Every weekend, I will be posting about the minor leaguers you should be stashing on your team. This list will be arranged by impact for this year only. Players that will be called up sooner will be ahead of players with more talent who might only be called up late in the year.
1) Yoan Moncada, 2B, Chicago White Sox AAA, ETA: July
.281, 51 Runs, 10 HRs, 30 RBIs, and 16 SB.
The knock on him? He has a .216 AVG vs Lefties in AAA. The Upside? His ISO Power is .243 vs Lefties. When he does get a hold of the ball, it flies. He has been slowing down since the start of June with an OPS of .762 vs .885 and .883 OPS in April and May. He might just be bored, or maybe pitchers are starting to figure him out a bit. I am buying him though and I already own him in the Pitcher List League.
2) Rhys Hoskins, 1B, Philadelphia Phillies AAA, ETA: July
.300, 58 Runs, 19 HRs, 63 RBIs, 2 SB
The Phillies made a move this week and promoted a top prospect. His name is Rh…Nick Williams. We all booed when we saw the news because Nick Williams is not anything to write home about, but it is nice to see Pete Mackanin promoting somebody. Hoskins continues to belt the ball in AAA and now leads the International League in homeruns (19), RBIS (63), Total bases (169) and Slugging (.597). He is 2nd in OBP, Runs (58) and somehow tied 6th in triples (4). Hoskins will be the oldest participant on the United States roster during the Futures Game later this month.
3) Derek Fischer, OF, Houston Astros AAA, ETA: July
.308, 47 Runs, 18 HRs, 54 RBIs, 13 SB
He currently has a five game hitting streak with two homeruns. The downside, He is hitting .146 in AAA since he was sent back down. I do like his speed and power combo, but he will be prone to cold and hot streaks. You will be able to catch him on TV again soon as He is going to be participating in the Futures Games.
4) Amed Rosario, SS, New York Mets AAA, ETA: ???
.315, 48 Runs, 7 HRs, 49 RBIs, 14 SB
I probably would have better chances at the lotto then predicting when Amed Rosario is going to be called up. Two days ago, I saw a headline that said, “Mets could find spot for Rosario after All-Star break.” Then I looked yesterday and I see: “Why you shouldn’t expect Amed Rosario on Mets anytime soon.” The later article had this quote from Sandy Alderson:
“If we’re playing well, there’s no real urgency to bring him up,” Alderson said. “If we’re playing poorly, I’d hesitate to bring him up because he’d be looked at as our potential savior. So it’s kind of a double whammy at the moment. On the other hand, if we get another two months into the season and things haven’t gone as well as we’ve hoped, maybe the future is now.”
I see his point. Amed is a 21-year-old player, and with Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera, there is not necessarily a rush. Except for the fact that Cabrera does not want to play second base and was rumored to have asked for a trade and Jose Reyes is hitting .207. Call him up Sandy. Call your Savior up.
5) Jesse Winker, OF, Cincinnati Reds AAA, ETA: July
.306, 25 Runs, 2 HRs, 37 RBIs, 1 SB
He is just 4 for 21 since he was sent down the minors and has seen his dip move from .316 to .305. He is a consistent bat, arguably the most consistent on this list, but we would love to see some more power. He has 16 doubles, so we know he has good gap power, but with just two homeruns on the year, we are left with more to be desired.
6) Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox AA, ETA: August
.306, 43 Runs, 17 HRs, 52 RBIs, 0 SB
The Red Sox promoted Michael Chavis to AA Portland Sea Dogs where Rafael Devers resides. The issue is they both play 3B. We have to think that Devers is likely going to move up to AAA if not MLB soon, especially since he has been on fire since Chavis was moved. In the last five games, he has gone 9 for 16 with 3 HRs, 7 RBIs, 4 Runs, 5 walks and no strikeouts. I am trying to find an excuse of why they might not promote him to AAA or even the bigs and there are not many beside the, he’s only 20 excuse. He is hitting .294 vs Lefties and .310 vs Righties. His OPS has increased every month and the Red Sox really need a 3B. It is a good fit.
7) Dominic Smith, 1B, New York Mets AAA, ETA: August
.323, 47 Runs, 8 HRs, 46 RBIs, 0 SB
The Mets are going to be sellers. I expect Cabrera and Duda to both be in new uniforms come August, which means Dominic Smith will be up, and Amed Rosario will be I do not know. Smith has been hot the past 10 games hitting .359 with a Homeruns, four RBIs and scoring nine times. I expect him up immediately when they do trade Duda. He does not have the pressure Amed Rosario does, but perhaps they will call them both up at the same time to share the savior of the franchise burden.
8) Francisco Mejia, C, Cleveland Indians AA, ETA: September
.344, 35 Runs, 9 HRs, 33 RBIs, 5 SB
Another Future Game attendee, Francisco Mejia has been destroying the cover off the ball in the Eastern League (AA) hitting .344 with 9 Homeruns, 35 Runs, 33 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Roberto Perez has been doing much better over the last month with OPS of .801 but the future of the spot is clearly for Francisco Mejia. He might not be a call up until September, but he could have a Gary Sanchez, Kyle Schwarber immediate top 5 in their position impact, which is why he is on the list.
9) Alex Verdugo, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers AAA, ETA: August
.347, 48 Runs, 3 HRs, 38 RBIs, 8 SB
He was the youngest player in the PCL league on opening day. You would not have guessed it because he has a very mature approach at the plate and it has translated to the stat sheet. He had a 20 game hit streak end yesterday. He went 39 for 82 during the 20 games with ten extra base hits, including two homeruns, 21 runs, 12 RBIS only 4 strikeouts and six stolen bases. You will be seeing him in the Futures Game along with Yadier Alvarez, but he might be on MLB.tv not long after that.
10) Ozzie Albies, 2B, Atlanta Braves AAA, ETA: August
.279, 46 Runs, 6 HRs, 33 RBIs, 19 SB
Ozzie Albies has had a very good year in AAA where he is the youngest player at only 20 years old. He is hitting .279 with 6 homeruns, 46 runs, 33 RBIS and 19 stolen bases to 2 caught. Ozzie Albies is a switch hitter who absolutely rakes LHP, hitting .365/.393/.588, but is having troubles with RHP, .245/.300/.373. Lately he has been working with Mr. Switch Hitter, Chipper Jones, in the cages. I recommend reading this article: Click Here. Ozzie has high upside but the Right v Left split makes me nervous. If you are debating stashing Yoan now or getting Albies if you miss out, go with Yoan. Albies might not be worth the add because of his struggle as a left hand batter.
“I see his point. Amed is a 21-year-old player, and with Jose Reyes and Asdrubal Cabrera, there is not necessarily a rush. Except for the fact that Cabrera does not want to play second base and was rumored to have asked for a trade and Jose Reyes is hitting .207. Call him up Sandy. Call your Savior up.”
Great stuff.
Despite Amed’s obvious talents to play at major league level (glove better than Reyes n challenges Cabrera), u failed to mention the more important factor. It wasn’t a considerable step back for his offensive production but it certainly doesn’t match the previous two months. Yes, PCL is full of hitters delights but if a top talent should struggle for a period of 3-4 weeks, why wouldn’t u delve into getting to the bottom of his supposed struggles. Did he play thru a minor injury? Was he seeing a different type of pitches? Was it bad luck? Is there cause for concern? The mets are dumbfounding like the Knicks. Don’t try to figure them out n instead stick to what we know. The players