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Minor League Update: Is Mankind Ready For The Madrigal Claw?

July 29, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 37 Comments

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Doesn’t it feel as though every year, a college hitter is taken near the top of the draft and immediately takes to the lower levels like a fish to water? In the grand tradition of recency bias, Nick Madrigal has emerged as our early favorite for the superlative “first to the majors”. Despite going 0-for-5 Saturday night, he’s hitting .389/.390/.472 with 2 steals through 10 games at Low-A Kannapolis. Here’s the remarkable thing, across 51 plate appearances between the AZL and Sally League he’s yet to strikeout. Zero. He hasn’t walked a ton, drawing a free pass just twice, and he hasn’t shown a ton of power either, he’s yet to homer in the 15 games he played. Instead knocking just two doubles. Hopefully due to the quality of contact he can fall into a dozen plus homers in his prime years. So I suppose that begs the question, is it a “better in real life” profile? There’s a good chance that’s the case, he could be a .285 hitter with 10-14 homers and a dozen steals. That’s a solid player, but it’s not what you’re looking for at the top of your first year player draft. That however is worst case scenario in my opinion. The ceiling looks like this; the power develops into a 17-20 homer number, with a .300+ batting average, and 15 or so steals. He scores a ton of runs, your team loves it, and everybody gets ice cream. That’s not a pipe dream to wish on either, this kid’s hit tool is a legit 70. That alone should give him a pretty good shot at being a top of the order, run producing type of player. I’m a big fan of Madrigal, and believe in the upside, but I’d be remiss to not mention the downside. Here’s some other players of note in MiLB.

  • It felt great to watch Victor Robles have a day in his return to the Syracuse Chiefs lineup. The Nationals top prospect went 3-for-4 with a homer, two steals, and a pair of runs and RBI to match. He of course went 0-for-5 on Saturday, but baseball. I love Robles and can see him pairing with Juan Soto for many years in the Washington outfield. I’ve heard some trade rumors of late, but that can’t be a major cause for concern. Robles is a player that can help your team in a multitude of ways, and that’s what you should target. Right?

  • One of the more under the radar teenagers making noise in rookie ball is the Kingsport Mets Mark Vientos. 18 for the entirety of 2018, despite this being Vientos’ second stint in Kingsport. The numbers on the season are solid, (.261/.336/.471 with 6 homers) but not mind blowing. Over his last 7 games however he’s really found his groove, cranking 4 homers over a 6 game stretch. The most promising development in Vientos’ game is his strikeout and walk rates. His K% decreased from 22% in 2017 to 14.5% in 2018. In turn his walk rate has increased to 9% this season, a solid jump from his 7% mark last year. Obviously Vientos is quite a ways away, but he’s a good bat that’s likely found a permanent home at third base.

  • The Rays Brendan McKay was back to his Shohei Ohtani like ways Thursday and Friday for Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League. He went yard twice on Friday, after tossing three scoreless innings, allowing just 1 hit, while striking out 5. I’m still not sure how McKay fits long term. Is the bat good enough to first be viable in the bigs, and is there a chance it’s actually an impact bat? How many innings will he throw if this two way experiment does work? I think he’s likely a pretty good number two or three starter if he follows that path, but I’m not sold on the bat.
  • The Astros Cristian Javier was a hard luck loser for Buies Creek Saturday afternoon. He went five and two thirds in a seven inning contest, allowing just one run on 2 hits and a walk, striking out 8 in the process. He’s 3-3 in seven Carolina League starts, with a 1.98 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 39 Ks to 14 walks in 41 innings. The righthander has burst onto the prospect radar this year with a strong performance, 1.89 ERA, 119 Ks over 90.1 innings, between both levels of A ball. He gets by on some deception and feel for a four pitch arsenal led by a low 90s fastball and a curveball.
  • The Twins Brent Rooker has been hot at AA Chattanooga slugging five homers over his last ten games, and after a slow start he’s turned his time in AA around. Since June 1st he’s slashing .314/.396/.639 with 14 homers and an 11% walk rate. He still strikes out too much, but he gets scorching hot for stretches and hits tons of homers. If you’re looking for power in an OBP league Rooker is a good get .
  • On my ride down to catch a Cape League game on Thursday, I got to hear first hand about Paul Martin’s interview with Jon Duplantier. Paul drove down with me so he told me about it. In my opinion the Diamondbacks righthander is one of the more underrated pitching prospects in the minors. He’s an exciting player for fantasy too, showing the ability to miss bats, with above average command of a four pitch arsenal. The issue for Duplantier has always been the same, health. He’s currently working his way back from his latest issue in the AZL, but should return to the AA Jackson rotation soon.
  • Another very strong showing from teenage lefty MacKenzie Gore. He went five on Friday, allowing 2 earned, on 4 hits, striking out seven. Since returning from the DL he has a 2.83 ERA/2.66 FIP, 31.7% K%, 8.3% Bb%, and a .186 BAA. He’s also dropping curveballs like this.

  • I’m all about the pitching prospects this week! Ian Anderson is on a string of six consecutive starts allowing two runs or less over 5+ innings. This really isn’t out of line with his other 18 starts, at the moment, Anderson sports a 2.79/2.59/3.00 ERA/FIP/xFIP with a K% a smidge under 30%, in his age 19/20 season at high-A. He mixes a mid-90s fastball with sink and run, a plus 12-6 curveball that’s already a swing and miss pitch. He can throw his changeup for strikes, it has movement, and he’ll use it to neutralize lefties, and catch righthanders off balance. He’s still got some growing to do in terms of command of all of his offerings, but he has the makings of a top of he rotation guy of everything maxes out.
  • The Astros J.B. Bukauskus worked his way to full season ball earlier last week. He’s now made two starts for Quad-City going 5 scoreless in his first turn striking out 7. On Friday he again struck out 7, but the effort wasn’t as clean, allowing two runs of 3 hits, and 2 Bbs over four and a third. He’s still got a good fastball and a nasty slider, I’m willing to buy back in on Bukauskus at the right price. Mid-rotation upside, reliever floor type.
  • An interesting name to look for in deep leagues is the Reds righty Josiah Gray. He went 72nd overall out of D2 Le Monye, mixes a high 90s fastball, with a above average slider, and developing changeup. He of course bossed out at division 2 but caught the attention of scouts last summer down the Cape. He’s made 7 starts at rookie level Greenville showing well with a 2.90/2.70 ERA/FIP, with a 26.5% K%, 6.6% Bb%, and a .168 BAA.
  • The Yankees have a ton of exciting low minors players at the moment Everson Pereira, Roasny Contreras, Luis Gil, and of course Antonio Cabello. The outfielder is hitting .326/.433/.611 with 4 homers in the GCL. Take it from someone who has seen Cabello, here’s Jason Woodell’s report.

  • Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is spending the weekend in Cooperstown with his pops before he heads up to AAA Buffalo. He was nice enough to bless us with one last homer with old pal Bo Bichette on Friday night. Vlad’s

  • And Bo’s

  • I hate to say it but catcher be damned I’m moving up the Giants Joey Bart. He has 9 homers in 18 games with the short season Salem-Keizer Volcanos. He’s not walking much, but then again he’s too busy hitting homers. Not sure if he gets a full season assignment in the last month, but he’s very much a catching prospect worth your attention.
  • The Royals Nicky Lopez is making a case for a late season promotion at AAA Omaha. He’s slashing .326/.423/.484 with an even 12.5% K% and Bb%. He runs a little and is flashing enough over the fence power to find some deep league relevance if he gets the call. Lopez had a five hit game on Friday, but was out of the lineup on Saturday.

  • Prospect Gifs is right! Let’s show some love to Taylor Ward! He’s putting up video game numbers at the upper levels, and has successfully converted to third base full-time from catching.

  • I’m completely sucked back into Corey Ray. and you blame me? Speed, power, the ability to play centerfield at a high level. He’s going to be a major league player, even with the strikeout woes, and hit tool warts, he’s hit 21 homers, stole 32 bases, and walked 11% of the time at AA. Then again I don’t know how many homers were vs. catchers pitching.

  • My 52nd ranked prospect, the Twins Brusdar Graterol was in full effect Saturday, punching out 10 batters over 5 2/3rds innings. He allowed just 1 run on, 2 hits, and 3 walks, and continue to gain steam with each start at high-A Fort Myers. The flamethrower has shown well in his first season of full season ball, and should find his way onto Top 50s of Prospect lists this offseason. The righthander mixes a plus, possible double plus heater, with a plus breaking ball, and an above average changeup.
  • The Red Sox tried to re-work the arsenal of 2017 first rounder Tanner Houck, the changes didn’t take and he’s reverted back to his old self, focusing heavily on his two-seam fastball, that sits 93-95 with nasty run. The four-seamer he was working with earlier this season, he can ramp up to 98, but had trouble getting the same action as his two-seamer. The fastball combination paired with his inconsistent, but promising slider, might give Houck a future as a high end reliever. He however has been strong of late in the Salem rotation, turning in his 4th quality start in his last 5, over that time period he’s amassed a 3-1 record with a 2.03 ERA, .193 BAA, and 28 Ks to 6 Bbs in 31 innings.

  • The Fort Myers Miracle has to be among the most talented in all of Minor League baseball. Not only do they boast the aforementioned Brusdar Graterol but Royce Lewis, and Alex Kirilloff. The latter of which is showing exactly why I ranked him 15th overall in my recent Top 500 update. Through 33 games at High-A Kirilloff is hitting .381/.406/.575 with 3 homers, and is in the midst of a 12 game hitting streak, where he’s recorded multiple hit games in 8 of the dozen. Over that time frame he’s hitting .553/.577/.915. Mind blown emoji.
  • Are the Orioles cobbling together a decent farm system for once? They’ve added Yusniel Diaz, Dillon Tate, and Rylan Bannon, seen major development strides from D.L. Hall, Keegan Akin, Ryan McKenna, Zack Lowther, and Cedric Mullins, and now first rounder Grayson Rodriguez is shutting the Birdland haters up. Nine innings into his professional career and Gray-Rod has yet to allow an earned run. It’s early, and the sample is small, but we still can’t ignore that the Orioles are an improving system. Oh, and by the way, Emily Waldon dropped this gem on us.

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