It is time for our latest prospects update! I know that it has been a couple of weeks before we have gone over the best on the best down on the farm. Also since the last article was posted, a number of players we have been tracking have been promoted to the big club. You will no longer see A.J. Reed, Blake Snell, Jameson Taillon, or Lucas Giolito featured as prospects here, and by the end of the article you will find more good news about another young gun being called up.
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Pitching Prospects
Jose Berrios, Minnesota Twins. Not too many highly touted young prospects have come to the Majors and been a bigger disaster than Berrios. He had a major problem with walking batters, and he coupled that with giving up too many home runs. Good news for him and fantasy players is that he has been lighting it up at Triple-A the past few weeks. His last time out he threw a complete game while allowing just one run and striking out seven. In his last four starts that have spanned 30 innings, he has allowed just two earned runs and struck out 29 batters. With the pathetic state of the Twins pitching rotation, you have to believe it is just a matter of time before Berrios gets another chance with the big club.
Jose Berrios is @TRancel’s new No. 1 @ESPNFantasy prospect. Full updated rankings: https://t.co/Vninf0orck pic.twitter.com/pyX1nm5zBk
— ESPN Insider (@ESPNInsider) July 5, 2016
Tyler Glasnow, Pittsburgh Pirates. Well, let’s just get the big news out of the way quickly, as Glasnow will be called up Thursday to start for the Pirates. Whether he will stay up after this start is a question mark, but I think he will be up for a little while. Jameson Taillon is on the DL, Jon Niese’s knee is balky, and the rest of the rotation is pretty much a disaster. Glasnow has had a real trouble with control this year, but still has been very good. In his last five starts he has allowed just four earned runs, struck out 36 in just 29.2 innings. The scary number is he also walked 21 batters. He will not be able to survive in the Majors if he continues to offer free passes at this rate. I am cautiously optimistic that Glasnow will be a success it Pittsburgh, but he certainly has some work to do in order to make that happen.
Luis Severino, New York Yankees. A guy we thought could be an ace was more like a flaming bag of dog feces this season before an “injury” cost him some time and he was sent to the Minors after his “rehab”. Severino has been pitching better his past couple of times out. His last two starts have encompassed 13 innings, while allowing four earned runs, walking just one and struck out 12. The Yankees certainly have their share of problems in the starting rotation, and you have to figure that Ivan Nova and his 5.06 ERA won’t last much longer if Severino continues to pitch well.
Alex Reyes, St. Louis Cardinals. It has been a bit of an up and down last few weeks for Reyes as he continues his path from one of the top prospects to the Majors. He was great his last time out as he threw 6.2 innings, allowing just one run, walked two and struck out nine. However, his previous three starts only last 13 innings, he allowed 11 runs, and walked seven batters. He did whiff 13 guys to keep that ratio in a great spot, but he needs way more like his last time out and fewer of these duds. There’s no room in the Cardinal rotation right now, so I believe he will still be in the Minors for a while. That being said, he is still a must add if he would happen to get a surprise call.
Hitting Prospects
Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees. One of the better power prospects still in the Minors, it has been a very good few weeks for Mr. Judge. Since June 14th he has hit seven home runs, driven in 20, and has eight multi-hit games over that span. He is now batting a respectable .270 on the season with 16 dingers and 53 RBIs. Barring a significant injury to the Yankees outfield or DH, it would appear that Judge might be at Triple-A a little while longer. However, the guys that are blocking him are largely old or injury prone, it is possible for him to come to the Majors before too long, especially if the Yankees continue to lack in offense and he is mashing Minor League pitching.
Michael Conforto, OF, New York Mets. He started the season like a house of fire, but the slump in June got so bad that Conforto was ticketed to Triple-A, a place he had never visited before. He took the demotion like a professional, and vowed to be back and better than ever. While the power hasn’t been huge, Conforto has hit the ground hitting in Las Vegas. In eight games since the demotion, Conforto is hitting .303 with a home run, seven RBIs, with eight runs scored. He has just five strikeouts in those eight games, and has three multi-hit games, so you have to like what you are seeing. He really needs to work on hitting left-handed pitching to be able to come back to the Majors as a more complete player. I still believe that Conforto will come back in 2016 and rake, I just don’t know how long he will be down there.
Alex Bregman, SS, Houston Astros. It has been everything that the Astros could hope for this season for Alex Bregman as he has been hitting and hitting and hitting. After mopping up with Double-A pitching, Bregman was promoted to the top level of the Minors. In five games at Triple-A he has hit four home runs and driven in 11 runs. He has multi-hit games in three of those five contests and he has scored nine runs. His path to the big team is being blocked by Carlos Correa and a surprisingly hot bat of Luis Valbuena, but if Bregman keeps hitting like this the Astros are going to have to find a way to get him into the lineup with the Big Club.
Trea Turner, SS, Washington Nationals. Turner got the briefest of cups of coffee with the Nationals in the beginning of June, and it wasn’t enough of a sample size to get a handle on what he might be able to do. Turner has now been playing the outfield in another attempt to find him a way to get his bat to the Major Leagues. He has been solid, not spectacular since the middle of June with seven multi-hit games, two homers, seven RBIs, and four steals. By the looks of things he could have multi-position eligibility when he comes to the big leagues, and while I don’t expect him to have a huge impact I think he will can be an important part of a winning fantasy team.
Orlando Arcia, SS, Milwaukee Brewers. What started as a house of fire in the beginning of the season is starting to fade out a little. Since June 16th he has hit just two homers, but has driven in a respectable 11 runs. I was hoping that he would have more of an impact on the basepaths, but he only stole three bases in that time. I was really hoping that Arcia would come to the Majors before now and have an impact, but with Jonathan Villar playing well, and Arcia cooling off, there’s a chance it could even be September before we see him, barring injury.
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