Prospect News: Transcendent Emerson Writes His Future

The big stories in prospect world this week are the long-term contracts for Brewers SS Cooper Pratt (8 years, $50.75 million) and Mariners SS Colt Emerson (8 years, $95 million). 

Pratt’s deal involves two club options at 15 million per year. This part is somewhat humorous to me. Pratt will be 29 and 30. Do you think the Brewers will be willing to pay him that money? And if they do exercise that option, what’re the odds he plays that upcoming season in Milwaukee? Not that it matters much right now. And hey, if Grey offers $50 million to lock me in at Razzball for a decade, I hope you won’t worry about my ten-years-later location. It’s strange to me that a team would trade Freddy Peralta to save money and then guarantee a pile of money to a prospect who slugged .348 in 120 Double-A games last year. Granted he was 20 years old, which made him 3.8 years younger than the average age at that level, but it just feels a little strange to see a guy get paid before really performing, particularly by a team that tends to cry poor when articulating their machinations. 

Emerson’s contract also guarantees eight years, but he’ll be setting a new record pay day for a player who has yet to debut in the majors, topping the $82 million contract Jackson Chourio signed in 2024. Seattle has a club option on a ninth year at the same rate ($11,875,000). The year will be 2034 when they have to decide on that. This Emerson signing sent ripples through the locker room among my Highlander Dynasty squad. It’s a 20-team league, and I was counting on JP Crawford to be my shortstop for at least the first couple months. I am currently playing Jorge Mateo as I await the promotion of Twins SS Kaelen Culpepper. With Nolan Arenado at third base and Cole Young off to a hot start at second base, there’s really only one place for Emerson to go, meaning Crawford’s days as the starting shortstop could probably be counted on one human’s digits. 

These moves feel sort of CBA coded. A lockout or strike looms for 2027. New rules will follow. Changes to the payout structure feel unlikely from here, at least to this writer, but if an organization signs someone under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, they can better predict their financial future during an uncertain season in the fiscal world.  

Pirates SS Konnor Griffin will turn 20 on April 24th. He’s slashing .462/.588/.692 through four Triple-A games. The trouble with sending a guy like this back to the minors out of spring training is you have to pretend you don’t immediately want him at shortstop when the actual games start. Good luck with that, Pittsburgh. I picked them to make the playoffs in my bold predictions piece, but I already regret that. Oneil Cruz looks totally lost in center field, which surprises me. It’s not that different an angle than shortstop, and the paths you get in center are fairly true to the contact point as opposed to the corners, where the ball can spin and travel in unpredictable ways. I don’t think you can make the playoffs with a centerfielder who regularly struggles to track fly balls. 

Reds OF Rece Hinds is slashing .533/.600/.867 with one home run and a 20 percent strikeout rate through four games, good for a 285 wRC+. In my low-effort brain, I feel like Hinds has had his chance and simply struck out too much to be a big leaguer. Perhaps it’s because he has seven major league home runs, but the baseball card says he’s taken just 95 major league plate appearances. That’s not enough to make a call about a player. If you make me pick a big league hitter between Spencer Steer, Will Benson and Rece Hinds, I’m taking Hinds. 

Athletics 2B Zack Gelof is off to an encouraging start in Triple-A, slashing .429/.619/.929 with two home runs and seven walks against just two strikeouts. He struck out 45 percent of the time in 101 plate appearances last year, so it’s nice to see him controlling the strike zone. He won’t have to hit like this much longer to find himself back in Sacramento. 2B Jeff McNeil will turn 34 on April 8th and is batting .091 with an .091 slugging percentage. It’s just four games, and they are paying him $12.5 million for the season. Tough to imagine they’ll find a taker for that contract, but McNeil posted a 111 wRC+ last year, so it could happen. 

Astros RHP Miguel Ullola walked 78 batters in 113.2 Triple-A innings last year, so he had to feel pretty good about walking just one last night in his season opener across 5.2 innings. He struck out seven and allowed one run on one hit. Houston has enviable rotation depth with Ryan Weiss and AJ Blubaugh in bullpen and Lance McCullers turning back the clock, but Ullola will enter this picture at some point in 2026, and he has the stuff to thrive if he’s throwing strikes. 

Thanks for reading!