The Pirates recalled 2B Nick Gonzales, who was slashing .257/.370/.450 with six home runs and one stolen base in 57 Triple-A games and striking out 28.6 percent of the time. He’s been better in June, slashing .270/.440/.460 with one home run and a 21.4 percent strikeout rate. He has to be on his game in the pitch selection department because his swing doesn’t have a ton of variability, and he’s no threat on the bases. Took him four attempts to score that one steal, and that’s no longer just a fantasy baseball problem. The 2023 version of baseball all but requires a team populated by functional baserunners.
I can’t help but feel bad for Pittsburgh fans. The team grabbed an early division lead but just couldn’t find the right buttons to push and will likely be looking up at the standings from here on out. They’re kinda scrambling at this point, seems to me. Not much reason to suspect Gonzales will be better than Bae or Castro or Marcano, but hey, lightning in a bottle and all that.
Astros OF Pedro Leon has been lapped on the org chart by a roster-full of outfielders already, and Quincy Hamilton is now waving as he passes on the left. He’s got six home runs in just 13 Triple-A games after hitting six in 44 games at Double-A. Equally impressive: Hamilton has ten strikeouts (16.7 percent) and seven walks (11.7%) in those 13 games. For his part, Leon has an 80 wRC+ right now, 20 percent worse than the average hitter in that league. Leon’s an easy drop in my opinion.
Diamondbacks SS Ryan Bliss is making fans and fantasy players very happy this season. He’s been swinging a hot bat at Double-A Amarillo all season, slashing .357/.403/.592 with 11 home runs and 21 stolen bases while striking out just 16.9 percent of the time. The team demoted Josh Rojas to Triple-A this week, where he should meet Bliss in a few days or so. I’m surprised they haven’t promoted him yet. He’s just 5’6” but packs significant opposite field power and a fantasy profile we can dream on.
Tigers RHP Jackson Jobe returned from his back injury in fine form, throwing two scoreless innings in the complex league then another 2.2 scoreless frames in Low-A Friday night. Jobe will turn 21 on July 30 and should be in High-A by then if he can avoid reinjury. The fastball and curveball are simply too good for him to see much of a challenge until he reaches the upper minors.
Through nine games in complex league play, Diamondbacks 2B Jansel Luis has seven strikeouts, four walks, six steals and one home run. A six-foot, 170 lb switch hitter, he’s slashing .380/.448/.540 and looks like a quick climber.
Cubs 1B Hadyn McGeary (23, AA) is trying to punch his ticket to Triple-A Des Moines, walking more than he’s struck out over the last 19 games (12 BB, 10 K) and slashing .368/.469/.603 with three home runs and two steals. He graduated High-A after just 20 games there and has already played 43 games in Double-A, where he’s logged a .408 on base percentage and a 143 wRC+. Trey Mancini has an 86 wRC+ in 204 big league plate appearances. Mancini might be a great clubhouse presence, but a guy should be able to hit or field to hold down a major league lineup spot, and Mancini has been losing time over the past month, hitting .184 since May 20. Matt Mervis has a 5.3 percent strikeout rate and a .421 OBP since being demoted to Triple-A on June 15. The Cubs are 8-and-2 over their last ten games, so this is just picking nits to some extent. On the other hand, this club has been piss poor at sorting its own guys for a long time, and the Mervis/McGeary backlog feels like another brick in that wall. Shocking that Mervis couldn’t find his footing playing intermittently and bouncing around the lineup. Christopher Morel feels like an incredible success story to me because he hasn’t had much support from management but keeps forcing his way into the lineup.
Dodgers 1B Yorfran Medina is a large human (6 ‘4” 195 lbs) getting pitched around in the Dominican Summer League. He’s got 11 walks, six strikeouts and SIX HBP in just 11 games. How’s a guy get hit six times in 11 games? My friend, Yorfran, you gotta dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge! If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball. Oh yeah, he’s also hitting .440 with four home runs and a preposterous 1.120 slugging percentage. The outcomes obviously warrant some skepticism given his size and the poor pitching at that level, but it’s impossible to ignore a stretch like this, especially from a young Dodger.
Thanks for reading!
PS: In case you come here for updates on High-A, Rangers 1B Abimelec Ortiz, he’s hitting .464 with a 227 wRC+ since June 14. Hickory is a hitters’ park, and Melec is a stout six-foot first baseman, but he’s trending toward add-now-ask-questions-later status. He slumps, so what, he’s a pretty safe drop.
