Prospect News: Spring Wins Vol 2: Angel’s Got Your Six

It’s tricky business reacting to spring training outcomes. Veterans are working on their game, treating reps like practice, while youngsters and journeymen are striving to make a good impression. That doesn’t negate all the outcomes, of course, but I feel a little silly reading sentences about how a player looks based on a week of half-games, and I feel even sillier writing them. Nonetheless, playing time is up for grabs, and small samples or not, guys are proving themselves worthy (or unworthy) of season-opening opportunities, so we can’t just play ostrich and ignore the new realities revealing themselves. 

If you’ve been around a while, you know I’m not crazy about Brayan Rocchio. SS Angel Martinez is my preferred pick among Cleveland’s options at shortstop, and he’s in a heavenly rhythm right now, batting .529 with two homers and a triple. Rocchio is hitting .118. Both players have 19 plate appearances. Would be a pretty big upset in the echo chamber if Martinez claims the gig, but I doubt the Guardians see it that way. Here’s a link to a story by Jesus Cano on mlb.com that details the changes Martinez made heading into 2024. 

Tigers OF Parker Meadows was already the likely opening day center fielder in Detroit, but slashing .350/.381/.750 in the early going can’t hurt his chances. I traded him away in a 15-teamer where I have an outfield crunch, and I’m feeling the familiar pang of regret that’s inevitable in any fair trade. 

Down a similar street, around the bend toward a high-end suburb, Brewers OF Jackson Chourio has the center field job on lockdown, but it’s still nice to see him slashing .323/.364/.419 through 33 plate appearances. 

Padres 3B Graham Pauley has a sweet left-handed swing and an all-fields approach. He’s slashing .333/.440/.619 through 25 plate appearances and might be the opening day third baseman, considering Manny Machado hasn’t played the position yet due to off-season elbow surgery. Even if Machado gets back in time, Pauley could make the roster as the everyday designated hitter. The team says it won’t bring any rookie out of camp who isn’t slated to be a starter, which is another way of saying they might have three rookies (Merrill, Marsee) in the opening day lineup. 

Dodgers OF Andy Pages is in the books with two home runs and a .471 batting average through 21 plate appearances. The team has Teoscar Hernandez and Jason Heyward installed as corner outfielders, and those guys are solid, but there’s probably room for Pages as a short-side platoon piece with starts against the occasional righty. 

Mariners SS Ryan Bliss seems happy enough with Seattle, slashing .389/.450/.444 with three steals through 20 plate appearances. He doesn’t have an angle on any particular job but is first on the call sheet for just about anything that goes wrong on the infield early in 2023.

Mighty Cubs OF Owen Caissie is bringing joy to Mudville this spring with a .440/.517/.680 slash line in 29 plate appearances. He’ll likely open the year in Triple-A and might beat Pete Crow-Armstrong to the majors in 2024 if the Cubs need a corner bat early. 

Yankees C Austin Wells looks good. Might wind up a top-five catcher. Top ten is well within his reach given the short porch. He homered out of the two-hole Saturday to bring his spring slugging percentage to .632. 

I’m just gonna put this here and then duck and move on until next week, but Atlanta OF Forrest Wall makes an interesting hedge for Kelenic, in a league deep enough for that to matter. He’s hot this spring (3 HR, .476 OBP) after hitting .462 with five steals in 15 plate appearances down the stretch last year. Maybe not a long-term solution at 28 years old, but he’s stolen 50-plus bases each of the last two seasons at Triple-A and would matter for our game if he found himself in the lineup. 

Thanks for reading!