Prospect News: Primera Things Primera, Find Your Keys

Even though I like to organize and sequence the news from the top league to the bottom in this space, I feel compelled to begin with Red Sox C Franklin Primera (18, CPX) this week, partly because I like puns more than I probably should but also because he’s early birding complex league pitching to the extent that he got traded in one of my 15-team dynasty leagues this week (shoutout to the 23 Jump Street crew). The team who traded him has been in first place most of the season and paired him with Marlins LHP Robby Snelling to get Nationals 2B Nasim Nunez and his 31 stolen bases. Well–not those 31 specifically but the possibility that he can approximate that number over the season’s second half. It’s a good trade for both sides, I think. Nunez is slashing a preposterous .426/.471/.553 with seven stolen bases over his last 14 games, hinting at a fantasy breakout in his age 25 season. We haven’t seen this type of a player for quite some time in this age of bat speed and exit velocity, so Nunez kind of snuck onto the scene with his plus defense and 70-steal upside. There’s no big surprise that he might make a jump in his second big league season while the weather heats up in a kind ballpark. I wish I’d chosen him while mapping out trade plans in Prospect News: Three Dynasty Trade Targets At Every Position while I was fumbling around for second base options. 

Oh heck we were talking about Primera. This kid is smooth, and he’s slashing .461/.581/.798 with eight home runs and four stolen bases through 28 complex league games. He’s also walking (17.8%) more than he’s striking out (10.2%) while playing catcher most days. The bat looks ready to race, and the kid is already listed at six-foot and 179 pounds. I wish I had him in every league. I pumped the brakes early in part because he signed for just $10,000. It’s against my whole human development ethos to hold that kind of thing against a guy, but I thought I had time. Instead, he got scooped up in all but the Highlander league, which is more of a shallowish keeper than dynasty anyway. Irritating fumble on my part. On the silver-lining front, lessons always extract some kind of cost, and I feel like I learned something valuable here. 

Sometimes I’ll write a sentence and read it back to myself and believe my own words in such a way that it impacts my free agency bids during the next cycle. It’s an odd sensation to see your writer self lay out your own thoughts in such a way that you go “oh, okay yeah, that makes sense.” Like, is this my brain or what? Why am I the last person to find out what I’m thinking? 

Anyway, this article is why I have Padres OF Samad Taylor on all but one team. Here’s my blurb from June 7 in Prospect News: Groovy Summer Assignments or Whitman Jumps: 

“San Diego recalled OF Samad Taylor and released OF Nick Castellanos. Taylor, 27, was slashing .319/.406/.500 with seven home runs and nine stolen bases in Triple-A. He figures to join a left field time-share with Jase Bowen and Bryce Johnson and might mix in at second base as well. At 5’8” 160 pounds, Taylor has had to earn every opportunity he’s seen between the lines. Here’s hoping his fourth stint in the majors is a little longer than his four-game and three-game stretches over the past two seasons.”

Not much there, really, but it took me a long time to write those few lines. Taylor’s been a favorite of mine for a few years now, but he got caught up in the tangles of being labeled a 4A type player whose draft-contract-team-control had expired, making him a mercenary to be passed among teams with a back-and-forth spot to spare. Hope I conveyed all that to the reader somehow because I was moving Taylor up my claim lists in the interim. It’s fun to have players you like. I released Ryan Kreidler in the Razz30 a couple weeks back because the Twins didn’t seem to care that he was on their roster, and I’m ruing that decision more than any I’ve made over the past month or so. I suppose that’s why a lot of fantasy players don’t often release their guys. 

Angels RHP Ryan Johnson is no fun for opposing hitters. He reminds me a little of Brandon Webb in the sense that everything seems heavy and awkward, but he somehow repeats this untraceable quickdraw delivery and unleashes slow-motion splitters that could cause back problems for everyone. Even you, dear reader, if you lean forward a little too quickly when Johnson’s splitter stops time. Can he throw strikes? Sure, sometimes. He did Tuesday, anyway. 

Guardians OF Kahlil Watson (23), once a nigh untouchable dynasty asset, might be floating around on your waiver wires now that he’s stepping into his first major league opportunity. The former first-round pick homered on Tuesday night and should retain his roster spot as long he can contribute. He hit 12 home runs and stole 15 bases in 56 Triple-A games. 

Blue Jays 3B Sean Keys (23, AAA) posted a 158 wRC+ through 49 Double-A games to earn his promotion to Triple-A, where he has kept the party going with a 166 wRC+ through 14 games. Toronto is in kind of a weird spot, at least where a corner-infield bat is concerned. Kazuo Okamoto and Vladimir Guerrero have those spots on lock down, so Keys will have to create his own path to playing time as long as those guys remain healthy. 

Take a quick lap around your leagues for Cardinals SS Sebastian Dos Santos (18, A). He’s probably rostered in many but might be available here and there. St. Louis just promoted him to Low-A after he posted a 142 wRC+ in 27 games on the complex. He somehow has seven stolen bases through just five Low-A games along with a 153 wRC+. He’s on an intriguing trajectory. 

Thanks for reading!