One thing Colorado President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta has retrained from his Moneyball days of decades ago is an exhaustive search for discarded talent. Enter new Rockies 2B Connor Norby, a 26-year-old in his third major league organization. He’s an imperfect player who’s perhaps not powerful enough to strike out as much as he does, but he’s a decent defender at the keystone, and he’s slashing .355/.394/.613 in his last 13 games with Colorado. That line comes along with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate, so it’s probably not real close to sustainable, but I think there’s upside here for the fantasy game, and second base is not a deep spot. What this means for Charlie Condon, I do not know. Best guess is he’ll join the big league club in September.
The Angels finally brought 2B Christian Moore (23) back to the majors, and he homered last night in his fourth game since returning. He was good in Triple-A, striking out just 22.5 percent of the time and posting a 133 wRC+ in a hitting-heavy league where it’s hard to thrive in that comparative metric. I have no idea why it made sense for him to spend all season in Triple-A, but that’s water under Salt Lake now, I suppose.
Red Sox OF Justin Gonzales (19, AA) is on the verge of a big leap in his perceived value. In just five Double-A games, he’s got two homers, a stolen base and a on base percentage of .435. He’s always hit the ball incredibly hard and made more contact than you’d expect from a guy his size, but that last piece of consistent loft eluded him until this summer. He’s up to 18 home runs and 12 stolen bases in 93 games across two levels, but his numbers don’t tell the story here. Listed at 6’5” 210 pounds, he looks even bigger than that and is still growing into his body. I could see him as a top ten prospect entering next season.
Rangers 3B Rafe Perich (24, AA) is a switch-hitting third baseman who came to Texas via Lehigh and a 7th round pick in the 2024 draft, and boy does he look like a nice find right now, slashing .316/.396/.592 with 14 home runs and six stolen bases in 65 games at the Double-A level after producing similar outcomes in High-A. Are there a lot fewer switch-hitters these days, or is it just my anecdotal morning agreeing with itself? Anyhow, Perich looks pretty much ready for the majors, or at least the next challenge, so Josh Jung better get that boneitis figured out before 2027.
Diamondbacks OF Avery Owusu-Asiedu (23, AA) is trying to change his prospect profile in a hurry. After batting just .202 with 13 home runs in 92 High-A games, he’s up to nine home runs in just 13 Double-A games after the promotion, slashing .480/.557/1.160 with a 21.3 percent strikeout rate. We could hand wave this as a hot streak, but I’d hesitate on that. Owusu-Asiedu came from Canada and went to Southern Illinois before being selected by Philadelphia in the 9th round of the 2023 draft. Listed at 6’4” 245 pounds, AO-A is an extreme athlete who is relatively baseball-young for his biological age and could be reaching a new level in a new organization (Arizona added him over the off-season).
Brewers OF Brailyn Antunez (18, A) continues to rake, slashing .391/.495/.696 with seven home runs and nine stolen bases in his first 24 games of full-season ball. Off-season helium incoming.
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Thoughts on Ethan Salas is this kid a difference maker next year? Thanks Itch you rock!!