Put on a nice shirt. Floss. I meant your teeth. Stop doing that stupid dance. Get serious. You need to look presentable when he comes to save your fantasy rotation. He’s Jesus Luzardo and he’s the cat’s pajamas. The real nice ones with the pockets. Luzardo is still building up after a shoulder injury sidelined him for the first half of the season, but in Thursday’s start at Triple-A he threw 66 pitches over five innings. There shouldn’t be too much further to go from here before he’s able to join the Athletics rotation, which is where we thought he’d be back in March. My guess is he’ll be promoted after two, maybe three more starts, or shortly after the All-Star Break. Luzardo was the headliner in Grey’s buy column this past Friday, and outside of maybe Dylan Cease, there aren’t many impact pitching prospects left in the minors for this season. So accept Jesus in your heart and on your fantasy team. Here’s what else is happening around the minor leagues…
Joey Bart, C | SFG – 3-for-6 and riding a six-game hit streak. After missing all of May, Bart has been back for the better part of June. For the month, he’s hit .250 with three homers. Nothing spectacular, but he’s coming back from a broken hand. If you have to own a catching prospect in your dynasty league, he’d be the one.
Ian Anderson, RHP | ATL – Struck out 14 batters in seven no-hit innings for Double-A Mississippi. That gives Anderson 113 strikeouts in 85 innings pitched this season. And a 2.94 ERA. Impressive stuff. I don’t think there’s room in the Braves rotation this year, but for 2020 I’d definitely keep Anderson in mind.
Isan Diaz, 2B | MIA – 4-for-4 with a homer and a pair of doubles. The homer was his seventh of June after hitting eight in May. He now has 17 dingers on the season and is hitting .297 with a .384 on-base percentage. After the All-Star Break, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Marlins give Starling Castro a spot on the bench and Diaz a shot as the starting second baseman. If you lost out in the race to stash Luis Urias, Diaz could be a nice consolation prize.
Vidal Brujan, 2B | TBR – Promoted to Double-A Montgomery. A lot of prospects will be promoted in the next week or so, but I think it’s important to keep mentioning Brujan. He gets overshadowed by uberspec Wander Franco, but Brujan is a very good prospect in his own right. Prior to the promotion, he’d hit .290 with 24 steals for High-A Charlotte. I like his plate discipline more than anything else. He’s posted a walk rate of 9% and a strikeout rate of 13% this season. If he develops even 8-12 homer power, it’s a really nice offensive package.
