UPDATED
The St. Louis Cardinals have announced that they have come to terms with 15th round selection Terry Fuller. The minor league deal includes a $200,000 signing bonus, $75,000 of which will count against their bonus pool spending limit.
Many teams believed that Fuller would be a difficult sign due to football scholarship offers from Alabama and Auburn as a defensive end. Griffin High School has produced a few future stars on the football field such as “Speedy” Willie Gault, Jessie Tuggle, and current NFL players Jonathan Sullivan and Bobby Rainey. Griffin High School’s most notable MLB product is Tampa Bay Rays Infielder Tim Beckham.
Scout.com is reporting that Fuller will report to the Cardinals Gulf Coast League Affiliate.
With the 454th overall selection (15th round), the St. Louis Cardinals selected OF Terriez (Terry) Fuller out of Griffin, GA. Why does the 454th overall selection warrant much attention? Power, power, and more power as Cardinals Scouting Director told Jenifer Langosch today here. As always from Jenifer, it’s well worth the read and provides a look into his background and selection today.
Scouts have been writing about Fuller for years, and many project big things out of him moving forward. Perfect Game is considered to be one of the top evaluation programs for amateur baseball players throughout the country. They rate players on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the highest rating (see below).
Perfect Game USA’s Player Rating System
| 10 | — Potential very high draft pick, Top DI in the nation prospect |
| 9 | — Potential top 10 round pick, Top DI prospect |
| 8 | — Potential mid round pick, definite DI prospect |
| 7 | — Potential low round pick, DI prospect or top level Juco, DII |
| 6 | — Possible DI prospect, definite DII or Juco prospect |
| 5 | — Possible DII prospect or mid range Juco prospect |
| 4 | — Possible low level DII or high level DIII prospect |
| 3 | — Possible DIII or low level Juco prospect |
| 2 | — Possible low level DIII prospect |
| 1 | — No prospect at this time |
Fuller has been rated by Perfect Game as a 10, which equals a “Potential very high draft pick, Top Division I in the nation prospect”. He’s not your average 15th rounder. Let’s take a look at his Scouting Report summary from Perfect Game. The complete profile can be found here.
“Terriez Fuller is a 2017 OF with a 6-4 240 lb. frame from Griffin, GA who attends Griffin HS. Extra big and strong build, has strength 
throughout and especially in his lower half. Left handed hitter, has explosive raw power and bat speed, from an easy one plane swing, ball comes off the barrel hard and had extreme carry with back spin, made game adjustments and handled good left handed pitchers surprising well. If he can time breaking balls and run into enough pitches his power potential makes him a potential special talent. 7.08 runner, has young actions and skills in the outfield with raw arm strength being his best tool, plenty of time to improve. Will be compared to Jason Heyward and Will Benson due to his location and build but a different player. Raw power is top of the scale. Selected for the Perfect Game All-American Classic.”
After the 2016 National Showcase, scouts had this to say about Fuller. The complete write up with other prospects that peaked the scouts’ interest can be found here. Recognize any of the other players on that list? #2 overall pick by the Cincinnati Reds Hunter Greene is right at the top among others that were drafted this season.
“6-4/240 and is some kind of strong. His power comes very easily and comes from a well balanced and loose swing. He hit a ball into the bleachers behind the bullpens in right centerfield that was majestic and impressive.”
One of the benefits of the showcase events held throughout the country by Perfect Game is that we can compare amateur prospects among each other in a controlled environment. When it comes to Zepp Hitting Metrics, Fuller is truly elite. Fuller posted the 6th highest bat speed at impact recorded at 98.852 mph last year which put him in the 99.15 percentile of all players. He registered a Hand Speed Max rating of 31.76 (75.62 percentile) and a Time to Impact speed of 0.100 seconds (95.23 percentile).
Needless to say, Terriez (Terry) Fuller appears to have the hit tools to be a productive Major League player. Now it’s up to the St. Louis Cardinals to fine tune those tools and continue to develop the rest of his game to get him to the big leagues.
