This list is about being about a week ahead.
It’s about other things, too—like overall fantasy impact from current minor league baseball players—the key purpose is to shine a blinking light on the top names. By the time a player gets to the front of this line, you risk missing out on the early adopters discount if you don’t faab him during the next run. As you’ll see here, it’s mostly too late for the top names, but that’s the nature of week one in the prospect world.
1. Seattle OF Jarred Kelenic
His timeline is now in the hands of Taylor Trammell and Jake Fraley. If they’re both healthy and hitting, Kelenic can’t really force the issue at the training site.
2. Minnesota OF Alex Kirilloff
Same story here except for 1) more people in his path, 2) Donaldson on the IL, and 3) the Twins’ desire to win games in 2021. So . . . maybe not the same story. Should Kirilloff be in the #1 spot? Hmm. Nah. But it’s closer than you might think at first blush. Not out of the question Kirilloff beats Kelenic to the majors by a month or more.
3. Tampa Bay SS Wander Franco
What in the world to do with Wander . . .
I’ve been surprised how many people wanted him in redraft leagues. I think it’s about 50/50 we see him before September with a decent chance we don’t see him at all this year. Tampa Bay figures to be a little more leery of the impending CBA than the average team.
4. Kansas City SS Bobby Witt Jr.
I suppose you could copy and paste the Wander blurb here, but that itself says plenty about how I’m valuing Bobby Witt Jr. going forward, and I don’t think Kansas City is scared of the service time stuff, as evidenced by Kyle Isbel breaking camp with the club.
5. Seattle RHP Logan Gilbert
It’s tough to wait on a pitching prospect, but that’s exactly what I’m doing in the CBS AL Only Analysts league. It’s already caused me to make some tough drops (see Valdez, Cesar), but here we are, and Gilbert is good enough to make it worth my while, assuming Valdez doesn’t save 100 games this year.
6. Boston OF Jarren Duran
I had to drop Duran in that same AL Only, and I’m terrified Scott White will reap an enormous windfall profit, having scooped Duran for a buck. Maybe they want to see Franchy Cordero and Hunter Renfroe all season. I wouldn’t.
7. San Diego LHP McKenzie Gore
Whenever the prospect world loses its mind over a pitching prospect, I tend to sprint in the opposite direction. Sure, I might miss out someday, but nobody comes to mind. Forrest Whitley the previous consensus top guy. Maybe Alex Reyes before him? At the same time, pitchers who bust out from down in the prospect rankings (and around the league) are too numerous to count.
8. Los Angeles OF Jo Adell
Bit of a cheat here as Adell is no longer a “prospect,” but he should be on the list, and in general, I’ll include guys like this whenever it’s the rational move. Now whether or not the team itself follows suit and does the rational thing, well, that’s not my call.
9. Seattle OF Julio Rodriguez
Primary issue here is Seattle’s win/loss record when the time comes for Julio’s next challenge. If he’s dominating the minors and the Mariners are anywhere near contention, fans will clamor to see him in 2021. If they’re way out of the race, I think Julio stays in the minors all year.
10. Chicago 2B Nico Hoerner
Weird choice demoting Hoerner. I’d like to think he’ll be back after the 36 service days the team needs to exploit the system, but you never know with baseball these days. I wasn’t thinking of Hoerner as the kind of player who’s so good you have to fear his clock anyway.
Might be worth a moment to stop and mention I didn’t include Sixto Sanchez. Maybe I should have. Maybe the Marlins should put him on the injured list. What’s going on there?
Here’s the next ten, in case you’re curious.
11. Tampa Bay 2B Vidal Brujan
12. Boston SS Jeter Downs
13. San Francisco OF Heliot Ramos
14. New York RHP Deivi Garcia
15. Pittsburgh RHP Miguel Yajure
16. Kansas City LHP Daniel Lynch
17. Toronto RHP Alek Manoah
18. Tampa Bay RHP Luis Patino
19. Miami OF JJ Bleday
20. Detroit RHP Matt Manning
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
