Prospect News: Look To The West For Freeland

Something seems to have shifted in the world of prospect promotions. Everyone kind of understands that it’s worthwhile to bring your best prospects up to the majors at the end of a season if they’re going to start the following season on the major league roster.

Padres C Ethan Salas (20) should help the fathers push for a playoff spot. I can’t say I’m surprised he’s been promoted after including Salas on the Stash List last weekend, but it’s still cool to see someone make the baseball-smart decisions in a world where almost everyone else prioritizes money-cautious decisions. 

Here’s what I wrote about Mariners OF Lazaro Montes on Sunday in Prospect News: Stash List #10: Ralphy’s Rocking In Columbus: 

“Seattle may have erred when the team traded for OF Taylor Ward this summer. He hasn’t had a hit since August 19th and has just six hits (five singles and a triple) in his 16 games with the club, good for a .143 slugging percentage. Granted, Lazaro Montes would probably continue to strike out around 30 percent as a major leaguer, but he’d certainly have that slugging percentage off the interstate. In 42 Triple-A games, he’s slashing .266/.356/.550 with 12 home runs.”

Well, Montes (21) hit a moonshot home run in his big league debut along with a walk and a single, helping the Mariners score nine runs against the Red Sox. Like I said then, Seattle has gotten nothing out of Taylor Ward, so swapping in a dangerous slugger like Montes makes them a much scarier team today than they were Sunday.  They’re still just five games out in the division despite having struggled on offense all season and managed LHP Kade Anderson and that pitching staff about as badly as anyone could’ve imagined. 

Minnesota is 3.5 games out of a wild card spot after playing poorly most of the second half. They should’ve had OF Walker Jenkins in the lineup a while ago, but he’s there now with a 112 wRC+ and a homer and a steal alongside three strikeouts against one walk in his five major league games. Some are speculating that the lack of clarity about 2027 is impacting these late-season timelines, and that’s the kind of theory you can’t really argue against. You could, however, point to the sale price of two organizations–San Diego at $3.9 million and Los Angeles of Anaheim at $4 million–as evidence that the big money thinks next season is happening. 

The Dodgers made some headlines when they promoted SS Alex Freeland (25) and activated C Will Smith rather than recalling one of their stud outfielders to fill in for Andy Pages (or *whispers* Kyle Tucker). Freeland was slashing .259/.357/.430 with five home runs and nine stolen bases in 38 Triple-A games this year. A switch-hitter, Freeland might slide in as a strong-side platoon at second base or just get his chance to claim the position with Tommy Edman moving out to center field. 

Rangers SS Cam Cauley (23) is back with Texas after tearing up Triple-A and slashing .383/.434/.851 with six home runs and four stolen bases in his last 11 games. The home ballpark there will do him no favors, but I suspect he’ll be better in his second look at major league pitching.  

Another base-stealer who might impact your standings, Padres OF Samad Taylor has been out since July 8 with a strained right oblique, but he was playing great baseball when the injury hit, posting a .410 on base percentage with six stolen bases in 26 games. He stole another base last night. The Padres might be a real problem for the Dodgers in the postseason. Not because of Taylor, necessarily, but it’ll be fun if he helps. 

The Twins recalled 2B Ben Ross (25) rather than adding another outfielder such as Emmanuel Rodriguez, but this move I kind of like. Ross hit 20 homers and stole 20 bases in 112 games played mostly in Triple-A and gives the team a utility piece to move around the infield now that Luke Keaschall is a full-time outfielder. 

Thanks for reading!