October 20, 2016

Minor League Update

Games of October 19th

by Mauricio Rubio

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Hitter of the Day

Jose Trevino, C, Texas Rangers (Surprise Saguaros) 2-3, 2B. Catchers are low in supply, so the ones who can catch and hit enough to not murder your team’s production are going to generate some buzz within the industry. Jose Trevino has a strong arm that can help mitigate the running game some and developing defensive chops. Offensively there’s average raw in the bat and he projects to have enough hitting ability to actualize the raw in-game. Those skills make him an interesting prospect to keep tabs on.

Pitcher of the Day

Francis Martes, RHP, Houston Astros (Glendale Desert Dogs) 3 IP, 4 H, 1 RA, 0 BB, 2 SO. Martes had a rough first outing in the Arizona Fall League, but he reined in the control this start, showing the high-90s heat and excellent breaking ball that keyed his incredible improvement in 2015. Martes has serious upside and if his change comes around he’ll be a dangerous arm fronting a rotation.

Best of the Rest

Nick Ciuffo, C, Tampa Bay Rays (Peoria Javelinas) 1-3, 2B. He’s a glove-first guy with a strong arm and impressive defensive chops. Limited power, open question as to whether he will hit enough to start.

Emilio Pagan, LHP, Seattle Mariners (Peoria Javelinas) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 RA, 0 BB, 2 SO. Touches the mid-90s with his fastball and he can generate swings and misses with his slider when it’s on.

Josh Taylor, LHP, Arizona Diamondbacks (Salt River Rafters) 4 IP, 1 H, 0 RA, 1 BB, 7 SO. Taylor had a rough 2016 across two levels as he got hit hard at Visalia and Mobile. His fastball works in the mid-to-upper-90s, but his secondaries are fringy at best.

Andrew Stevenson, OF, Washington Nationals (Glendale Desert Dogs) 2-4, 2B. Explosive speed paired with plus defense and an average hit tool will carry a profile a long way, even if there’s not a lot of power.

Mauricio Dubon, Boston Red Sox, SS, (Surprise Saguaros) 3-4. There’s little power behind it, but Dubon just flat out hits. He has a short, quick swing and solid defensive skills at short.

Fight Another Day

Eloy Jiménez, OF, Chicago Cubs (Mesa Solar Sox) 0-4, 2 SO. Jiménez has done an excellent job mitigating the strikeouts in his game over the past two years, but every so often he’ll run into these kinds of nights.

Isan Díaz, SS, Milwaukee Brewers (Salt River Rafters) 1-5, 3 SO. The risk inherent in Díaz’s game comes from a hole up and in that advanced pitchers will be able to exploit as he climbs the ladder. I believe he has the quickness to cover the hole, but it’ll be a learning process all the way up.

Yoan Moncada, 2B, Boston Red Sox (Surprise Saguaros) 0-3, 2 SO, 1 BB. Moncada ended 2016 with a major-league promotion that got ugly in a hurry and the strikeouts reared their ugly head again tonight. He’s still a beastly prospect, however.

Mauricio Rubio is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @MRubio52
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