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 is the lone debut from May 23rd:
John Andreoli (OF, Seattle Mariners, 28 years old)
Call Up Date: May 23rd
Role: Injury Fill-In /Bench Depth
Organization Ranking: N/A
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: N/A
Fantasy Relevance: None
The Mariners are hurting and bad. Virtually everyone on that squad is banged up and it seems to be taking a toll. One of the latest injuries was to Mitch Haniger who took a fastball off the arm a few days ago and while it looks as if he won’t need a DL stint as of now, he isn’t able to start quite yet. Enter John Andreoli. Originally signed to a minor league deal in December of 2017, Andreoli was a well-projected OF in the Cubs organization. However, the Cubs farm system in 2016-2017 was filled with great OF prospects so despite being a fan favorite his minor league successes never translated to a call up. When he became a free agent his Cubs peers encouraged him to sign a deal with the Mariners. So far Andreoli has had some success in Tacoma this year as he’s slashed .294 / .353 / .452. Overall, there is definitely a skillset there. He’s never really posted a walk rate lower than 11.2% and he’s capable of swiping 40+ in a season. He’s got good plate discipline too, the question is whether or not this will translate to major league success. If Andreoli had a clearer path to playing time, I think I would be more interested in taking a flier on him. As of now, I think he’s just a stop gap until Haniger proves that he’s healthy enough to be slotted back into the lineup. When he does, the Mariners may be tempted to send Andreoli back down for more bullpen depth.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.