Duncan came to the Jersey Shore organization on June 20th of this year in the deal that sent Jerry Paige to LA and Peter Larson back to Jersey. Duncan was considered by most to be the most coveted prospect in the handful that came over with Larson. He was named the 12th best prospect in the BSA on April 1st by the OSA Scouts.
Duncan was a highly coveted High School prospect coming from Santa Clarita, California. At the time he was considered a 5-tool can't miss prospect and finally committed to the University of Notre Dame and joined the team in the summer of 2007 as a 18 year old. He started immediately and right off the bat showed what he could do. His Freshman year he hit .311/.400/.621 with 13 HR, 37 RBI, 14 2B and 6 SB. He was consistant throughout the next 4 years. Duncan was one of those rare early players who was allowed to play 5 years of college ball before turning pro due to age restrictions. His best year was as a senior. He was limited to only 30 games due to a fractured foot, but ended up hitting .395/.485/.754 with 8 HR, 25 RBI. He ended his college career as a .336 hitter, 49HR, 149 RBI, while adding 50 SB and having almost a 1:1 BB/K ratio his last seasons.He was projected to go in the first round of almost every projection you could find, and the scouts weren't wrong. The Vista Panthers selected Duncan 8th overall in the 2011 amateur draft. On April 1st the following year he was named the 10th best prospect in baseball and was assigned to Vista's A ball affiliate Chula Vista where he would hit .246 with 13 HR. He missed the last 2 months of the season after suffering a broken kneecap in an ugly plat at the plate.
In 2013 he was named the 65th best prospect in the BSA and promoted to AA San Diego. He was hitting .258 with 11 HR when he was part of a trade that sent him to the LA Bruins organization. You might know of that trade that sent the uber talented Joe Cameron to LA in exchange for "No Hands" Brown and prospects. LA immediately sent him to AAA Las Vegas where he finished with a combined 21 HR, 21 SB and a .273 BA.
2014 started and he was again ranked on the scouts list for prospects as they named him the 12th best prospect in the game. It was this year where we finally got to see the speed we had always heard about. In 64 games for Vegas he stole 20 of 27 bags safely, added 19 doubles and 2 triples while hitting 6 HR. On June 20th he was traded for the 2nd time in his career. He was traded to the D-Bags of Jersey Shore with others in exchange for SP Jerry Paige. He was assigned to Tuscaloosa and flourished in the hitter friendly stadium. Since the time of the trade he has "raked." Hitting a scorching .345, bashing 13 HR, driving in 62 runs, hitting 30 doubles, and they have allowed him to run wild. He has attempted 32 steals and has been successful 28 times, for an 88% success rate. Between the two teams he has set career highs across the board.
He will probably not get a shot as this season as there is only a week left of regular baseball left. With normal CF Scott Powers in the last year of his deal next season, Duncan very well might be the future CF of the D-Bags. Scott Turner, head scout for the D-Bags, said he projects to be a .310 hitter as well as he has some raw power. He also added he is very popular in the clubhouse and there is really a lot to like here. Since being with the D-Bags he won the ITL player of the week as well as the batter of the month for the month of July, just last week he added the first cycle of his career. He has stated he is excited to be part of this club and is looking forward to hitting with Mike Bryant, Antonio Ruiz and Matt Doyle and learning whatever tips he can from them. Keep an eye on this kid, he very well could be leading off for this team very soon.
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