Keon Barnum

Position: 1B
Born: 1/16/1993
Ht: 6’5″ Wt: 225 lb B-T: L-L
Acquired: Drafted supplemental round (48th overall) in 2012 out of C. Leon King HS (Fla.)
Career Stats

FutureSox Prospect Rankings

  • #4 – 2012 Midseason
  • #6 – 2013 Preseason
  • #7 – 2013 Midseason
  • #13 – 2014 Preseason
  • #21 – 2014 Midseason
  • #20 – 2015 Preseason

FutureSox Media

Scouting Report

Barnum seemed like a bit of an overdraft when taken in the supplemental first round, but he was seen as a prototypical first base prospect with big power potential that dropped more than a few jaws during his high school years. He opened 2012 at Bristol as a 19-year-old and drew some attention with a flurry of home runs before a shoulder injury limited his playing time the rest of the summer. He held his own at Low-A Kannapolis in 2013 (.718 OPS, 5 HR in 223 PA), but injuries again cut short his time.

In 2014, his stats were down a bit (.671 OPS, 8 HR in 533 PA) at High-A and he struck out 30.6% of the time. The combination of high K totals and not so much game power had become a pattern. He repeated Winston-Salem in 2015, then a fairly age-appropriate 22 years old, but his core numbers only improved marginally (.257/.322/.390, 9 HR in 428 PA). His K/PA did drop to a still somewhat high 26.2%. He also missed some time, again, to a minor injury.

Barnum returned to High-A again in 2016, where he put up mediocre numbers (.256/.291/.325, 1 HR, 7 BB, 25 K in 127 PA) and was promoted to Double-A anyway. There he hit .194 with 4 HR in 76 games, striking out in 29.4% of his plate appearances. His 2017 with the Barons saw him post a .688 OPS with a disturbingly high K-rate above 33%. In 2018, Keon spent a third year with Birmingham and posted a .640 OPS in 79 games before electing free agency after the season.

Barnum has good bat speed to go with impressive strength, and can put on a show in BP. As is common with power-hitting prospects, the big question mark has always been contact rate. Defensively, Barnum gets below average grades at first.

Keon’s career had a resurgence in indy ball in 2020. Barnum posted a 1.030 OPS in 98 games for the Chicago Dogs, which play in suburban Rosemont.