Hot Fantasy Prospects To Watch For Week 17

July 22, 2021

Michael Grennell's fantasy baseball prospects who are risers and sleepers entering Week 17 of the MLB season. Keep an eye on these rookies and call-ups for fantasy on the waiver wire.

Well we've had a lot of movement on the prospect front over this past week.

First and foremost, the two biggest promotions were that of Angels outfielder Brandon Marsh and Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, who made their debuts over the weekend. Marsh is now 3-for-8 through his first two games in the big leagues, while Duran is currently 2-for-12 after hitting his first career home run on Monday night. While those two prospects have caught the most attention from fantasy managers, two Royals prospects who figure to be impact players in fantasy in the future were promoted to Triple-A last week. Bobby Witt Jr. and Nick Pratto now sit one step away from playing in Kansas City, and while there's no guarantee that they will reach the majors in 2021, managers should still make sure to keep an eye on them and how they perform at Triple-A Omaha.

But now let's take a look at this week's hot prospects, and we'll start things off by looking at a former teammate of Witt and Pratto who is raking at Double-A.

MJ Melendez - C, Kansas City Royals

Level: Double-A
2021 stats: 60 G, .278/.365/.581, 19 HR, 49 RBI, 39 R

Even with the promotions of Witt and Pratto, fans going to Northwest Arkansas games are still able to see a talented young prospect in Melendez, who has been tearing the cover off the ball at Double-A this year. He's been particularly hot in the month of July, where he currently sports a six-game hitting streak and is slashing .318/.384/.652 with six home runs, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored over 16 games. Melendez has seen a dramatic uptick in power this season, as he has already matched his career-high of 19 home runs in just over 200 fewer plate appearances than it took him to reach that mark in 2018. Part of the reason for this breakout season could be linked to a markedly improved approach at the plate, as he has dropped his strikeout rate to 21.7 percent after never having posted a mark below 30 percent in his career. He's also seen a bump up in his walk rate, going from 10.5 percent in 2019 to 12.2 percent this season.

Melendez is not one of the bigger name catching prospects out there, which means dynasty league managers should be able to acquire him for a relatively low cost. He's not a guy that managers in redraft leagues should be looking at just yet — due largely in part to the continued presence of Salvador Perez behind the plate in Kansas City. But keep an eye on him for the rest of the year. It's possible if he continues to hit the ball well that he could find his way into the Royals lineup in 2022 — possibly splitting time with Perez behind the plate and at designated hitter.

Elehuris Montero - 3B, Colorado Rockies

Level: Double-A
2021 stats: 64 G, .274/.364/.502, 13 HR, 44 RBI, 33 R

One of the prospects acquired by Colorado in the Nolan Arenado trade, Montero has had no problem adjusting to his new organization, as he is on pace to surpass the totals from his career-best year in 2018. He's three home runs shy of his career-best mark in almost 200 fewer plate appearances and his current .867 OPS is only a few points off his career-high .875 OPS. Much like with Melendez, Montero has also been on fire in the month of July, where he's slashing .449/.517/.776 with five home runs, 13 RBI and eight runs scored over 16 games. Along with all of these high marks, it's also good to see Montero have this level of success at Double-A after having significant struggles at this level in 2019, where he slashed .188/.235/.317 with a 31.1 percent strikeout rate over 59 games.

If Montero can keep this production up, he could end up being the eventual long-term replacement for Arenado at third base. So far this year the Rockies have had Josh Fuentes and Ryan McMahon split time at third base, and while it's not likely they'll bring Montero up this year, it seems a pretty good bet that Montero will be in the mix for playing time out of Spring Training 2022.

Jordan Balazovic - SP, Minnesota Twins

Level: Double-A
2021 stats: 8 GS, 2-1, 2.89 ERA, 1.098 WHIP, 32.7 K%, 37.1 IP

Drafted out of high school in 2016, Balazovic had a great year in 2019 and is following that up with another great season in 2021. So far this is his third straight year posting a strikeout rate over 30 percent, as his current 32.7 percent mark is only a slight tick down from his career-high 33.9 percent rate in 2019. He has been nothing short of lights out over his last three starts, where he has allowed just six hits and three walks over 18 2/3 scoreless innings of work with 24 strikeouts. In his last trip to the mound against the Tulsa Drillers, Balazovic allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out 11 over seven innings of work. If he can keep dominating like this in the second half of the season, it's really starting to look like the Twins could have a top-of-the-rotation pitcher in Balazovic.

I would not be surprised at all to see Balazovic get promoted to Triple-A St. Paul in the very near future. As for when he reaches Minnesota, that could be a little while longer. I would be surprised to see him join the Twins this year, especially with the Twins currently sitting near the bottom of the AL Central standings. With Michael Pineda and J.A. Happ both set to be free agents after this year, that could potentially open up a spot in the rotation for Balazovic to compete for in Spring Training. Managers should watch how he pitches the rest of the way this season, and if he continues to dominate he could be a late-round sleeper pick in next year's draft.

Ryne Nelson - SP, Arizona Diamondbacks

Level: Double-A
2021 stats: 12 GS, 4-2, 3.10 ERA, 1.155 WHIP, 35.6 K%, 58 IP

Arizona's second round pick in the 2019 Draft, Nelson only notched 18 2/3 innings of pro ball before last year's cancelled minor league season. But it appears that has done nothing to slow him down, as he is looking solid in 12 starts between High-A and Double-A this year. He's averaging over seven strikeouts per start this season, and in his last two starts he's struck out 16 batters over 10 2/3 innings of work while allowing just two runs on nine hits and six walks. Obviously we're dealing with a small sample size here, but despite the nice performance in his last two outings there has been a noticeable drop in performance after his jump from High-A to Double-A. In four starts at Double-A so far, Nelson is 0-1 with a 4.34 ERA and 1.714 WHIP over 18 2/3 innings of work. And that comes after going 4-1 with a 2.52 ERA and 0.890 WHIP over 39 1/3 innings at High-A.

Clearly Nelson is the furthest away from reaching the majors out of everyone in this week's column. And a lot of that is probably due to the missed year of development in 2020. Despite that, Nelson is still showing some good potential for his future value in fantasy. This guy is only for dynasty managers to consider right now, and really only in deeper dynasty formats. But keep an eye on him to see how he rebounds from this slow start at Double-A, and look for him to likely reach Arizona by the end of 2022 or beginning of 2023.

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