With Jorge Polanco going to the injured list, Twins SS Royce Lewis has a window to step into the limelight. He won’t get the first chance with 2B Edouard Julien slashing .333/.471/.537 with two home runs in 16 May games at Triple-A. Doesn’t much matter if Lewis gets the first chance or not; he’s a must-add in just about every sized league while we wait for the Polanco fallout. Wouldn’t hurt to make room for Julien either if you have the chance, especially in OBP leagues.
Mariners 2B Jose Caballero is staking his claim out west, cutting a path through the wilds of Washington toward a long-term spot at second base. He’s not an impact player for our game, but the squad has really enjoyed his steadying hand in my AL Only league. It can be tough to unseat players like Caballero, who makes the most of each pitch thanks to a discerning eye and plus contact abilities. The Mariners shipped out a herd of middle infield talent last season, so this cowboy’s timing couldn’t be better. He’s in a bit of a showdown with a wily old slinger in Jesse Chavez as I type this on Saturday. Weird back and forth with the umpire trying to–I don’t know that the hell he’s doing.
Giants OF Luis Matos provides a good reminder that prospect development is not linear. He posted a 74 wRC+ as a 20-year-old playing 91 High-A games last year, slashing .211/.275/.344. The team graduated him to Double-A anyway, and he has rewarded their confidence by graduating that level in just 31 games, walking more than he struck out at the level and slashing .304/.398/.443 with three home runs and nine stolen bases. The new paradigm favors his contact-heavy profile and aggression on the bags. He’s hitting .357 through three games at Triple-A and will start looking like a major league option if he keeps that up much longer.
Whenever I see the name “Jonny DeLuca,” my brain shouts “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” The Dodgers promoted their attitudinally named outfielder from Double to Triple-A this week. If he gets a major league chance, he’ll be relevant to our game thanks to his power-speed profile with plus plate skills. He’s 11-for-12 stealing bases across the two levels and hit ten home runs in 32 Double-A games.
In Double-A, Blue Jays RHP Adam Kloffenstein has been flying high in 2023. He gathered some shine a couple years back for being a large human who throws hard, but now he’s throwing the ball where he wants to on a regular basis. In his last five starts covering 28 innings, Kloffenstein has 38 strikeouts and a 1.29 ERA. His 27.5 percent K-BB rate and 0.93 WHIP look like the work of a potential contributor for our 2023 teams.
I was pretty happy to land White Sox 3B DJ Gladney for $0 in a recent Razz30 faab run. He spent some time over his head in Double-A Birmingham last year for the organization’s developmental structure, and he’s come out the other side looking good as a 21-year-old in High-A. He’s still walking just four percent of the time, but slugging .618 with nine home runs will go a long way to alleviate the issues created there.
Also in High-A, we find Padres RHP Jairo Iriarte building toward a full-blown breakout season. My brain tends to mix him up with Royals RHP Luinder Avila, another 21-year-old pitching well in High-A on the strength of an interesting fastball with rise. In his last five starts, Iriarte has a 0.90 ERA and 23.8 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate in 20 innings pitched. He’s more or less universally available and well worth a pickup if you have room, at least while he’s pitching this well at this age.
Yankees 2B Jared Serna will turn 21 on June 1, and I’m hoping he’s out of Low-A by then. He’s striking out just 11.6 percent of the time and slashing .333/.406/.569 with seven home runs and eight stolen bases in 32 games. Pretty loud stuff from a guy who checks in at 5’6” 168 lbs.
Thanks for reading!
