Happy Father’s Day!
I hope you all have a great one!
It’s been a while since I checked in with the stashes, list-wise, and today feels like the perfect fit for a post-super-two, redraft ranking of the rookies in waiting.
Since last we met here for the Stash List Sans Jarred Kelenic, we’ve seen a lot of players promoted for the first nights under the big lights: Alek Manoah, Logan Gilbert, Jesus Sanchez, Matt Manning, Lewin Diaz, Chris Gittens, Jackson Kowar, DeMarcus Evans, and Cory Abbott.
We’ve also seen some guys from that list go there and back again: Owen Miller, Luis Barrera, Corbin Martin, Max Moroff. It’s a tough game. Failure abounds. Determination is elemental. Some of these guys will only get a sip or two before returning to endless bus trips and styrofoam sandwich dinners. Some will become central to the fantasy game itself. Welcome to The Stash List.
1. AAA Tampa Bay SS Wander Franco
First time atop this list for Wander. Do I think the Rays are nearing the moment when they’ll promote him?
I guess? I mean he’s here because he’ll hurt worse than anyone if he gets the call and you didn’t move on it when/if you had the chance. And because I think he’ll take to big league ball like a fish to water. He’s also here for the first time because betting on Tampa to call up a hot prospect is a good way to go broke. They have little to gain from stalling unless they really are considering waiting until the final window when he’d still be postseason eligible. It’s the new jam these last couple years, so I certainly wouldn’t put that past Tampa. To make that work in the current/old service math, they’d have to send him back to the minors to begin 2022, and that’s a kind of evil I don’t even want to think about on Father’s Day. Or any day, really.
2. AAA Boston OF Jarren Duran
Everything this cat does is loud. Might still be a buy window for dynasty. I don’t think he’s treated as a top ten type prospect, a potential 30/30 roto demon who makes himself untouchable in trades. He has 11 home runs in 28 games. That’s a pace of about 60 in a big league season. Just an incredible leap from a guy who’d hit 8 HR in his previous 199 professional games.
3. AAA Tampa Bay IF/OF Vidal Brujan
In Volume 2, when Brujan was bewitching AAA pitchers, I said he’d be held back until he was slumping, at which point Tampa could use that slump as a reason to bury him in the minors as long as possible. Well, huzzah, I guess.
4. AAA Los Angeles (AL) OF Jo Adell
Ah hell I dunno. He’s not solving the swing-and-miss issues, but he is leading the minors in home runs, and the Angels are playing Juan Lagares. He’s a 22-year-old with a .286/.335/.686 slash line. 31.8 percent is not the worst strikeout rate of all time. Feels like the Angels are stalling to steal some service time here. I get the logic, but they’re hurting their big league club, and that gets old in a hurry.
5. AAA Cincinnati RHP Hunter Greene
Touched 104 on the stadium gun in his AAA debut against Omaha, who stormed him with four home runs and chased him from the game after four innings. I don’t care. He struck out 47.1 percent of his opponents in AAA as a 21-year-old with relatively little experience. Recorded a 28.4 K-BB rate across 41 AA innings. He’ll be up-and-down in his early career, but he’s one of a handful of arms with true ace topside, and I think he’ll get there. Will always be a target for me in dynasty leagues.
6. AAA Texas 1B Curtis Terry
I think Terry’s a better hitter than Nate Lowe, who’s slugging .292 over the past month. Extreme passivity in a minor leaguer is never my jam. I can’t recall the last time it worked out. I’m always suspicious it speaks to a slightly slow refresh rate in the pitch-identifying mainframe. I’m not certain Terry is quick enough for big league pitching, but he’s been awesome since 2018, logging wRC+ scores of 186, 152, 164, and 143 across four levels. Fangraphs has him at 50 raw power, which is clearly from an outdated look. It’s easy for “real baseball” types to bucket right, right corner bats as non-prospects and go on with their lives. Terry deserves better, slashing .316/.385/.632 with 11 HR in 36 games and striking out just 20.9 percent of the time after skipping AA. Nothing but wows in terms of his on-the-field outcomes. Nothing but silence from a lot of prospect sources.
Here’s a quick clip of Terry legging out a triple that sets the stage for him to complete the cycle late Friday night.
7. AAA Tampa Bay OF Josh Lowe
Slashing .315/.364/.631. 9 HR 7 SB. I keep thinking Tampa knows this could be a World Series season, given that they just had one, and they know they’ll need all their best talents to get major league reps well before the postseason. I suppose Taylor Walls and Shane McClanahan and Luis Patino make it clear that’s not totally wrong, but, well, you know the refrain. Or some variation on it anyway. And hey maybe a World Series is worth a lot less to the Rays than it is to other teams. I mean it probably really is at this point, fiscally speaking.
8. AAA Oakland RHP Daulton Jefferies
He’s ready for big league batters, but he’s never had health on his side for an extended stretch, and he got roasted in his last AAA outing against Arizona, allowing seven earned runs in four innings pitched. He’s only struck out 16 across 23.2 innings, but that comes with just three walks and a 1.14 WHIP. His fastball might not ultimately be enough to hang, but he’s adept at adjusting based on what’s working that night. Could be a functional back-end rotation piece who helps in fantasy when he’s hot thanks to the plus command.
9. AAA Baltimore 2B Jahmai Jones
Orioles seem to have something here. It’s only been 14 games at AAA, but Jones has an 8/8 K/BB with 3 HR, 4 SB and a .345/.431/.636 slash line. The organization itself could be an issue here. If they think Jones is a real cog in their future, they might not give him a look this season. Yes, I know how ridiculous that reads. I don’t know how often to call attention to the elaborate nonsense that goes into running a club in this final season of the current collective bargaining agreement.
10. AAA Baltimore SS Domingo Leyba
Could copy and paste most of the Jones blurb, except that they targeted Jones in the Alex Cobb trade and kind of fell into Leyba thanks to Arizona letting him walk. I don’t know why they didn’t want to see what Leyba could do in the majors. In 17 AAA games this year, Leyba has eight home runs, nine strikeouts, and four walks. Good for a .375/.403/.778 triple slash. If Baltime installs these guys at shortstop and second base and leaves them alone in the second half, I will be excited. Odds are one or the other will bring some bombs in a homer happy ballpark.
11) AAA Tampa Bay RHP Shane Baz
12) AA Miami RHP Edward Cabrera
13) AAA Kansas City 3B Emmanuel Rivera
14) AAA Chicago (AL) Jake Burger
15) AAA Chicago (AL) Gavin Sheets
16) AAA Tampa Bay RHP Joe Ryan
17) AAA Seattle C Cal Raleigh
18) AA Toronto RHP Simeon Woods Richardson
19) AA Cincinnati SS Jose Barrera
20) AA Boston RHP Brayan Bello
21) AA Toronto 2B Samad Taylor
22) AA Kansas City SS Bobby Witt Jr.
23) AA San Diego SS CJ Abrams
24) AAA Boston OF Johan Mieses
25) AAA San Francisco RHP Matt Frisbee
26) AAA Houston OF Jake Meyers
27) AAA Milwaukee LHP Aaron Ashby
28) AAA Houston OF Jose Siri
29) AA Milwaukee LHP Ethan Small
30) AAA Minnesota RHP Jhoan Duran
31) AA San Francisco RHP Caleb Kilian
32) AAA Houston RHP Brett Conine
33) AA Kansas City 1B Nick Pratto
34) AA Miami LHP Jake Eder
35) AA Kansas City RHP Alec Marsh
36) AA Pittsburgh RHP Roansy Contreras
37) AAA Boston OF Marcus Wilson
38) AA San Francisco OF Heliot Ramos
39) AA Pittsburgh SS Rodolfo Castro
40) A+ Seattle OF Julio Rodriguez
Slumping:
AAA Boston SS Jeter Downs – seems to be digging his way out
AAA San Diego LHP MacKenzie Gore – seems to be digging deeper holes
AAA Seattle OF Jarred Kelenic – member Dig Dug?
AA Baltimore OF Yusniel Diaz – recently demoted from AAA
Injured:
AAA Philadelphia OF Cornelius Randolph
AAA Los Angeles (AL) Brandon Marsh
AAA Chicago (NL) LHP Brailyn Marquez
AA Los Angeles (NL) RHP Josiah Gray
Elbows and backs betray us all.
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
