This week, we check in on a number of prospects already in the Majors or on the cusp of promotion.
Five Big Hype Prospects
Spencer Torkelson, 22, 1B, DET (MLB)
144 PA, 4 HR, .179/.292/.309
Those hoping Torkelson would be the next great prospect debut have been sorely disappointed. Yet, lurking below his ugly surface level stats are promising peripherals. Tork has displayed above average plate discipline and is especially resistant to swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. He’s still struggled with strikeouts (28.5% K%), but there’s reason for optimism on that front. Since his 10.2 percent swinging strike rate is relatively tame, he should trim his strikeouts as he adjusts to the league. His primary scouting attributes – an above average hit tool backed by double-plus power – await an aha moment.
A week ago, a demotion to Triple-A looked increasingly likely. However, he’s now hit .265/.333/.441 over his last 39 plate appearances with three doubles, a homer, a 10.3 percent walk rate, and a 15.4 percent strikeout rate. The not-quite-hot-streak is sufficient cause for optimism, especially for a 16-28 Tigers club.
Jarren Duran, 25, OF, BOS (AAA)
142 PA, 4 HR, 10 SB, .315/.387/.543
Duran admitted to trying to do too much in the power department last year when he hit .215/.241/.336 in 112 big-league plate appearances. Thus far, he’s played just one game in the Majors this season. We’ll see him for more soon since he’s slaying Triple-A pitching and stands to considerably upgrade a 21-23 Red Sox roster.
Duran has returned to a line drive-oriented approach which might limit his ceiling but should also improve his floor. His batted ball profile is associated with high-BABIPs. Red Sox starting right fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. isn’t bringing anything with the bat (.213/.275/.331). He might be better deployed as a backup or defensive replacement.
Grayson Rodriguez, 22, SP, BAL (AAA)
43.1 IP, 13.71 K/9, 2.91 BB/9, 2.70 ERA
The Orioles have a doubleheader tomorrow. Jordan Lyles is set to start one half with the other belonging to a mystery pitcher. Baltimore has several options including Rodriguez. He’s due to start tonight so we’ll likely know by 7:05pm ET if he’ll get the call.
Since appearing in the column last week, Rodriguez had a six-inning, nine-strikeout start. He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk. It marked the second consecutive start in which he faced 23 batters. That’s a fairly typical workload for a young Major League pitcher so it does appear he’s cleared all obvious development hurdles.
Vinnie Pasquantino, 24, 1B, KC (AAA)
182 PA, 12 HR, 3 SB, .296/.396/.638
If the 15-28 Royals intend to salvage their season, they don’t have any time left to pull their punches. The club is currently using Hunter Dozier and Carlos Santana between first base and designated hitter. Dozier is having a solid if unspectacular rebound season. Santana, despite again managing more walks than strikeouts, hasn’t brought any thump to the plate. Pasquantino, a lefty slugger, has comparable walk and strikeout rates to Santana, but he supports them with a fly ball-oriented swing and a high rate of contact. Had he arrived during the 2019 season, he’d be an instant threat to swat a 50-homer pace. Since his raw power doesn’t stand out, there’s risk he’ll run a low BABIP due to too many easy fly outs. I’m reminded Rhys Hoskins in his age 24 season (2017). Perhaps we’ll see the same homer binge too!
Juan Yepez, 24, 1B/OF, STL (MLB)
86 PA, 4 HR, .273/.337/.468
Yepez wasn’t a highly celebrated prospect until his excellent 2021 campaign. Even that performance drew lukewarm plaudits due to the lack of quality pitching in the upper-minors last season. Yepez delivered more power in Triple-A this April, popping nine home runs in 93 plate appearances. He’s followed up with four dingers in the Majors. An aggressive batter, Yepez has the makings of an above average offensive player who lacks a stable defensive home. The Cardinals are currently trying him in the outfield corners and first base. Since Tyler O’Neill and Dylan Carlson are sidelined, there’s plenty of room to play mix and match. When they return, St. Louis and Yepez will have to reckon with a roster crunch.
Five More
Bryson Stott (24): Shortstop Didi Gregorius is slowly working his way back from a knee injury. This was an excellent opportunity for Stott to claim the starting role, but he’s hitting just .108/.195/.108 in his second stint with the club. Strikeouts have plagued him all season, even in Triple-A. A second demotion looms if he doesn’t awaken immediately.
Nolan Gorman (22): When he was promoted last week, I figured Gorman would either struggle to make contact or succeed via home runs. Instead, he produced loud contact but didn’t clear a fence. His .263/.364/.368 batting line through 22 plate appearances is safely above average, but it relied upon a .417 BABIP. Whiffs could still sink him – his 31.8 percent strikeout rate and 17.7 percent swinging strike rate would rate among the 10-worst qualified hitters.
JP Sears (26): Among pitchers with at least 20 innings, Sears leads Triple-A with a 35.9 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate (K%-BB%). On Wednesday, he tossed five strong innings against the Baltimore Orioles. Sears largely leans on a fastball-slider combo which tends to indicate a future in the bullpen.
Kyle Muller (24): A former second-round pick, Muller hasn’t yet successfully transitioned to the Majors. He walked the world in his lone big-league start this season. In the minors, he’s posted a fine 3.68 ERA backed by a lovely 12.03 K/9 and 3.44 BB/9. Scouts have noted his fastball command tends to be transient.
Jordan Groshans (22): Since arriving in Triple-A, Groshans has recorded twice as many walks as strikeouts in 78 plate appearances. Although he’s yet to homer, his .381/.474/.429 triple-slash is plenty lovely. He’s a line drive machine who could reinforce the Blue Jays later this season. Scouts expect him to slide to third base.
You failed to mention Joey Bart and his bat that keeps missing the ball.
No need to……..
People like you have been bringing Bart’s hitting under any article that somehow can be stretched to include him.
Why not just list all the Catchers that are available in trade for a couple of so-so prospects that can replace a HOF Catcher that come off of one of his best seasons?
The Yankees replaced their offensive Catcher this past offseason with 2 guys sharing the position that can’t hit. They have one of the best pitching staffs in MLB. They’re winning. Yankee fans complain on here that they didn’t spend a couple of million of dollars an a free agent instead.
@Samual HOF? Posey doesn’t have the numbers for the Hall. More Giants fandom BS
LOL, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove, Batting Title, MVP, 5 Silver Sluggers, and 7 All Star games. Easily a first ballot HOFer.
@rmullig, TGwynn is not a human. He is a a troll who’s too young to have any hair on his chin. All he does is troll Giants fans and our posts.
Maybe they have already? They seem to mention just this week so idk if they have already or plan to do more articles like this. I mean Peña, Julio Rod, Kelenic, Gore, Greene, Sanchez Witt Jr and so on deserve recognition as well
Joey Bart. LOL another in a long list of Frisco Draft BUSTS
cause yeah, pads have totally drafted well over the past 30 years.
could have had verlander, went with matt bush.
how’d that work out for you?
Pasquantino not being called up makes absolutely zero sense
Yet Santana and O’Hearn are both in the major league lineup today. SMH
1. It’s obviously a lost season.
2. Santana has the highest salary on the team next to Zack Greinke. I’d guess they’re hoping he can get on some sort of a hot streak so a contender needing a bat will take on his salary in mid-season.
3. I was told that Nick Pratto was the future 1B and would be called up, not Pasquantino. Oh, well. Of course all this can flip-flop over the next month or so if one regresses and the other hits again.
4. Yesterday they called up Brewer Hicklen. A 26 Year-old OF. He’s playing CF as Taylor is out injured. Maybe they want to see if he can play some so they can move Benintendi.
@Samuel I generally agree on your first two points. If they don’t see themselves competing this year then it’s better to try and let Santana right the ship and recoup *some* value prior to the TDL if they can.
Even going into this year, most evaluators had Pratto as the heir apparent for 1B in KC. I have been a big fan of Pasquantino’s dating back to last summer. The issue is Pratto brings a high end glove to the position while Vinnie has usually graded no better than average as a defender.
The results with the bats could not be more different though. Pasquantino shows an elite eye and patience in the box and has not had issues with going cold. He’s just been reliably consistent. Pratto meanwhile has had trouble at the plate most of the year at AAA. I believe Vinnie started replacing him at 1B more as the season has gone on (he was DH’ing to start the year with Pratto in the field).
I wouldn’t write off Pratto at all. Much better to have too many high end prospects than not enough. 1B depth in the minors right now is extremely weak, so even if both of those guys end up being the real deal, the trade value for either will be pretty high in the year(s) to come simply based on the lack of other up-and-coming first basemen.
It’s a year where the Mets swallowed nearly 40 million and the Angels 24 million in sunk cost, so c’mon show some gumption and common sense already. Carlos ain’t coming back and he ain’t getting them anything in a trade. Give the fans a break.
This is coming from a Cleveland fan who should want to see KC continue to destroy itself but I like to see new talent even more. Bring up Vinnie.
The Angels and Mets have billionaire owners, are in the top 2 major markets, and are swimming in cash flow. Don’t compare their situation to the of the KC Royals. (Since you’re an Cleveland fan are you aware that the Royals owner is still waiting to have his shares in the Guardians sold so he can get his money?)
What none of the kids writing authoritatively about MLB minor league prospects on the Internet know is what their organizations want them working on and how they’re doing in that regard. Overall minor league statistics mean nothing. Pitchers may be throwing pitchers they’re weak on. Hitters may be asked to do things with certain pitches – including hitting on the ground, in the air, to the opposite field, countering the spin, etc. – as well as working on their defense and baserunning. Publicly available statistics are even more misleading than the Framing stats used on Catchers.
Pretty harsh on Yepez. He isn’t ever going win a GG, but he has moved around the diamond and he isn’t a butcher wherever he plays.
his glovework and baserunning was extremely rough during Spring Training. so far he’s held things together at the MLB level, but he is only ever going to stick around because of his bat. certainly nothing wrong with that though. the issue is Pujols more than anything. as long as he’s healthy they will be taking away ABs from each other. unless he really struggles, Yepez will be the primary DH by next year
Correction: Spencer Torkelson is in MLB, not AAA.
Tigers are MLB?
They’re trying I think
Can they still be considered prospects at this point? Aren’t they just rookies now?
Was Tork getting the same treatment Julio Rodriguez was getting? So many of his called 3rd strikes were horrendous. It got so bad Servias finally wrote a letter. Julio didn’t go chase bad pitches he kept his plate discipline which is a big reason his numbers are getting so much better.
Not sure if this is something they are doing to all rookies. That was part of Kelenics problem he started chasing so it increased his Ks. Guy is wound to tight too. Wonder what he is like away from BB he always looks like he wants to kill somebody.
A little surprised JRod isn’t part of this article. He has really started to get comfortable and a has to be the leader for ROY. Not only is he improving at the plate, he has been much better than expected manning CF. He seems even better off the field, his interviews are golden. Love this kid.
Lots of bad calls for Tork
How can Duran replace Bradley? He doesn’t have the arm for right field and neither Kike or Verdugo have it either. Also how is Sears a hyped prospect? I didn’t see him in anybody’s top 20 list for the Yankees system.
When will Pratto be up in KC?
take a quick peek at MICHAEL HARRISS 11 at MISSISSIPPI BRAVES >Defense wise ready for CF in ATLANTA and he keeps getting better with the bat, Remember the name MICHAL HARRISS.
Groshans and Moreno as headliners for a Juan Soto trade?
What else and how much of it needs to be included?
That’s not even remotely close to enough. Ultimately it doesn’t matter because they aren’t trading him and if they wanted to no team would give up what they want.
why not put the team name on 5 more? make it complete…So I can say you complete me BJ2 to all my friends at the water cooler!