The Los Angeles Angels are calling up 2022 first-round pick SS Zach Neto, and baseball feels new all over again. Not just because of Neto, of course, but the whole paradigm of our game is shifting so quickly it’s easy to get excited. We could make a case that the Angels NEED to contend this year more than any other team. If not, Ohtani is as good as gone. He’s probably gone anyway, but that’s no way to go about your life. He picked Los Angeles from the beginning, he’s been incredible there, they’ve gotta be in the running until the final decision is made. For his part, Neto was slashing .444/.559/.819 with three home runs and three stolen bases in seven games. He’s a pick-up in all but the shallowest formats.
Athletics RHP Mason Miller was sitting 100 mph in his Friday night start. He struck out 11 batters over five perfect innings and probably belongs in Oakland’s rotation already. I doubt he’ll get there soon. Always tougher to predict these cases where service time–not skill–is the primary determinant of a prospect’s timeline.
Cubs 2B Christopher Morel might’ve already mastered Triple-A. He’s homered in three straight games, slashing .378/.500/.822 with 11 extra base hits in 12 games. It seems unfathomably shortsighted to block him in favor of Eric Hosmer, Trey Mancini, Patrick Wisdom, and is that Miles Mastrobuoni’s music? I’m sure part of Morel’s demotion is a front office desire to see him playing everyday, and it’s early, but I dropped Alexander Canario in the Highlander league this week because it was getting difficult to see his path already when Ian Happ signed a long-term contract this week. If this team can’t find time for Morel, who can break through into that stacked lineup?
After a slow start to his minor league season, Yankees 3B Andres Chaparro has homered six times in his last five games. He’s struck out once over that stretch, which is the big draw with Chaparro: easy plus power without the high-strikeout tax. He turns 24 on May the fourth and should be swinging that saber in the majors shortly afterward.
Rockies OF Nolan Jones was slashing .359/.479/.872 with an 18.8-to-16.7 percent strikeout to walk rate when he was recalled Wednesday. It’s been just two games on the Rocks, but Jones hasn’t seen a pitch. Alan Trejo started at third base on Friday. Jurickson Profar went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts in left field. He’s hitting .192 and slugging .366 on the young season. Yonathan Daza remains an everyday player.
The Washington Nationals are employing a similar “strategy” with Stone Garrett, who hasn’t played since April 9th despite slashing .583/.643/1.000 with a 99 mph average exit velocity. Sure, it’s just three games, but Garrett also posted a 131 wRC+ in 27 major league games with Arizona last season. The slugging percentages of players starting over him: Alex Call (.326), Joey Meneses (.278), Dom Smith (.250), and Lane Thomas (.352). Again, these are not the on base percentages or batting averages. These are the slugging percentages. I’m not saying Garrett needs to push one of these guys to the bench forever. I am saying it’s incredible to me that he’s not playing AT ALL. Is he injured? Not that I can find. He came up, smashed the baseball for three games, and went to the bench for a week. On a terrible team. Tampa would never, ever do this, which is a fun juxtaposition because they’re always good and always trying to win but never let a guy just rot on the bench for a week, no matter how much he’s struggling. Must be a coincidence.
Mets infielders Ronny Mauricio and Brett Baty are on the board with six and five home runs, respectively, slugging .880 and .886 with OBPs north of .400 (Baty is at .500 as I type this on Saturday morning). Eduardo Escobar is slashing .114/.167/.227 after posting a .295 OBP in 136 games last year. I realize this article seems to be set in Salt City, but I don’t see how the Mets can square spending half a billion dollars on their team while blocking great prospects with the remains of Eduardo Escobar due to a sunk cost fallacy. I’d have these kids in the lineup and Escobar on the bench next to Vogelbach and Pham, but this is probably why I’m not a billionaire. Perry Mason could build a pretty good case for keeping the Vogey-Pham platoon in place, but I see no such counter-argument for Escobar v. Baty.
Angels OF Jo Adell has gotten a lot of press and rightly so given his eight home runs in 13 games, but teammate Jordyn Adams is making plenty of his own noise in center field. He’s homered in his last three games, four times in his last five games. He’s hitting just .234 after a slow start but carries a seven-game hitting streak into Saturday’s contests. He’s never made enough contact to matter for our game, but if that’s changing, Adams is a 99th percentile athlete who’d make a sharp add in just about every league if he got called up to play.
Diamondbacks 2B Buddy Kennedy didn’t make enough impact on contact to hang around last season, but he’s on another level early in 2023, drawing 13 walks against just 2 strikeouts, slashing .345/.558/.759 with three home runs. Arizona’s Triple-A stats need to be taken with a few pillars of salt, but you can’t fake those insane plate skills. I had to triple check the info in the game logs and box scores. Can’t recall the last time I’ve seen a 13/2 BB/K rate.
Dodgers RHP River Ryan opened his Double-A career with four scoreless innings. He allowed one baserunner and recorded two strikeouts. I’d recommend you get him where you can fit him.
Blue Jays LHP Ricky Tiedemann struck out the first nine hitters he saw this season in Double-A.
Rockies C Hunter Goodman hit 36 home runs across three levels last season and is picking up where he left off in Double-A, leading the league (tied with Heston Kjerstad) with four home runs through seven games. Goodman also has five strikeouts and five walks on his way to a triple slash of .360/.484/.960. Gotta do the F. Scott Fitzgerald ideal here and hold two opposing truths in our head simultaneously, refusing to let one win out over the other: 1) Hunter Goodman looks very good, man and 2) the Rockies are the Rockies, and we may never see Hunter Goodman in a major league baseball game.
Yankees giant Spencer Jones is hitting .385 with three home runs through a week in High-A. He played just 22 games in Low A at the end of last season, so it will be interesting to see how long he’s in High-A if he keeps hitting.
Marlins SS Yiddi Cappe opened the season in High-A despite posting a .299 OBP in 37 Low-A games last year, but he’s been undaunted thus far, hitting .333 with six extra base hits (2 HR) in seven games.
Forecast says it looks like a good day to add Dodgers SS Rayne Doncon if he’s still available in your deepish (>300 prospects rostered) dynasty leagues. He’s on a five-game hitting streak with two home runs in his last three games and should find himself near the top of their org-rankings after the dust settles on a series of graduations in 2023.
Thanks for reading!
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