Minor League Preview - The Eastern League

The full season leagues start play in the 2016 season tomorrow, and with that in mind, the prospect staff here at Fake Teams will be taking a look at some of the relevant information with each league. While we always hope that you'll come to us when you're looking for fantasy writing and analysis to help you in your leagues, we also want to help you get a better understanding of what we're looking at so that you can do some of this analysis should you need it quickly. Next up is the first of three AA leagues, the Eastern League.

The Basics

The Eastern League is a 12-team minor league at the AA level, with teams across the northeastern regions of the U.S. Directly below the major leagues, it will tend to see a lot of movement between its' teams and the major leagues as the big clubs need injury replacements and other changes. The players at this level tend to have a wide age range, as veteran depth options tend to be kept there. The name has been used since 1903, with the current incarnation hailing back to 1923. It has been operating as a AAA level league since 1946. In general, the league has played fairly close to neutral offensively, albeit with some higher home run rates in Reading (Phillies) and Bowie (Orioles). On the opposite side, Richmond (Giants) and Altoona (Pirates) suppressed home runs substantially.

Last Year's Champions: Bowie Baysox (Baltimore Orioles affiliate)

Teams

Instead of breaking down the rosters, I'll share some prospects that bear keeping an eye on. Any players that appeared on the Fake Teams Top-100 will be notated with their ranking in parentheses.

Akron (CLE) - Bradley Zimmer (#27), Clint Frazier (#22), Rob Kaminsky

Altoona (PIT) - Reese McGuire, Harold Ramirez

Binghamton (NYM) - Dominic Smith

Bowie (BAL) - Chance Sisco, Trey Mancini

Erie (DET) - Kevin Ziomek, JaCoby Jones

Harrisburg (WAS) - Lucas Giolito (#2), Reynaldo Lopez (#57), Wilmer Difo

Hartford (COL) - David Dahl (#41), Raimel Tapia (#49), Ryan McMahon (#46), Antonio Senzatela,

New Hampshire (TOR) - Dwight Smith Jr.

Portland (BOS) - Wendell Rijo

Reading (PHI) - J.P. Crawford (#12), Jorge Alfaro (#48), Roman Quinn, Rhys Hoskins, Nick Pivetta

Richmond (SFG) - Tyler Beede, Adalberto Mejia, Christian Arroyo

Trenton (NYY) - Mark Montgomery, Dante Bichette Jr.