Every now and again, a young player arrives in the majors relatively late in the season and immediately functions as a key cog for a contender. Think Corey Seager in 2015. It takes a combination of talent, readiness, and opportunity all coming together. We’ll be focused in no small part on that last prong here; it’s always possible that injuries will create new openings, but our attention will fall on already foreseeable chances at playing time.
Here are a few top prospects who have yet to make their MLB debuts but could be positioned to make a splash for possible contenders in the second half:
Jo Adell, OF, Angels: If the Halos are to make a charge — into the Wild Card picture, if not that of the division — they’ll need everything they can get. While Brian Goodwin has been a nice surprise, he’s best suited to functioning as a fourth outfielder. Overcoming adversity for a surprise run may require a bold bet on Adell’s talent; after a late start to the year, he has shattered Double-A pitching.
MacKenzie Gore, LHP, Padres: Ditto the Friars, who have shown zero hesitation to promote top young hurlers but still haven’t settled on a sustainable rotation mix. There isn’t much reason for the San Diego org to go wild with rental additions at the deadline, but it could remain in the Wild Card hunt and would have less to lose by rolling the dice on its own prospect assets. Gore is the most talented of all the team’s pre-MLB hurlers. He only just earned a promotion to the Double-A level after mowing down High-A batters, so bringing the 20-year-old to the show would be rather aggressive, but it could be intriguing to consider the possibility depending upon how things shake out (for both Gore and the team) over the next month or so.
Ian Anderson, RHP, Braves: The Atlanta organization has likewise cycled through a whole host of young arms of late, with the sort of mixed results you’d expect. Anderson has yet to get the call but has made a compelling case. He’s now through 86 2/3 innings of 2.91 ERA ball at Double-A — the same level he finished the ’18 season — with 11.7 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9. Having reached 119 1/3 total frames last year, Anderson ought to have some availability left in the tank. The Braves could conceivably call upon him as a rotation piece, late-inning reliever, or multi-inning flex hurler.
Alec Bohm, 3B, Phillies: It’s a parade of former third overall picks! Bohm, who followed Gore (’17) and Anderson (’16) in that draft slot, only recently made it to the Double-A level. But he was selected as an accomplished collegiate player and is nearly 23 years of age. Bohm has exhibited exceptional plate discipline and good power this year. Meanwhile, the Phils have sunk in the standings as third bagger Maikel Franco has faded at the plate.
A.J. Puk, LHP, Athletics: We’ve long known of this possibility. Puk, a long-hyped southpaw, is coming back from Tommy John surgery just in time to give another boost to the streaking A’s. Unfortunately, he has been walk-prone in his rehab work and may need some more polishing before making his MLB debut. But the upside here is too tantalizing to ignore, even if it could come initially in relief work. We’re not forgetting about two other high-end A’s prospects — Jesus Luzardo and Sean Murphy — but both are still working through injury issues.
Nico Hoerner, 2B, Cubs: As with Bohm, Hoerner is a quick-moving 2018 first-rounder. While he was ahead of his classmate to begin the year, opening at the penultimate level of the minors, Hoerner was sidelined by a wrist injury that he returned from only recently. But it’s not hard to imagine him jumping onto the MLB radar in the relatively near future. Through 95 plate appearances this season at Double-A, Hoerner carries a .305/.371/.486 slash line. Meanwhile, at the major-league level, the Cubs have featured an underperforming carousel of players at Hoerner’s position.
Dustin May, RHP, Dodgers: While Gavin Lux seems ready for an impact, there just isn’t much immediate opportunity in a loaded Los Angeles infield mix. Instead, we’re featuring May, a 21-year-old hurler who could make an impact in any number of ways on the Dodgers pitching staff. Having already twice topped 130 innings in prior seasons, May could be asked to work as a starter. It’s more likely, perhaps, that the L.A. club would consider him as yet another flex piece. May was just bumped up to Triple-A after throwing 79 1/3 innings of 3.74 ERA ball, with 9.8 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9, for Double-A Tulsa.
id really rather the Phillies wait on Bohm. he might be ready, but i wouldnt rush hin yet. they can add someone to play third or replace Kingery if he moves to 3rd down the stretch.
Agreed. Lingers should be the 3B for the rest of the year and they can fill in the outfield with Quinn and Nick Williams.
Franco has severely outhit both Quinn and Williams. I don’t think either one of them is the answer. The Phillies need to make a trade.
Waiting on prospects is the Phillies specialty. Bohm can expect 3 more years in the minors.
Or traded for pitching
Thank you Johnny Superscout
Trade Bohm for Stroman or wheeler
Triston McKenzie has been injured all year and hasn’t thrown a pitch in 2019.
Yeah, the numbers are correct for last year, I’m sure it was an honest mistake
I would expect professional baseball writers to not make such an egregious gaffe and actually, you know, know what they’re talking about.. It takes 5 seconds to pull up McKenzie’s bbref page and see he hasn’t pitched this year, and thats IF he didn’t already know that off the top of his head, which he should. That doesn’t qualify as an honest mistake.
You should probably get over yourself. This is a free site that works to bring information to us, and does so multiple times a day. People make mistakes, people like you who have to call everyone out on free information need a life.
Ha, Ha……I just registered just to say that….kinda makes the opinions on others worthless……
Only if you base your assessment of my opinions on my authority on the subject, rather than the reasons I give, which would be a mistake.
I’ll go with either one.
You rock!
Enjoy all the post keep up the good work
WHOOPS
Yea… those stats for McKenzie are from 2018… take a lap
Already running …
Padres would pitch Gore in a September wild card run? That’s a lot more a lot of innings for young kid.
Didn’t say “would,” said “could.” And it wouldn’t have to mean pushing him to the max. They have already shown a willingness to do some things to manage workloads of other pitchers.
Gore is the least likely name on this list but arguably has the most upside vis-a-vis the team’s alternatives. Even if they only used him for a certain number of starts/innings, they might shrug and decide to have him throw the innings at the MLB level.
Which would be awesome, by the way. Possibly similar to the way the Dodgers are handling Urias. Padres have shown some good faith with their rookie players already this year, hope this is another one that comes to fruition.
I’d think that Luis Urias could be impactful as well if all things fell right for him. An on-base, slick fielding 2b replacing Kinsler/Garcia would be very helpful to the Padres down the stretch, and he ought to be pulled up any day…obviously would have to do better offensively than he has in limited opportunities so far. Gore would be a stretch because of innings more than whether or not his stuff plays in the show…you are not the first to think it or say it.
“Here are a few top prospects that have YET TO MAKE THEIR MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT”
My bad.
Jo Adell would be something.
I can’t wait to see Jo Adell at the MLB level, but there is no reason to call him up before September. The Halos aren’t going anywhere this season so there is no need to rush the kid.
You’re forgetting how close they’ve been to a wild card spot all season. They should bring up Adell and include Calhoun in a package for a starting pitcher like they should’ve done 2 years ago.
Big facts! Adell needs to play with trout and ohtani asap. The only black holes for angels right now are the catcher position and 1st base(puljos) kole is a good not great player and could surely help a team like the indians for perhaps one of there aging pitchers that could provide some depth for the angels roster.
No Deivi Garcia for the Yankees? A team who may not get Betances or Severino back and promoted Garcia to AAA extremely aggressively after utterly dominating AA? Seems like an oversight.
Too many walks, and control issues. Maybe BP for September call up. Probably gonna be dealt in a package for a much needed impact starter.
I also highly doubt he’s dealt in a package this deadline. I have my reservations but if anything he makes Gil and Abreu available. Possibly German assuming it’s for a starter.
I didn’t specify in the intro, but I just looked at guys that were within the top 50 of one ranking list or another. Have to draw (utterly arbitrary) lines somewhere.
Deivi has thrown a total of 69 innings this year. His career high is 75. This guy isn’t going to be available in September. They’ll probably be shutting him down around 120 innings I would imagine. There’s no shot he’s in the rotation. Maybe the bullpen. But I see them acquiring a real starter and maybe a reliever as well so I doubt it. But if you throw Gore on the list, Deivi can probably make it.
That was my thought exactly – filling a role in the bullpen. I figure his starter days end for the season at the end of this month after a few AAA starts to get his feet wet. His limit is probably about 100 or so innings and it would leave him with 15-20 for August/September out of the bullpen.
Obviously you didn’t review BP’s mid season rankings that was released two days ago – Garcia is ranked 25. Even if you didn’t have time to read that, he just started the futures game. Between overlooking Garcia and the MacKenzie Gore error, this wasn’t your best work.
Also – Steven Chinwood – Garcia doesn’t have control issues. He has a minor league career average of 3.7 BB/9. Sure, it’s up a tick this year (4.4 in AA), but he’s also been developing a slider this year that could be contributing to the uptick. Given the small sample size of data for this year, I’d like to see how this looks by the end of the year.
Correct, I did not. We don’t generally utilize BP so much as BA/FG/MLB.com (no offense to the BP staff). I don’t put any stock into which players were selected to participate in the futures game. Anyway, this wasn’t intended as some kind of comprehensive evaluation of anything so much as a list of some dudes to watch out for. There was no MacKenzie Gore error; the mistake was w/r/t Triston McKenzie.
With that being said, I agree that this was far from my finest effort.
I didn’t see an error on Gore.
Jeff, you do fine. take’s a man to acknowledge what you have. Some days go better tha others.
I’d love to see Horner up. He was mashing in spring training. But all the time lost to injury this year puts that highly in doubt. Yes, he’s come back well. But it still seems that a call-up is quite a ways off.
Why aren’t the crummy Marlins not bringing up Isan Diaz? He appears to be ready
Excuse the crummy grammar
Wondering why Brendan McKay was left off this list? IMO he could be the guy who makes the biggest impact.
Probably because it talks about players who haven’t made their MLB debuts yet.
It says why in the intro.
Gotcha
Why did people consider Puk to be the runaway number 1 pick the year he was drafted and how did he end up falling out of the top 5?
Inconsistency. He has all the ingredients and lacked control at times while at UF.
Really improved his command his first 2 seasons with us while adding pitches that helped keep guys off balance, so even when the command wasn’t there he could be effective.
Not sure why the Braves need to be “spurred” down the stretch, they’ve already got a commanding lead.
Ditto for LAD
A lot of games left to play and PHI/WSH are too stubborn, rich and stupid to give up now. That Bruce trade is example of how easily a non-blockbuster move can really make a big impact, as he has been stellar since joining. WSH is too talented to not go to the wire and ATL is relying a lot on young arms (Soroka, Fried) that will be surpassing their career IP limits during the pennant race. And yet no one addressed terrible bullpens, yet. The NL East winner will have the pen that stinks the least.
I mean, okay. Next time I’ll go with “Top Prospects Who Could Join Their Teams Later In The Season And Take On Important Roles To Assist Said Teams In Reaching And/Or Advancing In The Postseason.”
Also, I would dispute your characterization of the Braves’ situation in the division. It’s a strong lead, yes, but they’re nowhere near as safe as the Dodgers.
Because I said their leads were the same?
All I said is neither needs to be “spurred” in any sort of way. They’re both doing just fine.
The Braves and Dodgers focus is more on adding assets for a playoff impact than some push down the stretch. They aren’t the ones who need to make a push in any way.
This is all very silly, but … I disagree the Braves can mostly just think about crafting a postseason roster. They have yet to wrap up the division.
The Dodgers are in a totally different position with a huge lead, lesser pursuing teams, and immense depth already on hand. They can pretty well just focus on what the playoff team is going to look like.
Man, I don’t know why you guys even open up the comments sometimes. I love this site and all the info I get. If it’s a mistake or I don’t agree, I shrug and move on. Just please know that not all of your readers are whiny grammar police or looking to argue with everything you do.
No way Anderson comes up this year
AA is going to acquire a MadBum, Stroman or Duffy
I myself would rather Greinke it would essentially only cost money as the prospect return would be minimal because of his salary. The better the prospect they want the more money they eat is how I would handle it. With Anderson, Pache, Waters, Wright & Contreras would be untouchable.
With the amount of posts you’ve devoted to selling the Greinke deal, how much of a commission do you allocate for yourself?
Braves are cheapskates so would cost a good prospect. They would require Arizona to pay at least half the salary. Not sure they get a starter. Depends on how Gausmann and Folty di in next two weeks. They need a closer. Luke is just scary.
I wouldn’t say cheapskates so much as frugal in the long-term. Donaldson has proven they don’t mind paying more now than later, so if they like Greinke, and AZ is willing to kick in some money for better prospects, I can imagine ATL parting with some significance. Highly doubt that happens, but who knows anymore. Greinke is proving he can pitch without max velo.
“While Brian Goodwin has been a nice surprise, he’s best suited to functioning as a fourth outfielder.”
What is it about him that says “fourth outfielder”? I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but that just came as an odd distinction with no explanation.
Because he’s not very good.
An adequate major league starter should post a WAR around two. Goodwin has 247 plate appearances and has a WAR of .6. That’s not good enough.
That’s a 4th outfielder.
You should take a look at his career numbers. In his first 650 PA’s of his career, including this season, he accumulated 23 HR / 75 RBI. I don’t have time to do the math on his percentages, but his hot start should be able to give you an idea when comparing to his previous seasons. He also averages 2.0 WAR per 650 plate appearances, so yeah is actually an adequate starter. And any regression this season is due to coming back to Earth from a really high BABIP early use in the season, and there’s always a big risk of regression when being reduced to a fourth outfielder.
why is Kyle Tucker on this list?
He debuted with HOU already. He could make an impact, sure, but that’s not this list.
The Angels sadly lost another starting pitcher. They don’t really have a chance. As far as Adell, Calhoun is 4th on the team in WAR. How much can he help? I did
However, the Angels are not the type of team to play games with service time, so Joe Adell could easily be up in September.
Well Jeff you may have missed a bit in this article…I do believe you are right on Horner yes he had a wrist injury,but seems to be ok now. And most importantly cubs love calling up young players to give the team a jolt of energy as they have repeatedly the past few years,IMO Horner might be the best of the bunch as to producing right away. The kid can flat out swing the bat,may take few weeks to be sure he is healthy enough but I think it’s very possible
Why does everyone hate on Franco? He plays gold glove caliber defense, is always on pace for 25 hr and 80 rbi every year and never says a word or pouts. What team has a better 8 hole hitter? It’s just fine for Harper to hit .250 but it’s a travesty for Franco to hit .230? I just don’t get it. The Phillies have bigger problems than Maikel Franco.
Agreed they need pitching help more then a replacement for franco
Because he’s a 2.2 war player for his career, with 1.9 of that glorious war coming back in 2015
No Cease?
Already made his debut. These are guys that haven’t debuted in the majors yet.
Correct…but he may get the call as well
Cease IS up and part of the rotation going forward. No Robert?
We’ll probably get a look at Dustin May this year, but most likely, only just. How much of a look will depend on Hill’s return. Speaking of looks, can’t look at May without thinking of that kid on Stranger Things (who also just happens to be named Dustin).
Dodgers – Will Smith (C) Because the Austin Barnes experiment has failed. BADLY.
Another guy that wasn’t in the top-fifty of prospect lists (though he was #51 at BA) and more importantly has already been up. But these are just arbitrary lines I drew. I agree that his time could well be nigh.
hella career change from jethro tull to mlb for Ian Anderson
According to Cubs Den, Nico Hoerner has played only SS except for something like 2 games. Apparently, 2B is not his position yet.
I would add Adbert Alzolay to this list. If the Cubs go to a 6 man rotation he would be my guy.
Yeah, he was stellar vs the Pirates a week ago…what, like 6 or 8 earned runs in 3 innings?
Pick the rough outing…easy for some of you rubes that know far less about the game you follow than you believe.
One issue with calling up MacKenzie Gore that wasn’t mentioned is 40-man roster space. The Padres have 6 guys who will need to be reinstated from the 60-day IL this offseason and something like a dozen guys who they might want to protect from the Rule 5 draft. MacKenzie Gore is not among those who can be taken in the Rule 5 draft this winter, so it might make more sense to give a September callup to say, Ronald Bolaños, even if he isn’t as good as Gore, because they will be at risk of losing him in the offseason.
It’s hard being a loyal fan of a team that needs help. Love Calhoun’s hustle and determination. But with Jo Adel waiting in the minors the Angels need to think of trading Calhoun to get better pitching while he still has value.