RADIO
Well, it finally happened. The Astros promoted No. 1 ranked 2019 impact prospect Yordan Alvarez last Sunday, perhaps to spark the offense or perhaps to increase his trade value while the club searches for controllable pitching. Or possibly both. Either way, he made his presence known immediately by homering in his first game which should be no surprise considering Alvarez slammed 23 in 56 games at the Triple-A level.
The short-season leagues begin to play later this week and players from the recent draft have begun to sign their pro contracts. Both of those events should cause more player promotion ripple effects throughout the minors.
The Marlins and Cubs finally had prospects jump onto the Top 30 list this week. Let's take a look.
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Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings (1-10)
1. Zac Gallen, RHP, Marlins (AAA) (ETA: June)
It happened. No, Gallen wasn’t promoted but a member of the Marlins’ starting rotation finally got hurt (Caleb Smith). Oddly, though, the Marlins promoted Tyler Kinley and then Elieser Hernandez over the former Cardinals prospect. It seems as though the Marlins are favoring players already on the 40-man roster plus it’s a great excuse to keep losing and settling in for a better amateur draft slot in 2020. Gallen just keeps in rolling in Triple-A and threw five shutout innings on June 9. His K-BB is now 104-16 in 86 innings on the year.
2. Kyle Tucker, OF, Astros (AAA) (ETA: July)
Considering how badly Tucker started out the 2019 season, it’s impressive to see him in the No. 2 hole on the list. Thirty-five of his 59 hits have now gone for extra bases and he has 20 home runs in just 57 games. And after going 14-for-14 in steals, he’s only six thefts away from having a 20-20 (HR-SB) season IN JUNE. Tucker may be pressing a bit lately for a promotion with 12 strikeouts in his last 48 at-bats but he also has four homers and five steals during that time frame.
3. Luis Urias, 2B, Padres (AAA) (ETA: June)
Another week, another positive report on Urias. He’s impacting the game in a number of ways over the past 10 games, including power (two homers), speed (two steals), and hitting for average (.375). Most importantly, he’s just getting on base any way he can and has 15 hits and five walks over that same span. With Fernando Tatis Jr. back and playing well in San Diego, it’s now time for Urias to get another shot.
4. Keston Hiura, 2B, Brewers (AAA) (ETA: July)
Hiura’s first taste of The Show was a bit of a mixed bag. The Good: He hit .281 with five home runs with a 29% line-drive rate in 69 plate appearances. The Bad: He struck out 33% with a BB-K of 3-23. His BABIP was high at .361. Still, Hiura will no doubt receive another shot when another injury (or trade) makes room for him. I continue to temper my enthusiasm for him in the short term due to the concerns above.
5. Dylan Cease, RHP, White Sox (AAA) (ETA: July)
Cease received a vote of confidence from the front office recently when it was stated that he was getting closer to a promotion to the Majors. But he also had an ugly outing on June 0 that saw him allow four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. He walked three batters during that stretch without a strikeout.
6. Carter Kieboom, SS, Nationals (AAA) (ETA: July)
Kieboom’s performance has been inconsistent recently and is stuck in a rut right now. He’s hitting just .152 with 10 strikeouts over his last 10 games. On the plus side, he’s still getting on-base at a decent rate with eight walks. Kieboom isn’t looking like a player who will give a playoff-contending team a spark right now but then the Nationals may not be a contending team and a July asset selloff could open up playing time for the rookie nonetheless.
7. Mitch Keller, RHP, Pirates (AAA) (ETA: July)
Keller was absolutely dominant on June 7 at the Triple-A level. He struck out 13 batters in five innings of work while issuing just one hit and three walks. He now has 74 strikeouts in 58 total innings, as well as a 3.10 ERA. His command is still a work-in-progress but it’s good enough for him to hold his own in the Majors as one of Pittsburgh’s five-best options. He may be recalled to pitch for the Pirates on Wednesday.
8. Nathaniel Lowe, 1B, Rays (AAA) (ETA: July)
Lowe’s bat might finally be waking up. He’s now hitting .342 over his past 10 contests. He also has a solid BB-K of 7-9. The power continues to be mostly MIA but he did go deep for his fourth home run of the season on June 4. With Yandy Diaz’s effectiveness waning, Lowe could get another shot before too long if that trend continues.
9. Willi Castro, SS, Tigers (AAA) (ETA: July)
Detroit continues to receive modest-at-best results from its middle infielders. Castro is hitting just .243 over the past 10 games but his average is still at .326 overall with an .886 OPS. The encouraging news is that he’s tightening up his strike zone a bit and has a BB-K of 5-7 over that recent stretch. Castro’s .404 on-base average would look nice at the top of the Tigers’ lineup.
10. Brendan McKay, LHP/1B (AAA) (ETA: August)
McKay has now gone exactly five innings with three hits allowed in each of his three Triple-A starts. He walked his first two batters at the level on June 9 but allowed just one run. He’s also shown an improved ability to induce ground-ball outs during the small sample.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings (11-20)
11. Casey Mize, RHP, Tigers (AA) (ETA: August)
Mize’s dominance at Double-A continues. He allowed just one run over five innings on June 7. He walked just one batter and struck out eight. He’s now struck out 48 batters in 49.2 Double-A innings. And he’s walked just 10 batters in that span. Mize looks ready for Triple-A.
12. Logan Allen, LHP, Padres (AAA) (ETA: July)
Allen’s shot at seeing the Majors soon took a slight hit again on June 10 when he had his second rough outing in three starts (The other outing was just OK). He walked just one batter but allowed four runs on nine hits. He’s now given up 11 earned runs in the past 15 innings.
13. Bobby Bradley, 1B, Indians (AAA) (ETA: August)
The slugging Bradley continues to battle strikeout issues with 13 over his past 10 games but he also continues to provide power, which is something the big league Indians could benefit from. It might be time for Cleveland to send Jake Bauers back down to the minors and give Bradley a shot at sparking the offense.
14. A.J. Puk, LHP, Athletics (Rehab) (ETA: July)
Puk is expected to return to competitive pitching this week with the High-A ball club in the California League, which is a very encouraging step in his return.
15. Bo Bichette, SS, Blue Jays (Rehab) (ETA: July)
Bo is back. The Jays shortstop prospect is getting his feet wet back in A-ball while staying close to the team’s medical and training facility in Florida. He showed a very patient approach in his first two games with five walks.
16. Jesus Luzardo, LHP, Athletics (Rehab) (ETA: July)
Like Puk, Luzardo is expected to pitch for the A’s High-A club this week as he works his way back from a serious shoulder injury.
17. Matt Manning, RHP, Tigers (AA) (ETA: August)
Manning bounced back from a modest performance on June 2 (three runs in 5.1 innings) to pitch six shutout innings on June 8. He struck out eight batters and allowed two walks with five hits. The big right-hander is producing ground-balls at an above-average rate while piling up the strikeouts (88 in 71.1 innings) so a move to Triple-A shouldn’t be far off.
18. Luis Robert, OF, White Sox (AA) (ETA: August)
Robert hit a rough hitless streak last weekend but prior to that, he had two or more hits in six of his eight games. His OPS is up to .915 in Double-A but the BB-K of 7-30 suggests there’s still some work to be done before he’s ready to be a consistent impact player at the MLB level. He’s a fascinating player when he’s making contact with the ball but he also goes through stretches where he can’t hit the broadside of a barn.
19. Jorge Mateo, SS, Athletics (AAA) (ETA: August)
Mateo’s latest 10-game hot streak has pushed his overall batting average up to .335. He’s also hitting for power and went deep four times over that same stretch. He now has 89 hits in 58 games with 15 doubles, 11 triples, and 10 home runs. But he also has 13 strikeouts in his last 10 games (with no walks) and an overall BB-K of 12-64.
20. Justin Dunn, RHP, Mariners (AA) (ETA: August)
Dunn had a rough start on June 7 when he allowed four runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings of work. On the plus side, his K-BB of 6-1 was excellent. His K-BB on the season is now 67-15 in 54 innings.
Fantasy Baseball Prospect Rankings (21-30)
21. Sean Reid-Foley, RHP, Blue Jays (AAA) (ETA: July)
Reid-Foley enjoyed his second-best start of the year on June 7 (and second in four games) when he threw seven shutout innings. He allowed just two hits and two walks. With the Jays’ starting rotation in shambles, it won’t take much for Reid-Foley to earn another shot at The Show.
22. Ryan Mountcastle, 3B, Orioles (AAA) (ETA: August)
Mountcastle has cooled down since his four-homers-in-two-games stretch from last week. He’s quite possibly let the power surge get into his head and has now struck out 12 times in the past six games for an overall ugly BB-K of 7-54.
23. Kyle Wright, RHP, Braves (AAA) (ETA: June)
Wright turned in another uninspiring outing on June 9 but threw his highest number of innings since May 14. He went 4.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits and two walks. He also struck out just one batter. His ERA sits at 7.22 for the year.
24. Kean Wong, 2B/OF, Rays (AAA) (ETA: August)
Wong’s season average is now up to .356 after a 10-game stretch saw him hit .390. The versatile fielder also has a .421 on-base average in 49 games. Defensively, he’s played mostly second base, third base and left field but he’s played at least one game at every position except first base, catcher, and pitcher.
25. Nick Gordon, SS, Twins (AAA) (ETA: August)
Gordon has hit a bit of a rough patch with the bat and is hitting just .231 over the last 10 games but his BB-K of 4-6 shows he’s not exactly being overpowered. He’s also finding a way to impact the game on the base paths with three steals over the weekend.
26. Gavin Lux, SS, Dodgers (AA) (ETA: August)
The Lux train has slowed down a bit recently. The infielder is hitting just .244 over his past 10 games. He also hasn’t gone deep since May 23 (His third in as many games at that point). It was also the last time he hit an extra-base hit so you have to wonder if he’s battling a nagging injury.
27. Isan Diaz, IF, Marlins (AAA) (ETA: July)
The Marlins haven’t received much offense outside of three or four hitters. The middle infield has been especially putrid with Miguel Rojas (.637 OPS) and Starlin Castro (.577) really struggling. Diaz, meanwhile, is having a solid season in Triple-A with an .894 OPS. He also has 13 home runs in 60 games, which matches his power output from both 2017 and ’18.
28. Adbert Alzolay, RHP, Cubs (AAA) (ETA: August)
Alzolay began the year on the disabled list and has made just six starts. He’s looked good at the Triple-A level with 37 strikeouts in 26 innings. With that said, he profiles as more of a No. 4 starter. Injuries also held him to just 39.2 innings last year so the Cubs may decide to be cautious with his overall innings total.
29. Justus Sheffield, RHP, Mariners (AAA) (ETA: August)
Sheffield’s season continues to go from bad to worse. The young lefty walked five batters and allowed five earned runs in his last start, which lasted just 2.2 innings. He’s now walked a total of 10 batters over his last two appearances, which total 5.1 innings. Toss in nine homers allowed in 53.1 innings and you have a pitcher that might actually have to go back to Double-A to try and find his footing.
30. Tony Santillan, RHP, Reds (AA) (ETA: August)
Santillan had another rough outing on June 10 by allowing four earned runs over 4.2 innings. He gave up nine hits and two walks while striking out just one batter. He’s now allowed nine earned runs over his last two starts (8.2 innings) with an uninspiring K-BB of 6-5. Even more troubling, he’s allowed 16 hits.
More MLB Prospects Analysis
