Prospect News: Thornton Could Get Wilder or Campbell’s On The Stove

Mets LHP Zac Thornton (24) has authored a bright chapter during a dreary season for New York. A fifth-round pick in 2023, he’s got a 1.91 ERA and 0.86 WHIP through four outings covering 23.1 innings. He also recorded a 1.98 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 72.2 innings across High-A and Double-A last season, so this kind of dominance isn’t entirely new to Thornton, who may not have many innings left in the chamber considering he’s at 86 already and that 72.2 is the highest single-season number he’s hit as a professional. The Mets will likely spend some money to fill out their rotation heading into 2027, but Thornton is already sneaking into that picture. 

The Chicago Cubs recalled IF James Triantos (23) so that he can sit the bench next to SS Pedro Ramirez. They reportedly think there’s value in the kids knowing where the lockers and lunches are at the big league level. Can’t really disagree with that, but can’t that happen via some kind of orientation? A weekend job shadow? I don’t know, but I know you shouldn’t rush out and add James Triantos in all of your fantasy leagues. In 88 Triple-A games, he slashed .306/.344/.440 with seven home runs, 18 stolen bases and an 11.6 percent strikeout rate. If he gets traded into some playing time, he becomes interesting even in shallow leagues. 

Blue Jays 3B Sean Keys (23) was sent back to the minors after a couple weeks with Toronto. I suspect the club was pondering an IL stint for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when Keys was recalled, but Vlad battled through back trouble and then rested over the break. Seems likely that we’ll see Keys again before long. 

We might say Guardians SS Angel Genao (22, AAA) is having a breakout season if he wasn’t already a top 100 prospect healing into 2025, which turned out to be a down year for the switch-hitting shortstop, Cleveland’s favorite prospect player type. Genao has been especially hot this summer, slashing .392/.496/.588 with a 17.3-to-6.3 percent walk-to-strikeout ratio over his last 28 games, picking up four homers and four steals over that same span. Brayan Rocchio has solidified his spot with a solid season, but 2B Travis Bazzana has been among the league’s worst defenders at the keystone. Perhaps they’ll shuffle him out to the grass at some point. 

Red Sox 2B Kristian Campbell (24, AAA) is having his first fun stretch in quite a while, slashing .319/.484/.489 with more walks (21.9%) than strikeouts (18.8%) over his last 16 games. He’s signed through 2032 for $60 million with team options each of the following two seasons at 19 and 21 million, respectively. That’s a lot of money to a regular dude like myself, but the contract is less expensive for a team than it looks at a glance. His luxury tax salary is at $7.5 million every season no matter what happens with the options, and the real cash owed over the next few years is $3.25 in 2027, $4.25 in 2028, and $6.25 in 2029, so he wouldn’t be be all that cost-prohibitive even for a penny-pinching rebuilder to add. Not that I really think he’s going anywhere. Just makes sense to scoop him off your wire until the deadline passes if you can speculate with a roster spot. 

Name of the week goes to Orioles SS Brandon Butterworth (23, AA), who has played center field, second base, third base and shortstop all in the past month. He missed about six weeks on the injured list this season or he might be in Triple-A by now. Over his last 28 games, he’s slashing .333/.447/.608 with six home runs and ten stolen bases. If I were running the show in Baltimore, I’d want to see if Mr. Butterworth can sweeten up the infield mix for the stretch run. 

CUT ME, MICK! 

I just dropped Yankees OF Spencer Jones in the CBS AL Only Analyst League. Here’s a link to my auction reaction article from that league. I’m in 2nd place now trailing only our fearless leader, Grey Punchable-Mustache Albright. That’s his legal name, bee tee dubs. No aggression on my part in typing that. Don’t put it in the newspaper that I’m mad about being in second place all season. 

I’m including Guardians OF Robert Arias (19, A) here because I dropped him in a couple leagues this week, but that’s because I take a churn-heavy approach to managing my minor league rosters, and Arias will miss the rest of the season recovering from ankle surgery. Maybe someone will scoop him up. He’s still a smart use of a roster spot, I think, but I’m taking the chance that he’ll just sit around in free agency until the last few faab runs of the year. 

Thanks for reading!