Never a dull moment around baseball when it comes to the top prospects, is there? We saw Saturday afternoon provide us with two more of the top prospects in Byron Buxton and Francisco Lindor, both of whom appear to be up to stay. Hope you grabbed them if they were available.
The Cubs have made an interesting move this week, adding Kyle Schwarber to be their primary designated hitter while they play the AL this week, and will send him back to AAA afterward. The team believes he can catch on a fairly regular basis, and the best case scenario is that he finds a way to keep catcher eligibility even if he doesn't play there every day. I think he's up to stay by the end of the year, and will appear on this week's list.
We've also seen the Braves bring up pitcher Matt Wisler after sending Mike Foltynewicz back to AAA, and the Phillies will bring Adam Morgan up to start on Sunday. Wisler's much more interesting for fantasy and threw 8 innings of 1 run ball in his debut. He'll likely get another start at least, and could solidify that with a repeat performance.
So who's next? Which prospect is still worth holding onto now for when they are called up to the majors later?
Graduates
Week 3: Kris Bryant, Yasmany Tomas
Week 4: Carlos Rodon, Addison Russell, Kevin Plawecki
Week 5: Dilson Herrera, Blake Swihart
Week 6: Noah Syndergaard, Austin Hedges, Eddie Rosario, Preston Tucker
Week 7: Maikel Franco, Lance McCullers Jr.
Week 8: Rusney Castillo, Wilmer Difo
Week 9: Eduardo Rodriguez, Chi Chi Gonzalez, Michael Feliz
Week 10: Joey Gallo, Joe Ross, Mike Montgomery, Scott Schebler
Week 11: Carlos Correa, Mason Williams
Week 12: Byron Buxton, Francisco Lindor, Kyle Schwarber (sort of), Matt Wisler, Adam Morgan
Rk | Player | Team | Pos. | LW | Level | ETA | Comments |
1 | Hector Olivera | LAD | 3B/2B | 1 | AAA | 6/25 | I viewed Olivera as basically on a rehab assignment, and it's looking like his time in the minors could be over very soon. He's absolutely destroying AAA as much as he did AA, and while Justin Turner and Alex Guerrero have done well, Olivera is likely the best option. |
2 | Corey Seager | LAD | SS/3B | 3 | AAA | 7/1 | Jimmy Rollins has managed to get his batting average up to .200 on the season, but I'm just not sold that the team will keep running him out there if he doesn't start to hit at least a little better. |
3 | Kyle Schwarber | CHC | C/OF | NR | AAA | 7/31 | Have a week, Kyle Schwarber. Three games in and he's already got six hits and a home run. He's definitely returning to AAA Iowa after Sunday's game, but that doesn't mean you should drop him just yet. I don't think he's down for long, as the Cubs let him get more time at catcher in the minors to bring him back. |
4 | Steven Matz | NYM | LHP | 6 | AAA | 7/1 | Getting rid of Dillon Gee won't automatically clear a spot for Matz, but it definitely helps. The team could go with a six-man rotation again and bring him up, and I think he eventually forces Niese out of the rotation as well. |
5 | Aaron Nola | PHI | RHP | 4 | AAA | 7/1 | Nola was promoted to AAA in the last week, and threw five shutout innings with seven strikeouts and a walk in his first start there. Nola sure looks like he's one of the Phillies' five best starting pitchers right now, and hopefully they figure that out sooner rather than later. |
6 | Jon Gray | COL | RHP | 5 | AAA | 7/1 | Gray posted a season high eight strikeouts in his last start at AAA, and the rest of the rotation in Colorado is, frankly, pitching pretty badly. The team's not competing this year |
7 | Andrew Heaney | LAA | LHP | 2 | AAA | 7/20 | Shoemaker and Weaver were the starters that didn't pitch that great in the last go around, but with Heaney pitching even worse, I'm not seeing a call up unless he puts together a couple solid starts in a row. |
8 | Miguel Sano | MIN | 3B | NR | AA | 7/31 | The Twins have already called up their top prospect, and Sano could very well be the next one. It's not entirely clear where he'd play without an injury, as Kennys Vargas seems more likely to stay at DH, the most likely opening. |
9 | Daniel Norris | TOR | LHP | NR | AAA | 7/10 | Aaron Sanchez was placed on the disabled list, and while it's not expected to be a long DL stay, I think if it turns out to be they turn to Norris instead of Scott Copeland. |
10 | Richie Shaffer | TAM | 3B/1B | NR | AAA | 7/10 | Shaffer has been crushing everything since his promotion to AAA, and with the Rays running Jake Elmore out there in place of the injured James Loney. |
For Those About to Rebuild, We Salute You
If you're already rebuilding with an aim toward the 2016 season (or rapidly looking like you should), you're probably looking for prospects to target that have a reasonably good chance at contributing for a majority of 2016. This list isn't necessarily likely to be drastically different from the list above some weeks, and should more closely resemble the top of the fantasy prospect rankings.
Rk | Player | Team | Pos. | LW | Level | ETA | Comments |
1 | Corey Seager | LAD | SS | 2 | AAA | 7/1 | |
2 | Miguel Sano | MIN | 3B | 4 | AA | 7/31 | I originally had Sano as coming up in 2016, but I think now that they have brought Buxton up, the move for Sano won't be too far behind him. |
3 | J.P. Crawford | PHI | SS | 5 | AA | May 2016 | |
4 | Julio Urias | LAD | LHP | NR | AA | June 2016 | I ranked Urias as my #4 prospect earlier in the week, but I think that between the potential innings limit next year and service time chicanery, we don't see Urias have that level of an impact in 2016. Longer term he's ahead of Crawford, but for 2016 only he sits behind him. |
5 | Jon Gray | COL | RHP | NR | AAA | 7/1 |