May 24, 2016

Minor League Update

Games of Monday, May 23rd

by Christopher Crawford

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Prospect of the Day:

Sandy Alcantara, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals (Low-A Peoria): 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 14 K.
Well, that’s a lot of strikeouts. Alcantara’s heater is a double-plus offering that has routinely been clocked in the high 90s, and there’s late life to the pitch as well. He’ll show two fringy breaking balls that will need to get better for him to start, but the change flashes above average now, and (as you can see from the stats above) it’s a swing-and-miss pitch. There’s work to be done, but his upside competes with that of any of the St. Louis starters not named Alex Reyes.

Others of Note:

Braden Shipley, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks (Triple-A Reno): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Maybe you’d like to see him miss a few more bats, but it’s tough to argue with a 42-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio and looking good doing it.

Todd Cunningham, OF, Los Angeles Angels (Triple-A Salt Lake): 4-for-5, 3 R, 2 2B. If you like your fourth outfielders to walk, have plus speed, and play above-average defense in the field, Cunningham is your guy.

Jharel Cotton, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (Triple-A Oklahoma City): 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K. He’s been as inconsistent as.something really inconsistent, but he had it all clicking today. When that changeup is on, he’s real tough to hit.

Manuel Margot, OF, San Diego Padres (Triple-A El Paso): 2-for-4, BB, K. He’s now at .276/.360/.391 for the month of May, which is a nice improvement over his blech month of April.

Christian Arroyo, SS, San Francisco Giants (Double-A Richmond): 2-for-4, HR, K. Fun with numbers: Arroyo has a .475 OPS at home and an .846 OPS on the road. The former is not sustainable. He’s fine.

Alex Bregman, SS, Houston Astros (Double-A Corpus Christi): 1-for-5, HR. He’s fine, too. Better than fine, actually. He’s insert adverb here.

Myles Jaye, RHP, Detroit Tigers (Double-A Erie): 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. When Jaye has his best stuff going, he’ll show three solid-average pitches, and he’ll throw enough strikes to keep you satisfied, assuming you’re not expecting more than a fifth starter.

Willie Calhoun, 2B, Dodgers (Double-A Tulsa): 4-for-4, 2 R, 2 2B, HR. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If Calhoun can stick at second base, he’s a regular, and a pretty darn good one. I’m just not sure that’s gonna happen.

Amir Garrett, LHP, Cincinnati Reds (Double-A Pensacola): 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. If you’re in this area and you have a chance to see Garrett, do it. There are better pitching prospects for sure, but there aren’t many who are more fun to watch.

Erick Fedde, RHP, Washington Nationals (High-A Potomac): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K. Don’t look at that ERA (5.77 coming into the game). That ERA does not indicate how well he’s been pitching at all. That’s not to say everything is perfect, but there has been far more good than bad for Fedde in 2016.

Christin Stewart, OF, Detroit Tigers (High-A Lakeland): 2-for-4, HR. How does a .279/.412/.618 line for the month of May sound to you? Pretty good? It should sound pretty good.

Adam Engel, OF, White Sox (High-A Winston Salem): 2-for-4, R, 2 2B, BB, K. Normally I wouldn’t bother giving you the stats of a 24-year-old in High-A, but this is an exception; Engel has big-league talent, despite his Double-A numbers.

Wilmer Becerra, OF, New York Mets (High-A St. Lucie): 3-for-5, 2 2B, K. I understand why teams passed on him in the Rule 5 draft, but I can’t help but think the Mets got lucky that no one took a chance. He’s got the most upside of any outfielder in the system.

Luis Ortiz, RHP, Rangers (Double-A Frisco): 6 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Not a bad upper minors debut.

Jon Harris, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (Low-A Lansing Lugnuts): 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K. That’s now 32 innings without allowing an earned run, and 22 strikeouts in the last 14. If that’s not dominant, I don’t know what dominant is.

Phil Bickford, RHP, Giants (Low-A Augusta): 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. That he’s missing bats with his stuff is not surprising. That Bickford is doing it while throwing strikes is a pretty neat little surprise if you’re a fan of the Giants/pitching/people.

Josh Naylor, 1B, Miami Marlins (Low-A Greensboro): 2-for-4, 2 HR. He gets compared to Dan Vogelbach, but I don’t think that’s really fair to Naylor; he’s a better athlete, and I think there’s more power in his bat as well.

Cody Reed, LHP, Diamondbacks (Low-A Kane County): 7 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Assuming you’re not related to Reed, you did not see this coming. No, you didn’t.

Roniel Raudes, RHP, Boston Red Sox (Low-A Greenville): 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. Anderson Espinoza gets more attention—and for good reason—but Raudes has actually been better statistically in Greenville, and he’s not doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Christopher Crawford is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @CVCrawfordBP
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