Baseball fans are rallying around the new rule set and running numbers to build a case for Arizona and Baltimore to call up Corbin Carroll and Gunnar Henderson, who was reportedly already with the major league team until he was reportedly in the Norfolk Triple-A lineup on Tuesday night. Could still happen if Baltimore keeps winning. Arizona has less incentive to promote Carroll given their place in the standings, but it’s a new rule set. If the Orioles promote Henderson now, he’d still be eligible to win Rookie of the Year in 2023, which would earn the team a draft pick. If he finished Top 3 in MVP voting in 2024, they’d get another. It’s weird. They’d have to keep his at bats under 130, but I’m sure they could manage that.
In other 30,000 feet news, Arte Moreno has hired a firm to sell the Angels for him. He can’t even sell his own team? What the blue hell is going on around here? Which has been the general refrain around the Angels for the past few years. It’s a good thing for our game. Anaheim has been kind of aimless on the developmental side for a long time. Any kind of vision would help their prospects actualize.
Royals OF Drew Waters made his big league debut Tuesday night after carving through Triple-A for Kansas City, slashing .295/.399/.541 with seven home runs and 13 stolen bases across 31 games. Waters doubled his walk rate after being traded along with RHP Andrew Hoffman in exchange for the 35th pick in the 2022 draft. Atlanta used that pick to take high school RHP JR Ritchie. Kind of a weird trade from any angle, but the 23-year-old Waters was barely treading water, so Atlanta shipped him off for the unknown of door number three. In Kansas City, he’ll get excellent coaching and seems to be already applying their patience-is-a-virtue approach to pitch selection. Good time to pick him up and see what happens because if he’s getting on base, he’ll be running.
Cubs OF Alexander Canario was just promoted to Triple-A after hitting 31 home runs and stealing 20 bases in 105 games across High-A and Double-A in his age-22 season. He was only hitting .248 in Double-A but was slugging .552 and reducing his strikeout rate month-by-month throughout the season. In 37 games since July, he’s hit 14 home runs and slashed .297/.409/.676 with a 15.4 percent walk rate and 21 percent strikeout rate. His stance has shifted, too. It’s not as open as Asitides Aquino or Andres Gallaraga, but it’s pretty unique, and it’s allowed Canario to relax, shorten up, and just drop the bat on the ball. He might be hopping straight to the majors if this team had reason to make that happen. Should have an outside shot to break camp with the big club next year.
Twins OF Yasser Mercedes (17, DSL) would be smashing your minor league rotisserie league over the past month. Since July 14, he’s slashing .394/.441/.638 with 14 xbh and 19 SB in 23 games. He’s a right-handed hitter listed at 6’2” 175 lbs on Fangraphs and 6’0” 175 lbs on Baseball America, so some of his early success might come from being a large human at a young age, but that doesn’t diminish the outcomes in my eyes. Physicality is difficult to build across time. It’s something I feel like some of the scouting community takes for granted when it dings a big guy for being big. He’s available in a lot of my leagues right now,
Phillies RHP Andrew Painter (19, AA) won’t turn 20 until April 10 next year. He might be a major leaguer by then. I’d bet against it, but if you asked me on draft night 2021, I also would’ve bet against him throwing six shutout innings in Double-A a year later.
Atlanta RHP Darius Vines (24, AAA) is really growing on me. 1.72 ERA with a 0.90 WHIP over his last two months in nine starts across two levels. 61 K’s in 57.2 innings. Rich get richer. Real climbers, these Atlanta youngsters.
Marlins OF Jose Gerardo (17, DSL) has 11 HR and 17 SB in 49 games, slashing .285/.418/.558. Listed at 6’1” 179 lbs. He’s striking out 31 percent of the time. Very Miami. Not an instant scoop like some DSL standouts due to the K-rate, but certainly worth a follow.
In other late-breaking news, Nationals RHP Cade Cavalli will reportedly make his major league debut this week. He’s been on a roll and could be useful in any sized league down the stretch.
In 17 games at Triple-A, Brewers OF Sal Frelick is slashing .446/.520/.554 with zero home runs and two stolen bases. No typos in these numbers. Just a video game glitch where you can get a hit almost half the time if you tap the A-button at the right moment. If you were running the Brewers and hoping to make the postseason while you’ve got dominant pitchers in their prime, you’d probably promote Frelick pretty frelicking soon here, wouldn’t you?
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
