The White Sox front office announced that top pitching prospect Dylan Cease could be up in July. My guess is it will be post All-Star Break, which by and by is the perfect time to make roster moves while the rest of your league is in rest mode. Cease is one of my favorite pitching specs, even though he hasn’t had the best of seasons in Triple-A (4.10 ERA) and his player photo looks like a second grader who was told to say ‘cheese’. I still think Cease is one of the best stashes for the second half of 2019 and will eventually round into a 2/3 starter in the majors. Here’s what else is happening around the minor leagues…
Bo Bichette, SS | TOR – Heading to Triple-A. Good sign all around here. Not only does it get him one step closer to the bigs, but he also racked up four hits in his last rehab appearance. The injury seems to be behind him. If you forgot about Bo, now’s the time to go ahead and stash him again.
Mitch Keller, RHP | PIT – Will get another start and could stick this time. As I’ve said in other prospect roundups, I don’t expect much from Keller this year other than a high floor, low-ceiling, NL-only, deep mixed play. You just got like four or five modifiers there for the price of one. This is fantasy baseball blogging at its finest.
Jordan Yamamoto, RHP | MIA – Called up by the Marlins. Jordan Yamamoto sure is a funny way of spelling Zac Gallen. As a commenter pointed out in Grey’s roundup this morning, this could be the Marlins manipulating the service time of what they feel is one of their best prospects. It could also just be a simple case of Yamamoto being on the 40-man already (Grey’s take). Grey shaves with Occam’s razor. FWIWerth, I’m still stashing Gallen, but this is a sign it could be a long wait.
Anthony Kay, LHP | NYM – Promoted to Triple-A. The Mets are in need of some pitching, especially in the bullpen, which is rocking an ERA north of 5.00 despite Edwin Diaz’s solid performance. Kay is a starter – and a good one – but he may get fast tracked to New York this summer as a lefty reliever. If the fairy dust rubs off of Jason Vargas in the second half, there could be an opportunity there as well.
AJ Puk, LHP & Jesus Luzardo, LHP | OAK – Made their debuts after missing the first part of their seasons to injury. Puk’s injury could take a bit longer to come back from (TJS) but his velocity was there in the debut. Both could be relevant in late summer – especially Luzardo – who was expected to be in the rotation from day one before he nicked his shoulder.
Jesus Sanchez, OF | TB – 2-for-5 with a double and a six-game hit streak. Sanchez is now hitting .302 on the year with eight homers and five stolen bases. I slept on him in my preseason Top 100, but that doesn’t mean you should. He’s a big dude who fits the right field profile about perfectly and should be a big mover on midseason prospect lists.
