

A left-handed hitter, Head generally employs a gap-to-gap approach but can get pull-happy at times. Although not especially physical, he does have plenty of bat speed and can drive the ball to right field. Most scouts think he'll max out at 12-15 home runs per year, but he doesn't have to be a big power threat to be valuable.

Transactions

Team	Date	Transaction
	08/04/2024	Jupiter Hammerheads placed OF Dillon Head on the 60-day injured list.
	06/04/2024	Jupiter Hammerheads sent OF Dillon Head on a rehab assignment to FCL Marlins.
	05/20/2024	Jupiter Hammerheads placed OF Dillon Head on the 7-day injured list.
	05/20/2024	Jupiter Hammerheads placed OF Dillon Head on the 7-day injured list.
	05/14/2024	Jupiter Hammerheads activated OF Dillon Head.
	05/04/2024	Miami Marlins traded 2B Luis Arraez to San Diego Padres for OF Dillon Head, OF Jakob Marsee, RHP Woo-Suk Go and 1B Nathan Martorella.
	05/04/2024	OF Dillon Head assigned to Jupiter Hammerheads.
	03/07/2024	San Diego Padres Prospects activated OF Dillon Head.
	03/04/2024	OF Dillon Head assigned to San Diego Padres.
	09/02/2023	Lake Elsinore Storm activated OF Dillon Head from the temporarily inactive list.
	08/30/2023	Lake Elsinore Storm placed OF Dillon Head on the temporarily inactive list.
	08/21/2023	OF Dillon Head assigned to Lake Elsinore Storm from ACL Padres.
	08/21/2023	Lake Elsinore Storm activated OF Dillon Head.
	07/31/2023	OF Dillon Head assigned to ACL Padres.
	07/20/2023	San Diego Padres signed OF Dillon Head.
	06/02/2023	OF Dillon Head assigned to College Workout.
	07/01/2022	High School Workout activated OF Dillon Head.
	07/01/2022	OF Dillon Head assigned to High School Workout.
	07/01/2022	High School Workout activated OF Dillon Head.
	07/30/2021	Team Jackie Robinson activated OF Dillon Head.
	07/30/2021	Team Jackie Robinson activated OF Dillon Head.