May 5, 2016

Minor League Update

Games of Wednesday, May 4th

by Christopher Crawford

the archives are now free. All Baseball Prospectus Premium and Fantasy articles more than a year old are now free as a thank you to the entire Internet for making our work possible. Not a subscriber? Get exclusive content like this delivered hot to your inbox every weekday. Click here for more information on Baseball Prospectus subscriptions or use the buttons to the right to subscribe and get instant access to the best baseball content on the web.

Subscribe for $4.95 per month Recurring subscription - cancel anytime. Subscribe for $39.95 for one year a 33% savings over the monthly price! Purchase a $39.95 gift subscription a 33% savings over the monthly price! Already a subscriber? Click here and use the blue login bar to log in.

Prospect of the Day:

Julio Urias, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (Triple-A Oklahoma City): 6 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.
Urias left after having only thrown 77 pitches, and could have easily pulled off the ever-so-rare no-no under 100 pitches. You can’t blame the Dodgers for being extremely careful with a teenager. I’m not sure about his major-league role in 2016, but with how dominant he’s been, I’d be surprised if he’s not pitching for Los Angeles at some point this season. This young man is special.

Others of Note:

Gary Sanchez, C, New York Yankees (Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre): 3-for-5, R, SB. You won’t see him steal too many bases, but after a shaky start it’s nice to see Sanchez start to see some hits dropping.

Willson Contreras, C, Chicago Cubs (Triple-A Iowa): 0-for-0, 2 R, 4 BB, CS. I’ve never typed 0-for-0 in one of these updates. It’s oddly unsettling. Oh, Contreras is good.

Adam Brett Walker, OF, Minnesota Twins (Triple-A Rochester): 2-for-3, 2 R, HR, BB, K, SB, CS. Walker is on pace to hit right around 30 homers, which is great. He’s also on pace to strike out well over 200 times. That’s not gonna work.

Dan Vogelbach, 1B, Cubs (Triple-A Iowa): 3-for-5, 2 R, HR. I’ll just warn everyone that Vogelbach got off to a start like this last year, as well. I’ll stop being a negative nellie now, he’s crushing the ball.

Chih-Wei Hu, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays (Double-A Montgomery): 6.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Hu has four competent pitches that he throws for strikes, and one of them is a palmball, which is a lot of fun.

Dansby Swanson, SS, Atlanta Braves (Double-A Mississippi): 4-for-5, 2 R, 2B, E. Shelby Miller has an ERA of 8.49. Just saying.

Harrison Musgrave, RHP, Colorado Rockies (Double-A Hartford): 7 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. That’s five straight dominant starts from the former West Virginia Mountaineers ace. There’s a ton of deception here, and the change might be double-plus.

Tyler Danish, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Double-A Birmingham): 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. He’s throwing strikes with all three pitches, and he’s still showing two 60 pitches in his fastball and change.

Casey Gillaspie, 1B, Rays (Double-A Montgomery): 3-for-3, 2B, HR. The Rays 2014 first-rounder has an outstanding approach from both sides of the plate, and there’s some power here from both sides of the plate as well.

Sal Romano, RHP, Cincinnati Reds (Double-A Pensacola): 6 IP 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. A 23^rd-round pick in the 2011 draft, Romano is massive (6-foot-5, 260 pounds), and he can blow a 94-97 mph fastball by hitters with good enough secondary offerings to maybe allow him to start.

Bobby Bradley, 1B, Cleveland (High-A Lynchburg): 3-for-5, 3 R, HR, 3 BB (Doubleheader). The homer was of the grand-slam variety. The strikeouts will frustrate, but there aren’t many corner infielders with a better power profile.

Tyler Jay, LHP, Minnesota Twins (High-A Fort Myers): 6.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. He’s battled some command issues over the first month, but there’s been more good than bad in his first season as a starter so far.

Yoan Moncada, 2B, Boston Red Sox (High-A Salem): 3-for-4, 4 R, 2 2B, BB, K, SB. I realize Boston has a crapton of quality middle infielders, but come on, get this guy into Double-A.

Andrew Benintendi, OF, Red Sox (High-A Salem): 2-for-4, 3B. I’ve Benintendi-ng to tell you that this is another guy who is ready for a promotion as well. I’d also like to tell you that I’m sorry for this but I’m not.

Dinelson Lamet, RHP, San Diego Padres (High-A Lake Elsinore): 5 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. He’s a bit old for the level (23), but it doesn’t really matter how old you are—being dominant in the Cal League is impressive, and that’s what Lamet has been.

Brendan Rodgers, SS, Rockies (Low-A Asheville):3-for-4, R, 3 2B, K. If you’re not impressed by what Rodgers, Swanson, and Alex Bregman have done in their first full professional seasons, you can’t come to my birthday party.

Freddy Peralta, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers (Low-A Wisconsin): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Acquired in the Adam Lind trade, Peralta has a 92-94 mph fastball and shows two average secondary offerings as well.

Mitch Keller, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates (Low-A West Virginia): 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. It’s taken a little longer than anticipated, but Keller is finally showing the stuff that made him so highly touted in the 2014 draft on a consistent basis.

Edmundo Sosa, SS, St. Louis Cardinals (Low-A Peoria): 4-for-5, 2B. The glove is slightly ahead of the bat, but the bat is pretty good, too, and there’s a chance for four above-average tools when all’s said and done.

D.J. Stewart, OF, Baltimore Orioles (Low-A Delmarva): 3-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, SB. I was baffled by this pick (and still am), but the approach has been solid and now the hits are starting to drop in as well.

Christopher Crawford is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @CVCrawfordBP
Click here to see Christopher's other articles. You can contact Christopher by clicking here