Hundreds of baseball players make their debut over the course of a season. However, for every Ronald Acuna and Scott Kingery there are dozens of lesser known prospects making their debuts who aren’t as frequently discussed. To remedy that, Austin Bristow II, Adam Garland, Ben Palmer and I will be doing a write-up on every single player making their MLB Debut. Inspired by the Effectively Wild podcast and Andrew Perpetua, we’ll discuss each debut’s skill set, how long they will likely remain in the majors and any other pertinent information you need to know. Each player will also be stored in a spreadsheet featuring further information (bio, D.O.B, player ID’s, etc) that can be accessed at the bottom of the article.
Here are the debuts from May 19th:
Jake Cave (OF, Minnesota Twins, 25 years old)
Call Up Date: May 18th
Role: Cup of Coffee
Organization Ranking: 25th
Grades: Hit: 45/55 | Raw Power: 35/35 | Run: 55/60 | Fielding: 50/55 | Throw: 40/50 | Overall: 40/45
Fantasy Relevance: None
After being selected by the Reds in the 2016 Rule-5 Draft, Jake Cave was promptly returned to the Yankees before recording a Major League at bat with Cincinnati. After slashing .324/.367/.554 with AAA Trenton, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins in March 2018. The 25-year-old outfielder has performed acceptably in 35 games with AAA Rochester in 2018, hitting .265 with 1 home run and 4 steals before his call to join the big league club. Although his 11% walk rate and increased stolen base rate are encouraging signs for his development, Cave is still blocked for any significant playing time with Byron Buxton, Eddie Rosario, and Max Kepler solidified in the Twins outfield. Jake Cave may be an interesting stash in deep dynasty leagues, but I would not consider adding him in any redraft.
Ariel Jurado (SP, Texas Rangers, 22 years old)
Call Up Date: May 18th
Role: Injury Fill-In
Organization Ranking: 19th
Grades: Fastball 50/50 | Slider: 40/50 | Change-up: 50/55 | Command: 50/60
Fantasy Relevance: None
A former top 100 prospect, Jurado became the youngest Rangers pitcher to make a start for his MLB debut in nearly 10 years on Saturday. Jurado was filling in for Cole Hamels who is dealing with a stiff neck, and he was called upon due to being on the 40-man roster and being on normal rest. Jurado is repeating AA this season, and has a 2.57 ERA in six starts for the Roughriders this year, which is a significant improvement over last year’s 4.59 ERA. Note that Jurado has struck out just 4.63 batters per 9 innings this year, and that lack of ability to miss bats at the AA level is of concern. Jurado has been successful in the minors due to managing contact and inducing groundballs, but he is currently posting the worst ground ball rate of his career — 47.7% in 2018, after having a ground ball rate above 50% in every other season. The result is a lower ceiling fantasy outlook for Jurado, and it’s probably best to leave him on the wire in all but the deepest of leagues.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.