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We have reached the midway point in the minor league season, and as you would expect, there are a number of our top 50 fantasy prospects who are still out of action due to injuries. Let's take a look at when we can expect to see them back in action, and if this affects their timeline to the majors.
RETURNED TO ACTION
#6 Taijuan Walker
Walker was taken off the disabled list a few weeks back, and has been throwing at AAA Tacoma primarily this year. It's still not entirely clear when he will return to the major leagues, but with the current pitching staff throwing reasonably well, it may be a little while longer for Walker.
#9 Addison Russell
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Russell returned to game action this week, appearing in three games through Saturday. We'll see how the performance goes the rest of the way, but it would not surprise me for him to reach AAA Sacramento before the end of the year.
#13 Dylan Bundy
Bundy has thrown a total of 10 innings in the New York Penn League so far this year, striking out 15 and walking just one. He will make one more start in Aberdeen before being reassessed, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun.
STILL INJURED
#1 Byron Buxton
Sigh. It doesn't sound like there has been any updates to his status of late, but hopefully he will be back to play a meaningful amount of games before the season ends.
#7 Archie Bradley
Bradley made his rehab debut on Saturday night, throwing four innings and striking out 6. Obviously this is the direction we want to see him headed, so hopefully he will return to Reno after a few more starts.
#25 Kyle Zimmer
It had been planned that Zimmer would head out to AA in late May, with the hope that he might help this year in the majors. Unfortunately, a lat injury cropped up, and the team shut him down for 6-8 weeks. That would tentatively put him on a late-July timeline to return to the mound, which would seem likely to keep him from the majors for this year.
#38 Austin Meadows
Still no game action for Meadows, although it sounds like there may be a better idea of when he returns to the field. The Charleston Daily Mail's Derek Redd was told by West Virginia's manager that he "could still be a couple weeks away from the field". At this point, I think I'd be surprised if Meadows wasn't back at Low-A West Virginia to start next year.
#43 Max Fried
Well, we were expecting to be reading about Max Fried making starts at Lake Elsinore by now, but that hasn't happened either. There doesn't appear to be a lot of news about why that is, either, so we'll just have to continue to wait and see.
New to the Injury Report
#4 Carlos Correa
Deeper sigh. The news came out on Saturday night that Correa had left the game due to an injury, and it sounds like it could be a fairly bad one. As of this writing on Sunday afternoon, there didn't appear to be any more information, other than that Correa would return to Houston to be examined.
#44 Eddie Butler
Hooray! Butler was called up to the majors to debut for the Rockies. He got shelled by the Dodgers, and immediately was put on the disabled list with a shoulder injury afterward. Not the news anyone was looking for here, and there doesn't appear to be a timetable for his return yet.
No News Expected
#12 - Miguel Sano - Sano had Tommy John surgery and isn't expected to return to the field until much later in the season, if at all this year.
#21 - Jameson Taillon - Taillon had successful Tommy John surgery last month, and should be out for the full season.