Graduated from our last list: Jarren Duran, Vidal Bruján, Jarred Kelenic, Jo Adell, Cal Raleigh, Curtis Terry, Jake Meyers, Jose Barrera, Reid Detmers, Kevin Smith, Daulton Jefferies, Hoy Jun Park, Drew Ellis, Bryan De La Cruz, Rodolfo Castro
We’re reaching the now-or-never point for prospects to become rookies that help us (and their organizations) in the standings. We might see a rush of promotions in the final week of August and first few days of September. We also might not. We saw a lot of late promotions last year, but we had an expanded playoff pool and a lot more contenders at the time. With a small set of teams trying to win and a blank CBA for 2022 and beyond, we might see precious few prospect promotions of these waning summer days. I’ve been avoiding the last stash list for exactly that reason, but I recently realized I was being foolish. The future is unknowable, and the value of the stash list stretches beyond the short term. It’s always good future work to be lining up the prospects for right-now impact, even if that “right-now” doesn’t happen until 2022.
Now onto the list.
1. AAA Tampa Bay 2B Vidal Bruján
Stole three bags in a game this week, and that’s the hope for roto players. He’s been on fire since his demotion, doing everything but hitting for power, and he might be the only potential standings tilter left to arrive.
2. AAA Los Angeles (NL) RHP Andre Jackson
Kind of a cheat here as he’s already up and down. Makes me wonder if I should cut him off the list entirely. It’s only been one start–4 IP, 6 baserunners, 5 K, 0 R–so we’re not into a Tanner Houck situation where he’s a minor leaguer in name only five days a week, and I suppose he’s likely still floating around in a lot of leagues. I’m not sure he’ll be a functional streamer, but he’s a Dodger, and he’s talented with upside in the tank, so he could snag a few wins down the stretch. Houck would be the top guy on my list, by the way, if we were counting up-and-down, roster-fuckery types.
3. AAA Tampa Bay RHP Shane Baz
With just 58.2 innings pitched in affiliated ball and a few shorter bursts in the Olympics, Baz could handle a pretty heavy workload for the Rays if they chose to go that route. My guess is they’re still eyeing him for some playoff innings, in which case he’ll likely be up sooner than later.
4. AAA Cincinnati RHP Hunter Greene
Hiccup in his last outing doesn’t bother me. 102 goes a long way when someone connects. My only worry is that he should probably be shut down for the year. Teammate Nick Lodolo just missed a start with shoulder fatigue, and Greene has 88.1 innings on his ledger this year, which is 88.1 more than he’s thrown since 2018, when he threw 68.1, so he’s 20 innings over his career high. I know he’s a strong dude with good mechanics, but I see little reason for him to spend any September innings in the minors, leaving the Reds with a binary. Either he’s good enough to help them chase the Brewers in the big leagues right now, or he’s not and would likely benefit more from rest than reps this deep into what’s been an incredible season for him.
5. CPX San Diego LHP MacKenzie Gore
The Padres just started Jake Arrieta’s Pilates instructor, so the bar isn’t real high around there these days. Gore had a solid outing on the kiddie fields, and I think there’s a good chance San Diego finally pulls that parachute if he can string together another couple games wherein he has some idea of where the ball might be going when he throws it. The much-discussed high-leg delivery may or may not have been scrapped, according to Twitter tweeters. Good work, tweeters!
6. AA Seattle OF Julio Rodriguez
In moments alone with his thoughts, assuming he gets any, Jerry DiPoto has to be wondering if he played the Julio card well this year. I suspect he knows he hasn’t. No reason at all to send the wunderkind back to A+ to open the year, no reason to send him to the Olympics when your actual MLB club is making a push for the playoffs, which I realize they’re not going to make but that doesn’t really matter when you’re just four games out heading into the last week of August. Julio is a better hitter than Jarred Kelenic. Why anyone would watch Kelenic swing at miss at every pitch for a month while slow-playing Julio to a ludicrous extent is completely beyond me. It’s great to see Kelenic coming around, and I guess DiPoto feels safe in his job for 2022, and I’d agree that he’s done a lot of great things in Seattle, but the erasure of Julio Rodriguez as a potential impact bat for 2021 will baffle me as long as I remember it.
7. AAA Detroit 1B Aderlin Rodriguez
He’s 29, and it’s evident the Tigers don’t care much about him as he’s been slashing something like his current .305/.385/.601 all year long, and now he’s piled up 23 home runs, yet he’s never even joined the taxi squad for a weekend series to my knowledge. Nonetheless, he’s earned a chance to play a little in September, and he could actually be pretty loud for our game and sneaky for DFS depending on his playing time.
8. AAA Tampa Bay OF Josh Lowe
If you come into this guy’s sweet spot–middle middle and middle down–he will make you pay. If you hit your spots down, out, up, and in, you’ll probably be okay. He’s a good defender and a great athlete, so the clay is by no means dry, but if you’re among the many wondering why Tampa didn’t even glance in this guy’s direction all year, it’s all about the holes like a young Shia Lebeouf. If you haven’t seen Peanut Butter Falcon, give it a whirl next time you’re seeking something to stream, for what it’s worth. Lebeouf is leback, baby!
9. AAA Minnesota 3B Jose Miranda
I don’t think he’s coming up this year, but Grey hinted at some inside info suggesting we’ll see him in September during his latest Patreon post, Miranda Has the Right to Remain Buylent.
If that’s the case, we’re all going to want him, at least for that early hit of new car smell we get from a hot prospect call-up. Miranda has graduated the minors in terms of outcomes, slashing .328/.393/.578 with 11 HR in 46 AAA games. It’s just money and purposeful losing keeping him on the farm now.
10. AAA Miami RHP Edward Cabrera
Like Miranda, he’d be higher if I had any trust that non contenders would promote their players on schedule with what’s best for their development, but that goes for a whole slew of players we won’t say much about today. Cabrera is striking out a lot of guys in AAA, and while his command hasn’t been sharp, a 22.5 K-BB rate ain’t bad. He’s here in part because the Marlins seem like wildcards to me, looking in from the outside, and I wouldn’t put anything past them. Not wildcards in the playoff-making sense, but you know, marching to their own drummer and whatnot.
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
