I’m putting the finishing sheen on a Top 100 update for next Sunday, so if you’ve got any thoughts related to that, please slide on into the comment section.
In the meantime, I feel like we should blast some Spacehog and catch-up on the happenings where grass is green and skies are blue.
New York Yankees SS Hoy Jun Park had nothing left to prove at AAA, slashing .325/.475/.541 across 44 games at the level. His BB/K rate checked in at 46/41 over that stretch. Also hit nine home runs and stole nine bags. Safe to say he can identify some spin, and at 6’1” 175 lbs (though I think he’s a bit bigger than that), Park brings real upside to a club in crisis. He’s 25 and he’s never produced like this before, but he did post a 68/69 BB/K rate with a .387 OBP in 2018 at High A, so the plate skills and vision feel real to me.
New York Yankees OF Trey Amburgey brings some newfound power, too, but that’s a continuation of the past few years for him rather than a sudden jump. In about 120 games at each level (A+, AA, AAA), he’s homered 14, 16, and 22 times, slugging .382,.418, and .492. That AAA number happened with the bouncy balls of 2019, but he’s made another jump in 2021 to slug .582 across 38 games. He used to run a little bit but has just one steal this year and can’t be expected to help us there. He’s a fairly long-levered corner bat who’s only now starting to take his walks, which will be the primary driver of his success or failure in the Yankees’ hour of need because he doesn’t have the contact skills to be real aggressive in the box.
Washington 2B Luis Garcia breathed life into his prospect stock this year by thriving at AAA as the level’s youngest non-Wander, having turned 21 on May 16. He’s slashing .304/.367/.593 and striking out 17.3 percent of the time and walking in 8.7 percent of his plate appearances. The functional bats in this system are few and far between, leaving a lot of weight and opportunity on Garcia’s ability to hit the ground running. He’s already been up and down twice this year and homered Friday night in his second game back from a short, undisclosed stay on the minor league IL. With Starlin Castro’s career on pause, perhaps permanently, Garcia could inherit an everyday gig sooner than later.
One-time uber prospect Detroit OF Nomar Mazara was designated for assignment this week, opening the door for Razzball favorite Eric Haase and perhaps the next guy on this list. Can’t really do much on the Haase front in most leagues, but I suspect Derek Hill is available in just about every league.
A first-round pick out of high school in 2014 (23rd overall), Detroit OF Derek Hill can really track it down in center field, but the hit tool has never caught up to the glove. He’s gotten better results of late and should get an extended look in the second half. Nothing to hang your hat on, but if you’re seeking speed in a deep league, he’s a baseball player with speed and opportunity. SAGNOF.
New York Mets 3B Mark Vientos is making a fool of me. Not publicly like that boyfriend head-turn meme, but certainly inside my own little matrix of muck-ups, I see Vientos smirking in my general direction because I’ve never bought into the hype. He’s still striking out 28.6 percent of the time, but as a 21-year-old with 16 home runs in AA, that’s okay, at least for now.
With Willi Castro optioned to the minors, Detroit SS Zack Short appears to have the shortstop gig all to himself in Motown. He’s already been starting for the Mud Puppies in my 20-team OBP dynasty, and we plan to keep running him out there as long as he’s drawing walks and popping shots. Home runs, that is–not absinthe. We’ve been awaiting Adalberto all season long and bridging the gap with Tommy Edman, who is incredibly useful in the format but a drain in OBP, our weakest category. It’s fair to suspect he’s out over his skis a bit with a .377 OBP and 37.7 percent strikeout rate, but he’s always carried a wRC+ around 120 (20 percent better than whatever league he’s been in), beggars aren’ choosers, and I don’t know what kind of skier Short will be in the long run, but I think he’s got enough patience, thump and defensive ability to carve out a sizable role on a team like the Tigers. Contact and plate skills will be the deciding factors, as they so often are.
Toronto SS Orelvis Martinez is so hot in Low A I’m starting to wonder when he’ll get promoted to the next level. If it happens this year, he’ll be 19 when he splashes down and within shouting distance of being a 20-year-old in AA. I’m working on my post-draft Top 100 update to be released next Sunday, and I’m seeing champagne wishes and caviar dreams whenever I see the name Orelvis on my list. Even the word Presley or blue or suede or hound dog makes me think about Martinez. It’s really just the elites who reach AA at 20. The Zack Short Mud Puppies dealt Martinez in a big package earlier this year for Jared Walsh, Vidal Brujan, and Tarik Skubal, and I’m feeling a little less awesome about that trade today than I was then. Would really help if Kevin Cash realized Brujan was up with the club and just sitting there in the dugout day after day. I’m not surprised he’s in a part-time role to begin his career, but I am surprised at the size of that part.
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
