While their value is highly established in dynasty and keeper leagues, there are still prospects that are worth holding onto in redraft leagues while you wait for their call up to the big leagues. Each week I'll be looking at my top ten prospects that currently aren't in the majors, but could be worth holding in a bench spot given their potential value for the rest of the season. These rankings are based solely on their potential 2014 value, and do not include any players that are already in the majors as of yesterday. We've also reached the point in the season where a majority of this list is unlikely to have a particularly large impact. Once we reach the roster expansions on September 1st, we probably won't see any more call ups of note at that point.
Graduates So Far
George Springer, Trevor Bauer, Tommy La Stella, Marcus Stroman, Jon Singleton, Eddie Butler, Kevin Gausman, Gregory Polanco, Andrew Heaney,Oscar Taveras, Taijuan Walker, Arismendy Alcantara, Jimmy Nelson, Wilmer Flores, Allen Webster, Jake Marisnick, Javier Baez, Jake Lamb, Trevor May, Rafael Montero
This Week's Graduates
Mookie Betts - The Red Sox finally went through and demoted the struggling Jackie Bradley Jr back to AAA, but he should be back up on September 1st when rosters expand. Whether adding Rusney Castillo will have any actual impact on the team on the field this year remains to be seen.
1. Joc Pederson (#32, Midseason #11)
RANK LAST WEEK: 1 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: All those outfielders, man
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME OF CALLUP: September 1st
Ray noted the fact that Pederson will be called up on September 1st (per Ned Coletti via Jim Bowden), and Mike Petriello of Dodgers Digest noted that Pederson has been playing all over the outfield lately. Pederson will need to be added to the 40-man roster to accomplish this, but there does appear to be at least a couple fungible players toward the back end of the 40-man roster right now. Also, apparently Albuquerque will be giving away Pederson's car on August 29th, so maybe it happens then instead of September 1st?
2. Andrew Heaney (#34, Midseason #22)
RANK LAST WEEK: 2 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: Brad Hand, Tom Koehler and Brad Penny
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
I could go over the reasons I think Heaney would be a better option for the Marlins than Hand, Penny, or even Koehler, but Andrew Snyder over at Fish Stripes went a lot more in-depth on that topic, so I'd advise you to read that.
3. Noah Syndergaard (#19, Midseason #15)
RANK LAST WEEK: 4 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Bartolo Colon, Rafael Montero
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: Late August
Dan Weigel of Minor League Ball has a great look past the notably atrocious numbers that Syndergaard has posted in Las Vegas, and it's worth noting that in August he now has a 2.82 ERA, 27 strikeouts against just 9 walks in 22 innings pitched. Bartolo Colon could make sense for the Angels with the Garrett Richards injury, and it doesn't sound like he's been exposed to waivers just yet.
4. Kris Bryant (#8, Midseason #1)
RANK LAST WEEK: 5 (+1)
BLOCKED BY: Luis Valbuena
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
I keep looking at the potential 40-man roster for the Cubs, and I'm not sure if I see enough players that will need to be protected this offseason to worry about not adding Bryant. I know they keep saying it isn't happening, but I'm not going to believe it until we reach the end of the year.
5. Jorge Soler (#37, Midseason #39)
RANK LAST WEEK: 9 (+4)
BLOCKED BY: Chris Coghlan, Justin Ruggiano
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
It was a rough week at the plate for Soler, but I think we see him in Chicago on September 1st since he's already on the 40-man roster. If he's up, he should see some relatively consistent playing time.
6. Alexander Guerrero (#78)
RANK LAST WEEK: NR
BLOCKED BY: Dee Gordon, Justin Turner
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
Guerrero was also announced that he would be called up on September 1st, which isn't a huge surprise given that he's already on the 40-man roster. Interestingly, Guerrero has also seen time this year in the outfield, as well as a game at third base and four at shortstop. Whether the Dodgers decide to use him in a super-utility role or not remains to be seen, but Gordon is hitting just .243/.263/.257 with 9 steals and just 1 walk this month.
7. Taijuan Walker (#6, Midseason #8)
RANK LAST WEEK: 7 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: The Mariners' front office?
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
Walker will likely return when rosters expand, but it seems a bit unclear whether he would return as a starting pitcher or simply to work out of the bullpen. The only path I see to a starting role really seems to stem from the idea that the team would shut down either Roenis Elias or James Paxton early, but with the team in the race, I'm not sure they do that either.
8. Francisco Lindor (#35, Midseason #21)
RANK LAST WEEK: 8 (No change)
BLOCKED BY: Mike Aviles and Jose Ramirez
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: late August
Ramirez is no longer playing every day, so it still comes down to the platoon of Ramirez and veteran Mike Aviles. Lindor has not been hitting all that great at AAA, so I'm not sure I see a call up in the cards. If he is though, he can still provide value at a position that feels like it has been lacking at times this year in the majors.
9. Alex Meyer (#51, Midseason #41)
RANK LAST WEEK: 6 (-3)
BLOCKED BY: Mike Pelfrey, Sam Deduno and Kevin Correia, Yohan Pino, Logan Darnell, Tommy Milone
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
If I had any faith any more that Meyer would be called up to replace Tommy Milone (or, really, Kyle Gibson for that matter), he'd be higher up. But the Twins have made it fairly clear at this point that it's not likely, and the impact will just be minimal at this point if he doesn't get a few starts.
10. Nick Kingham (#145)
RANK LAST WEEK: HM
BLOCKED BY: Jeff Locke, Vance Worley
ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR CALLUP: September 1st
Kinda struggling here to find a name that I feel a) is likely to be called up, and b) can make an impact if called up. Let's file Kingham in the likely to be called up group since he has to be added to the 40-man roster after the season anyway, and has pitched well at AAA this year.
Honorable Mentions (in Alphabetical Order by Group)
Hitters
Matt Davidson, 3B, CHW (#64)
Maikel Franco, 3B, PHI (#36, Midseason #33)
Dalton Pompey, OF, TOR (NR) - Pompey has reached AAA Buffalo in the last week, and I could see the team call him up for September The team will need to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason anyway, so he's purely a speculation at this point.
Pitchers
Archie Bradley, RHP, AZ (#7, Midseason #14)
Jonathan Gray, RHP, COL #22, Midseason #20) - The Rockies aren't going anywhere, and at this point there seems to be very little reason to bring him up at all.
Daniel Norris, LHP, TOR (#193, Midseason #35) - Norris will be transitioned into the bullpen for the rest of the season, as it sounds like the team hopes he can help in the same way that Aaron Sanchez has so far. If he were coming up to take a rotation spot, he'd be near the top of this list.
Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, BOS (NR)
Robert Stephenson, RHP, CIN (#17, Midseason #23)
Matt Wisler, RHP, SDP (#67, Midseason #36)