TJ Ford 7/16/26

Angels OF TJ Ford, a 2025 14th rounder, has quickly outperformed pre-draft expectations in the 2026 ACL, putting up a .943 OPS (as of 7/19/26) and walking more than he struck out. Ford is an undersized athlete with game changing speed and solid bat-to-ball skills.

A switch hitter with a patient offensive approach and good idea of the zone. He generally likes to work deep in counts and see pitches but will attack early if he gets a pitch he likes. Ford is a spray hitter who works all fields and takes what the pitcher gives him, going with the pitch.

Ford has a diminutive build and needs to add strength, but it wouldn’t be accurate to call him a slap hitter. He goes to the plate looking for damage, with a medium leg kick and quick hands. It’s gap power right now, but a lot of singles will become doubles and doubles will become triples due to his speed.

On the bases Ford has completely laid waste to ACL pitcher/catcher batteries with 31 steals in 34 attempts. I’d love to see him in a footrace with Giants SS Josuar Gonzalez. Both are extremely light on their feet and reach top speed by their second step. It’s joystick quickness that should only be possible on video games.

Ford has split time between the OF and 2B but profiles best in center where his quickness leads to big range. Quality of his OF reads were mixed in my (limited) looks, but his speed should easily allow him to stick, even if reads are average. Arm strength was below average in limited looks; it’s a loose arm stroke with below average carry. It’s enough to play center, but he will probably get challenged by base runners.

The Angels played a lot of their games in Tempe Diablo Stadium, which meant a good amount of publicly available Statcast Data. Ford had a max EV of 106.9 mph and an average EV of 83.2 mph in 60 balls in play. These numbers don’t compare favorably to MLB players, but there’s a chance Ford can get stronger and improve on them. It’s a baggy in uniform look physically. The degree to which he can add strength is the biggest variable that will determine his future role. It’s not hard to see a path to a 4th outfielder type role.