I poured a couple liters worth of words into Hoy Jun Park and Trey Amburgey last Sunday only to discover that neither is going to play. Perhaps Trey was going to play, but he hurt himself on his second day, so the Yankees said hey we could just pluck Estevan Florial from Triple A. Two games in, that’s worked out okay, but it blows me away to see a player with a .315 OBP at AAA take the job from a guy with a .475 OBP. Not that Park ever had the job, per se, but I thought he’d get some kind of look. Sorry for our errant walk in the Park the other day.
So should we add Florial where we need some speed? I guess it can’t hurt if you’ve got the room. He’s plenty tooled up, having swiped 82 bags in 444 minor league games to go along with 54 home runs and a .266/.348/.438 slash line. That’s inflated a bit by his low minors lines. Elite spin had thoroughly flummoxed Florial until, well, I guess it never stopped. His July line prior to promotion was .184/.263/.429 across 48 AAA at bats. Simply put, the guy can thump and run. He just can’t hit. Or never has, anyway. Could he bloom before our eyes on the big league stage? I suppose so. I hope he’s a pollinator.
OF Brandon Marsh debuted this week for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and has a 3-hit game and a stolen base to his credit already, slashing .364/.417/.455 with an average exit velocity of 90.8 mph. I like what I’ve seen so far, which is saying something because I didn’t like Marsh’s swing in the past. I’ve yet to see a side-by-side breakdown of 2019 Marsh v. 2021 Marsh, but he used to have a hard time turning on inside pitches due to an arm bar in his trigger mechanism. That looks like a thing of the past in my brief glimpses thus far, as he’s quicker to and through the zone and is pulling line drives with relative ease. Plus, I think he’s already Grey’s favorite player, so he’s got that going for him. One of the tougher guys to place in my Top 100 Update coming this Sunday Sunday Sunday!
In his MLB debut Tuesday night, Los Angeles Dodgers RHP Josiah Gray allowed three home runs among four hits across five innings, striking out seven Giants and walking one. Even struck out the side once. I thought he looked good. The Giants can hit, and some of the Dodgers’ future opponents, uhhh, are the Diamondbacks and Rockies. Promising first day for a guy who’s been thoroughly dominant throughout this minor league career. I just added him in a shallow ten-team head-to-head, and I’ve got a sneaking suspicion he’ll be starting a few times between now and season’s end. That league has four IL spots, and between you, me, and the screen, I don’t think I’ve ever had a team more ravaged by injuries. It’s a keeper league, so I can’t exactly drop Mike Trout, Luis Robert, Adalberto Mondesi, Shane Bieber, Byron Buxton, Ronald Acuna Jr., Kyle Schwarber or Jacob deGrom. Leaves me with three bench spots for healthy players, and as of today, Gray is one of them.
Boston Red Sox OF Jarren Duran finally got the call this week and already has a home run even though he’s striking out 38.5 percent of the time in the three games he’s played. Dealing in super small samples all day, it seems, but he’s also averaging 97.1 mph on his exit velocity, which would lead the league by a fair margin. Going to be some ups and downs as always with young players, and Duran was pretty streaky this year in the minors anyway, but man this guy can get hot and could carry some weeks for those lucky few who have him rostered somewhere.
If San Francisco 2B/SS Thairo Estrada is available in your leagues, I suggest scooping him up asap. Brandon Crawford is on the IL with an oblique strain, making Estrada as the primary shortstop until further notice. I’ve liked Estrada for a long time, even before he was shot in the leg and played with a bullet in his hip for six months. Seriously. Check the link here. Great piece by Susan Slusser.
On the field, Estrada can do a little bit of everything, enough that I think he’ll settle in as a long-term big league regular when all is said and done. Maybe it won’t happen in San Francisco, where he might be more of a 400 at bat tweener in the mold of Enrique Hernandez or Marwin Gonzalez. He’s got a chance to open 2022 as the second baseman over Tommy La Stella, but the latter is owed 5.25 million in 2022 and 11.5 million in 2023, so Estrada will have to be much, much better than La Stella to open that window. Or perhaps La Stella will be hurt again/still.
I suppose next year doesn’t matter much today anyway. In case you haven’t noticed, Estrada is slashing .342/.419/.553 across 43 plate appearances with two home runs and a 11.6%/16.3% BB/K percentage. That’s basically a continuation of his AAA season: .385/.448/.609 with 7 HR, 5 SB and a 9.2%/14.4% BB/K rate. This dude can rake. Is raking. Showing great plate skills along the way. His 24.2% O-swing is the stuff that dreams are made of, as is his 8.2% swinging strike rate and 90.5 zone contact rate. Might be a .300 hitter the rest of the way.
Got a three-pack of relievers to share for deep leaguers before I bounce.
RHP Jay Jackson is back in the states and looking dynamic, holding a 0.36 WHIP across 11 AAA innings and a 0.30 in 3.1 innings for San Francisco so far. The Giants aren’t magic, I guess, but they’re damn close these days, and I’m already starting Jackson in my 20 and 30-team dynasties that use S+H instead of Saves.
Same goes for Milwaukee RHP Jake Cousins. I’m probably a little late in mentioning him here to help those in the super deep leagues, but with Devin Williams going on the IL due to elbow soreness, Cousins moves one rung on the family tree closer to the closer role. Nobody’s dethroning Hader without the help of an injury, but Cousins could fill in or bump Boxburger to the side, and if he’s scoring the occasional save, he’s worth using in any league where you could use a ratio shaver.
LHP Steven Okert, also starting in my 30-team S+H league, has been unhittable for Miami in the minors this year, featuring a 0.85 WHIP and a 32.9 K-BB% across 20 innings there. He’s been less dominant in the majors, dropping to a 18.8 K-BB% but still rocking a 0.78 WHIP and working into a hold scenarios as soon as he joined the club. Lefties are the key to S+H leagues, so Okert will be starting for me as long as he’s effective.
Okay one last, FINAL thought before I go: Fangraphs has added stats from the DSL and complex leagues, and that’s a beautiful thing, so if you’re curious to see how Hedbert Perez or Kevin Alcantara are doing (well) in their brief stretches there, you can!
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
