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Every Monday through the rest of the minor league season, I'll be taking a look at a prospect who is either at AA or AAA, and could potentially have an impact on your fantasy season this year. Today's prospect is one who was in AA until Saturday night, when an injury with the big club opened a path for him to get regular playing time in the short-term. He appeared in the Futures Game two weeks ago, and could potentially be extremely valuable while he is up in the Majors. So let's get right to it and take a look at the new starting shortstop for the Angels, Jean Segura.
The Basics
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 165 lbs.
On 25-man roster: Yes
His History
Segura was signed out of the Dominican Republic in early 2007, and was converted almost immediately to the shortstop position. He spent the 2007 season playing in the Dominican Summer League, and managed to get in just 11 games in the Arizona Rookie League in 2008. The team continued to take it slow with Segura in 2009, where he was sent to short-season Orem, where he hit .354/.395/.514 with 3 home runs and 11 stolen bases in just 36 games. He even ended up appearing in 7 games in AAA that year, but was sent to full-season ball truly for the first time in 2010.
He played a substantial portion of the 2010 season alongside the Angels' top prospect, CF Mike Trout, in the Midwest League. Segura really emerged that season, after hitting .313/.365/.464 with 10 home runs and 50 stolen bases in 130 games. Promoted to High-A for the start of the 2011 season, Segura stole 18 bases there, but appeared in just 44 games due to hamstring injuries. Despite this, the Angels moved him up again to AA Arkansas this year, where he has hit .291/.343/.396 with 7 home runs and 33 stolen bases in 93 games played this year.
What's Stopping Him From Contributing Now?
Well, he's up in the Majors now, so it really just comes down to whether or not he can translate from half a season of AA at bats to the Majors quickly enough.
What Can He Do For Fantasy Owners?
For me, Segura is an absolute must-add for all AL-only leagues, all deep leagues, all dynasty leagues, and a lot of regular mixed leagues as well. He is going to be getting regular at bats for at least the next month or so while Erick Aybar heals his broken foot. He will likely qualify at shortstop in nearly every league when he is added to their database (He isn't in Yahoo as of Saturday evening), a position that hasn't exactly been amazing to date. I think that if he can hit .250 while he's here, he's going to be good for a decent amount of runs and potentially 7-10 stolen bases in a 6 week period. That's a big assumption of his ability to hit, but the speed definitely appears to be legitimate based on his minor league numbers. He'll also have the potential to provide a tiny bit of pop (maybe 1-2 home runs in that same time frame?), so there's a lot of upside here if you are in dire need of help at SS or MI.
Conclusions
Segura has been one of my favorite prospects for a while now, and I am really looking forward to seeing what he can do in this extended trial. He is just 22 years old still, and with only 390 at bats above High-A, there's bound to be som struggles. But I think he could legitimately provide 6-8 home runs with 30-40 stolen bases and a decent average over the span of a full season, which would fairly easily make him a top 10 shortstop in most formats.