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Big Hype Prospects: Westburg, Matos, Crawford, Whisenhunt, Anthony

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The Orioles are finally calling up one of their top hitting prospects, and it isn’t the one I expected to get the first call. Jordan Westburg will make his debut later today. I expected Colton Cowser to win the race to the Majors. With Cedric Mullins recently returning, Cowser is left to await another injury or Aaron Hicks’ inevitable collapse (good outcomes, deeply terrible EVs).

Five Big Hype Prospects

Jordan Westburg, 24, 2B/3B/SS, BAL (AAA)
301 PA, 18 HR, 6 SB, .295/.372/.567

There’s a disconnect between public perceptions of Westburg and scouting reports. The bat will play, though Westburg’s penchant to swing-and-miss could result in long slumps as reports identify exploitable weaknesses. His minor league exit velocities would rate as above average in the Majors. Additionally, Westburg seemingly mixes discipline and targeted aggression in a way that could help keep his strikeouts under control – it has thus far in the minors.

The trouble is his defense. He’s trained all over the infield. Some think he’ll eventually land in left field. We see these sorts of bat-first players all over the league. His flexibility enables the club to view him as a tenth man akin to Chris Taylor (to be clear, Taylor is a far superior fielder). When approaching roster construction, Westburg can be slotted into whatever spot needs filling or else rotate with the regulars to keep everyone fresh.

Luis Matos, 21, OF, SFG (MLB)
45 PA, 1 HR, 2 SB, .282/.378/.385

On the back of a mediocre AFL performance, it wasn’t guaranteed the Giants were going to roster Matos this year. He would have likely gone early in the Rule 5 draft if they hadn’t. Matos immediately rewarded San Francisco’s decision to protect him. Though discipline has long been a weakness, he has more walks than strikeouts through 45 plate appearances after hitting .398/.435/.685 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances. The 21-year-old has looked like a new hitter this year.

There are still worrying details under the surface. His 89.5-mph average and 107.5-mph max exit velocities suggest middling power. Given his age, he could easily grow into more power – several evaluators believe this will happen. It’s my expectation Matos will soon enter a slump due to poor quality of contact. However, I’m optimistic about the long-range picture. In addition to burgeoning hitting skills, Matos is a plus defensive center fielder.

Justin Crawford, 19, OF, PHI (A)
202 PA, 0 HR, 32 SB, .346/.395/.456

I was surprised to recently discover Crawford had crept onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. That’s not meant as a knock against Crawford. There happens to be a large number of high-quality prospects around the league. Crawford is more projection than actuality at this stage of his development.

The 17th pick of the 2022 draft, Crawford was seen as the sort of toolsy, incomplete prospect the Phillies have historically loved – and struggled to develop. He’s performing decently in Low-A where his first-rate speed is on display. A .423 BABIP has allowed him to get away with too many swinging strikes for his current low-power profile. He’s expected to age into roughly average pop, so this problem could go away in a couple ways. Comparisons to his father, Carl Crawford, come naturally as they share quite a few traits. He’s reportedly comfortable making adjustments to his hitting mechanics which further increases the volatility of his prospectdom.

Carson Whisenhunt, 22, SP, SFG (AA)
(A/A+/AA) 49.2 IP, 12.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.90 ERA

Whisenhunt would rank higher among evaluators if not for off-field issues. As it is, he’s still in consideration for the back-end of Top 100 lists. The simplest issue to comment on publicly is his failed PED test in college. You’ll notice, it’s rare for college players to be caught for PEDs, and it’s not because they’re squeaky clean. For his part, Whisenhunt blames a tainted supplement. The skinny southpaw leads with a double-plus changeup and is only just reaching a level where hitters will have some capacity to cope with the pitch. His changeup is such that he won’t truly be tested until he reaches the Majors. The profile and build are reminiscent of Cole Hamels.

Roman Anthony, 19, OF, BOS (A+)
(A/A+) 251 PA, 5 HR, 12 SB, .236/.379/.382

Anyone statistically minded is going to like Anthony. A 19-year-old performing well in High-A is exciting stuff, particularly when said 19-year-old has a 171 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. He was considerably more ordinary in Low-A, posting a 110 wRC+ in 202 plate appearances. A sweet-swinging lefty slugger, Anthony has considerable development ahead of him if he’s to continue this speedy race toward the Majors. The P-word gets thrown around. Against better competition, Anthony will find himself behind in the count all too often. Passivity isn’t a death knell. We saw Gunnar Henderson defeat it entering last season and again about a month ago. It’s a trait which has a way of echoing. But for the passivity, Anthony has all the traits of a starting corner outfielder.

FanGraphs gives Anthony a four-paragraph writeup that says more than I can in this space.

Three More

Edouard Julien, MIN (24): The star of the 2022 AFL, Julien is on the verge of losing his prospect “eligibility.” He’s batting .252/.336/.439 through 123 plate appearances. A 34.1 percent strikeout rate has held him back. He also has a 12.5 percent swinging strike rate – nearly double that of his Triple-A performance. Defensively limited, Julien appears in need of an adjustment or two. He has the tools to pull it off.

Jacob Misiorowski, MIL (21): It’s good to be unique as a pitcher. Misiorowski certainly checks the “unique” box. The 6’7’’ right-hander has the sort of funky arm action that makes it hard to identify balls and strikes. Misiorowski lacks a changeup, but we’ve seen plenty of starters succeed without one in recent years, especially those who can live up in the zone with hard heat. He currently has poor command.

Quinn Priester, PIT (22): Priester has been on the radar for a while, bouncing in and out of the Top 100 prospects. He’s a ground ball pitcher who manages around a strikeout per inning while limiting walks and piling up ground balls. Since his fastball isn’t particularly effective, he should be viewed as a potential back-of-the-rotation guy – the type who keeps his team in the game.

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

Jon Singleton Elects Free Agency

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Brewers first baseman Jon Singleton went unclaimed on waivers following his recent DFA and elected free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A, tweets Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. He’s now free to sign with any team.

Singleton, 31, returned to the Majors for the first time since 2015 this season but struggled in 11 games and 32 plate appearances for the Brewers. During that time, he slashed just .103/.183/.138 –a far cry from the more robust .258/.384/.483 line he delivered in 216 Triple-A plate appearances prior to his call to the big leagues.

Once one of baseball’s top-ranked prospects, Singleton was out of the game entirely from 2018-20 before resurfacing with a strong showing in the Mexican League back in 2021. He parlayed the .321/.503/.693 batting line (in a comically hitter-friendly setting) into a minor league deal with the Brewers, with whom he spent the entire 2022 season and the 2023 season until today’s decision.

Since returning to affiliated ball, Singleton has displayed plenty of power and a prodigious walk rate in Triple-A Nashville, batting a combined .230/.378/.448 with 34 home runs, 30 doubles and three triples in that time. Along the way, he’s walked at a gaudy 19.3% clip and punched out in 25.3% of his plate appearances — though he’s actually cut down on the strikeouts substantially this season (27.7% rate in 2022 compared to 19% in 2023). He obviously hasn’t put things together in the big leagues at any point in his brief MLB career, but Singleton’s power and plate discipline profile in his recent work at the Triple-A level could still intrigue a club hoping to add some left-handed pop to its depth chart.

Brewers Release Roman Quinn

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The Brewers have released outfielder Roman Quinn, per an announcement from their Triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds. The journeyman outfielder signed with Milwaukee on a minor league deal on June 2 and has been suiting up for the Sounds since.

Quinn, who turned 30 in May, has split the 2023 regular season between the Triple-A affiliates for the Guardians and Brewers, struggling at both stops. In a combined 21 games, the speedster is hitting just .149/.337/.194 through a tiny sample of 89 plate appearances. It’s been the polar opposite of the 2022 season, when the right-handed-hitting Quinn posted a mammoth .296/.475/.636 slash in a similarly tiny sample of Triple-A playing time. On the whole, the former top prospect is a .265/.364/.397 batter in 484 career plate appearances at the Triple-A level.

A second-round pick by the Phillies back in 2011, Quinn long rated as one of that organization’s top prospects and briefly landed on the back end of top-100 prospect rankings from Baseball America (2013) and MLB.com (2016). He’s appeared in 222 games over parts of six MLB seasons, however, posting a tepid .226/.303/.348 slash in 599 turns at the plate.

Quinn was in the 96th percentile of MLB players in terms of sprint speed and 98th percentile for arm strength in 2022, per Statcast. Given that pair of tools, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that in 1004 career innings of center field work in the Majors, he’s been credited with positive marks in both Defensive Runs Saved (+4) and Outs Above Average (+7). Quinn has also shown well in brief looks in the outfield corners, and he’s swiped 43 bags (in 54 tries) despite his lackluster on-base numbers.

There’s plenty of speed and defensive upside to be had with Quinn, but his bat simply hasn’t produced at the game’s top level — and he’s had even greater struggles in limited Triple-A work so far in 2023. He’ll head back to the market in search of an opportunity with another club in need of some outfield depth.

Brewers Outright Cam Robinson To Double-A

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TODAY: Robinson cleared waivers and was outrighted to Double-A.

JUNE 14: The Brewers have designated right-hander Cam Robinson for assignment, tweets Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to outfielder Raimel Tapia, whose previously reported Major League deal with Milwaukee is now official. Infielder Abraham Toro was optioned to Triple-A Nashville to open a spot on the active roster.

Robinson, 23, was selected to the Brewers’ 40-man roster over the winter after pitching to a 2.49 ERA with a strong 31.6% strikeout rate in 65 innings across High-A, Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. Command has been an issue for the former 23-round pick throughout his pro career, however, evidenced by last year’s 11.2% walk rate and this year’s alarming 18.5% walk rate between Double-A and Triple-A.

As one would expect for a pitcher issuing free passes at such a high clip, the 2023 season has been a struggle for Robinson. In 20 total innings (12 in Double-A, eight in Triple-A), he’s been rocked for an 8.55 ERA. He’s still missing bats and has had some degree of misfortune on balls in play with a BABIP north of .470, but the command issues are tough to overlook — particularly since they’re not unique to the 2023 season. In parts of six professional seasons, Robinson has walked 13.7% of the opponents he’s faced.

Baseball America recently ranked Robinson as the No. 19 prospect in a thin Brewers system, noting that he sits 92-95 mph with a fastball that can touch 97 mph and calling him a potential middle reliever. Robinson will now be available to all 29 other clubs, either via a minor trade or waiver claim. The Brewers will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Brewers Reinstate Wade Miley, Jesse Winker From Injured List; Designate Jon Singleton

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The Brewers announced four roster moves, including the activation of both Wade Miley and Jesse Winker from the injured list.  Miley was placed on the 15-day IL due to a lat strain on May 17, while Winker has been on the 10-day IL since May 28 due to a cervical strain.  To create space on the active roster, the Brewers optioned right-hander Tyson Miller to Triple-A and designated first baseman Jon Singleton for assignment.

Miley inked a one-year deal worth $4.5MM in guaranteed money to come to Milwaukee during the offseason, and the veteran southpaw has delivered a 3.67 ERA over 41 2/3 innings.  Miley’s 40.4% grounder rate and 10.3% barrel rate are both significantly worse than in recent seasons, though it’s hard to yet make any big projections given the small sample size of innings.  The lefty has made up for those numbers with a borderline elite 5.3% walk rate, as well as his customary good work at limiting hard contact.

Miley will start today’s game against the Pirates, and his return brings some more relief to a Milwaukee rotation that has been hit hard with injuries.  Brandon Woodruff will still be out until at least the All-Star break and Aaron Ashby will miss all of the 2023 season due to shoulder surgery, but with Miley now back on the mound, the Brew Crew are at least a step closer to their initial first-choice rotation.  Adrian Houser will be shifted to the bullpen, leaving Miley, Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, Colin Rea, and Julio Teheran as Milwaukee’s current rotation.

Winker was another offseason acquisition, picked up from the Mariners along with Abraham Toro in exchange for Kolten Wong.  The trade hasn’t worked out for either team to date, as Wong and Winker have each badly struggled with their new clubs.  Winker has looking to bounce back from a relatively disappointing 2022 campaign in Seattle, yet the 108 wRC+ he posted with the Mariners is far above the 60 wRC+ (off a .204/.315/.231 slash line) that Winker has delivered over his first 127 plate appearances in a Brewers uniform.  There’s still plenty of time for Winker to turn things around, as perhaps the three weeks on the IL both healed his neck problem and might serve as a fresh start to his 2023 season.

The Brewers selected Singleton’s contract from Triple-A earlier this month, and he hit only .103/.188/.138 over 32 PA.  While an underwhelming slash line, just making it back to the big leagues for the first time since 2015 marked a personal victory for Singleton, whose battle with marijuana addiction took him out of baseball entirely for three seasons until he launched a comeback in the Mexican League in 2021.  If Singleton clears DFA waivers and the Brewers outright him to Triple-A, Singleton can choose to become a free agent, since he has been outrighted off a 40-man roster in the past.

Twins Acquire Taylor Floyd From Brewers

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The Twins have acquired minor league right-hander Taylor Floyd from the Brewers.  The move completes the late-April deal that sent Trevor Megill to Milwaukee, as Floyd will act the player to be named later that was owed to Minnesota.

Floyd was a 10th-round pick for the Brew Crew in the 2019 draft, and the Texas Tech product has spent his entire pro career in Milwaukee’s farm system.  Working exclusively as a reliever, Floyd has missed a lot of bats (30.68% strikeout rate) over his 147 1/3 innings in the minors, but his walk rate rose drastically when pitching at high-A and Double-A ball in 2022.  As Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen explains, an unusual offseason training quirk altered Floyd’s normal submarine delivery heading into the 2022 season, which probably accounted for his lack of control.

Longenhagen still ranked Floyd as the 39th-best prospect in the Brewers’ system even in the wake of that shaky 2022 campaign, and it seems like Floyd has stabilized things in 2023.  In 23 2/3 innings at high-A, Floyd has a 3.04 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate, and a much more palatable 7.6% walk rate.  The right-hander also has a 49.1% grounder rate, continuing his career-long trend of keeping the ball on the ground roughly around half the time.

Brewers Option Eric Lauer To Triple-A

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The Brewers activated Eric Lauer from the 15-day injured list yesterday, but optioned the left-hander to Triple-A Nashville rather than return him to the Major League roster.  Between injury and inconsistency, Lauer’s 2023 season has been a rough ride, and Brewers GM Matt Arnold told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) the team felt the Triple-A move was necessary since “we want to get him right, to be healthy and be a contributor.”

Lauer has been out of action since May 22 due to an impingement in his right shoulder.  Though his throwing arm remained fine, Lauer told MLB.com and other reporters that his right shoulder problem still impacted his delivery, which could explain his shaky results this season.  Over 42 2/3 innings, Lauer had only a 5.48 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, and 10.7% walk rate, as well as high hard-contact rates.  The southpaw’s 13.5% barrel rate ranks near the bottom of the league, and all of these barrels have resulted in Lauer’s career-worst 20.6% home run rate.

Not a particularly hard thrower to begin with, Lauer had a big velocity drop, going from a 93.4mph average fastball in 2022 to a 90.9mph heater this season.  However, he said that recent bullpen sessions have brought some velo back, adding roughly 3-5mph to his fastball.  The results haven’t been there for Lauer over a pair of minor league rehab starts, but he’ll now get a fuller stretch in Nashville to get himself more fully back on track.

Lauer pitched well for Milwaukee over the last two seasons, moving into the rotation on a full-time basis in 2021 and delivering a 3.47 ERA over 277 1/3 innings in 2021-22.  His quality results and flexibility to work as a swingman if needed has been a valuable part of the Brew Crew’s pitching depth, yet that depth has been pretty severely tested this season by a number of injuries.  Fortunately for the Brewers, Wade Miley is projected to return from the IL this weekend, perhaps giving the team a bit of breathing room to send Lauer to Triple-A.

Heading into the 2023 season, Lauer has four full seasons and 33 days (or, 4.033) of Major League service time.  That total has now increased to 4.110 since Opening Day, so unless Lauer’s stint in Triple-A lasts quite a bit longer than expected, he shouldn’t be in jeopardy of not amassing the six full years of MLB service time required for free agency.  Lauer is currently slated to hit the open market following the 2024 season.

Brewers Sign Raimel Tapia

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Outfielder Raimel Tapia, who was recently released by the Red Sox, has signed with the Brewers, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Brewers will need to make corresponding moves to get Tapia onto their 40-man and active rosters for tonight’s game.

Tapia, 29, has spent many years as a contact-oriented hitter with a bit of speed. He was non-tendered by the Blue Jays after last season and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Tapia made Boston’s Opening Day roster and spent a bit over two months with the club, performing at expected rates, give or take.

His 9.6% walk rate and 19.6% strikeout rate this year were both a bit better than league average, but he hit just one home run. That led to a .264/.333/.368 batting line and 92 wRC+, indicating he was 8% below league average overall. That wasn’t far off from his .265/.292/.380 line and 90 wRC+ with the Jays last year. Meanwhile, his outfield defense was considered around average while he stole six bases.

Despite that generally solid performance, Tapia was nudged out in Boston by some crowding in the outfield picture. Adam Duvall’s injury paved the way for Jarren Duran to get himself some more big league playing time, which he has done well with, hitting .282/.337/.435 on the year for a 107 wRC+. Rob Refsnyder has also been playing well in a reserve role behind regulars Alex Verdugo and Masataka Yoshida. With Duvall’s return from the IL imminent, Tapia was designated for assignment just over a week ago.

Tapia’s deal with the Sox paid him a $2MM salary. Since he has over five years of major league service time, he would have had the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of that, so the club simply released him. That leaves them on the hook for the remainder of that cash, allowing the Brewers to now pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox will pay.

The Brewers have dealt with a few hits to their outfield mix this season, as each of Garrett Mitchell, Jesse Winker and Tyrone Taylor is currently on the injured list. That has left them with Joey Wiemer, Christian Yelich and Brian Anderson getting most of the reps lately, with Blake Perkins backing them up. Perkins is in his first major league season and is hitting just .200/.250/.333 through 34 plate appearances thus far. It’s possible that Tapia nudges Perkins back to the minors, though Anderson is also capable of playing third base and joining the rotating infield picture alongside Luis Urías, Owen Miller, Andruw Monasterio and Abraham Toro.

NL Central Notes: Stroman, Taylor, Reds

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Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman has repeatedly stressed his desire to sign a long-term extension with the Cubs, even as he could reach free agency after this season on the heels of a career year. Stroman, who can opt-out of the final one year and $21MM left on his contract at season’s end, has posted a sensational 2.42 ERA (184 ERA+) through 14 starts with a 21.7% strikeout rate that would be the best of his career over a full season while also managing a fantastic 61% groundball rate. Those fantastic numbers figure to make Stroman a worthy addition to any rotation, but Chicago seems uninterested in getting a deal done at the moment. As Stroman himself relayed on Twitter that both he and his agent have made “multiple attempts” to engage the club’s front office in extension negotiations, but the Cubs were uninterested in exploring a deal for the time being.

In a conversation with The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney, Stroman elaborated further on the situation, telling Mooney that “We’ve been going to the front office from spring training, very open that I want to be here. We’ve continued those thoughts. Up until now, there’s been nothing from their side. No offers, no talks, really, at all.” Stroman goes on to make clear that there isn’t tension between him and the front office, despite the fact that his camp’s desire for negotiations having been largely rebuffed to this point.

It’s possible that the club’s hesitance has to do with their position in the standings. The club is 28-36, good for fourth place in the NL Central and 5.5 games out of a playoff spot. While their weak division does provide them some semblance of hope for contention, it’s nonetheless easy to imagine the Cubs selling for the third straight deadline. If they opted to go down that path, Stroman would likely be their most attractive trade piece. In fact, Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic recently identified Stroman as an ideal fit for the Giants as trade season approaches, while noting that San Francisco actually finished second in free agent bidding for Stroman’s services when he signed his current three-year, $71MM deal with Chicago prior to the 2022 campaign.

More from around the NL Central…

  • Brewers outfielder Tyrone Taylor is set to receive a cortisone shot in his right elbow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.) Counsell noted that the injection comes after Taylor received multiple opinions on the elbow sprain that’s kept him on the shelf for the past two weeks. After posting a 106 wRC+ in 250 career games headed into the 2023 campaign, it’s been a brutal season for Taylor, who has slashed just .160/.179/.240 (8 wRC+) while being limited to just 27 games due to the ongoing elbow issues. With Taylor on the shelf, the club has Blake Perkins backing up an outfield trio of Christian Yelich, Joey Wiemer, and Brian Anderson.
  • The Reds are still without their usual starting outfield, even after activating center fielder TJ Friedl from the 10-day injured list yesterrday, as left fielder Jake Fraley was placed on the shelf with a right wrist contusion in a corresponding move. While Friedl is enjoying a career season, with a .315/.365/.479 slash line in 43 games this year, the club is sure to miss the contributions of Fraley nonetheless, who has posted a wRC+ of 114 in 123 games since joining the club prior to the 2022 season. With Fraley on the shelf, the Reds figure to use the likes of Stuart Fairchild and Will Benson in the outfield corners.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Elly De La Cruz, Manoah’s Demotion and Surgery for DeGrom

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Episode 10 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • If Kevin Kiermaier can stay healthy and remain productive, what kind of contract is he looking at in free agency? (22:20)
  • Could Corbin Burnes realistically be traded by the deadline? If so, what teams would likely make a push for him? (26:50)
  • What could the Cubs do with Marcus Stroman? (30:45)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The Wide-Open NL Wild Card Race, Returning Pitchers and Cast-Off Veterans – listen here
  • The Mets are turning things around, and how serious are the Mariners, Marlins and Diamondbacks? – listen here
  • The Cardinals’ U-Turn on Willson Contreras, Mitch Keller’s breakout, and the state of the Padres – listen here
Show all

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