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Braves Promote Michael Harris II

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The Braves have selected the contract of top outfield prospect Michael Harris II, Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.  Harris will be taking the place of outfielder Travis Demeritte, who was optioned to Triple-A after last night’s game.

It’s an aggressive and somewhat surprising promotion on the Braves’ part, as the 21-year-old Harris has yet to play even in Triple-A ball.  However, Harris could be seen as a center field upgrade immediately, as Adam Duvall has hit only .191/.263/.274 over 175 plate appearances.  At the very least, the switch-hitting Harris will be sharing time with the right-handed hitting Duvall, though it seems likely that the Braves wouldn’t have called Harris up if they weren’t planning on playing the youngster every day.

Atlanta’s outfield has largely struggled all season, with the notable exception of Ronald Acuna Jr. since his return from the injured list.  However, Acuna has missed time with a quad strain over the last few days, and while Acuna was able to pinch-hit last night, the Braves figure to be cautious with their superstar until he is closer to 100 percent.

This provides an opportunity for Harris to give the outfield mix a shot in the arm, and it represents the latest step in what has been a rather quick rise to prominence.  A local product born in DeKalb, Georgia, Harris was a third-round pick for the Braves in the 2019 draft, and he had only an okay rookie season before sitting out in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.

Upon returning to the field, Harris suddenly blossomed, hitting .294/.362/.436 over 420 PA for the Braves’ High-A affiliate, and also hitting seven homers and stealing 27 bases out of 31 chances.  This breakout put him on the radar of prospect evaluators, with Baseball America listing Harris as the 46th-best prospect in baseball in their preseason rankings (Baseball Prospectus ranked him 58th, The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked him 61st, and MLB Pipeline ranked him 65st).

Defensively, Harris has played mostly as a center fielder, and received plus grades for his glovework and his throwing arm.  (The latter is no surprise, as Harris was also a highly-touted pitcher in high school.)  As per Pipeline’s scouting report, Harris was voted the best defensive outfielder in the High-A East league by rival managers.

At the plate, Harris hit exclusively as a left-handed batter in 2021 before returning to switch-hitting this season in Double-A.  Harris has been prone to chasing pitches, but improved on that problem as the 2021 season went on, cutting back on his strikeouts while improving his on-base numbers.  While Harris has posted big BABIP numbers over the last two seasons, those totals speak to both some good fortune and his plus speed, which allows him to beat out grounders.

Harris hit .305/.372/.506 with five homers and 11 steals (in 14 chances) over 196 PA at the Double-A level, leaving no doubt that his 2021 performance was for real.  It was enough to convince Atlanta that Harris is ready for The Show, and yet as always with prospects, it shouldn’t be assumed that Harris will immediately play well in his first taste of the majors.

It could be that the Braves might eventually send Harris down to Triple-A if he struggles, which would halt his MLB service clock.  If Harris does stay up, he likely won’t bank enough service time to make him a Super Two candidate (and thus earn a fourth year of arbitration eligibility).  Players like Seiya Suzuki and MacKenzie Gore have an early lead in the race to be NL Rookie Of The Year, though there’s plenty of time for Harris to make a late charge, which would benefit both Harris and the Braves via the new Prospect Promotion Incentive plan.

Cardinals To Promote Nolan Gorman, Matthew Liberatore; Tyler O’Neill To IL

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There’s a momentous roster shakeup in St. Louis, as the Cardinals are set to welcome two of the game’s top prospects to the big leagues in the coming days. As first reported by Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter links), the team has promoted both Nolan Gorman and Matthew Liberatore for this weekend’s series against the Pirates. Katie Woo of the Athletic tweets that outfielder Tyler O’Neill is headed to the 10-day injured list because of a right shoulder impingement in one corresponding roster move.

According to Goold, Gorman will be in tomorrow’s starting lineup at second base. That figures to be his primary role moving forward, with Gold Glove second baseman Tommy Edman kicked to the other side of the bag. Edman has been excellent this season, but the Cards haven’t gotten much production out of their shortstops. Paul DeJong struggled enough the team optioned him to Triple-A Memphis last week, seemingly setting the stage for a forthcoming Gorman promotion.

That’s not to say the Cardinals hastily promoted Gorman to compensate for struggles at the major league level — far from it. The left-handed hitter has forced his way to the majors with an incredible showing in Memphis. Over 147 plate appearances, he’s hitting .308/.367/.677 with an astounding 15 home runs. No other Triple-A batter has more than 13 round-trippers, and only the Cubs’ Robel García has a higher slugging percentage in the International League.

Gorman’s production hasn’t been completely without issue, as he’s gone down on strikes 50 times. That’s a 34% clip, an alarming rate for any minor leaguer considering the higher quality of pitching he’ll face in the majors. Ultimately, however, Gorman’s power production became too much for the St. Louis front office to ignore.

It has been a long-awaited debut for Cardinals fans, who have anticipated Gorman’s arrival since he was selected with the 19th pick in the 2018 draft out of an Arizona high school. Regarded as a power-hitting third baseman as an amateur, he has more or less met those expectations while in the minors. Gorman has consistently posted huge extra-base numbers while running elevated strikeout totals. Prospect evaluators have raised some concerns about the amount of swing-and-miss in his game, but they’ve been unanimously effusive in their praise of his power upside.

Each of FanGraphs, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, Keith Law of the Athletic and Baseball America slotted Gorman among the game’s top 60 prospects this past offseason. (Law and McDaniel both placed him among their top 20). That was before this season’s home run barrage, which only figures to have raised the 22-year-old’s profile even further. Gorman has kicked over to the keystone in the minors with Nolan Arenado entrenched at third base. He’s not regarded as an elite defender and will certainly be a downgrade from Edman there, but the hope is that his offensive capabilities will more than compensate for any issues on the other side of the ball.

Not to be outshined, Gorman’s draft mate will make his major league debut one day later. Liberatore is lined up to start Saturday’s game against the Bucs, manager Oliver Marmol confirmed to reporters (Woo link). The skipper said it’s still to be determined whether there’ll be more than one spot start for the 22-year-old southpaw. Regardless, that Liberatore is now lined up to pitch in the majors suggests he’s firmly on the organizational rotation depth chart.

Liberatore was coincidentally also a first-round draftee out of a Phoenix-area high school the same year as Gorman, and the two have been friends since childhood. Seen as one of the top prep arms in that year’s class, he fell to the Rays at 16th overall because of concerns about his signing bonus — which ultimately checked in just shy of $3.5MM. While Liberatore’s fastball sat in the low-90s, he drew praise for his secondary offerings, particularly a curveball that evaluators consider his best pitch. He pitched well for his first season-plus in the lower levels of the Tampa Bay farm system, then was involved in a January 2020 blockbuster that sent Randy Arozarena back to Tampa Bay.

The cancelation of the 2020 minor league season kept Liberatore from making his official Cardinals debut until last year. The organization pushed him straight to Memphis for his age-21 campaign and he held his own, tossing 124 2/3 innings of 4.04 ERA ball with a solid 23.7% strikeout rate and an excellent 6.3% walk percentage. St. Louis assigned him back there to open this season, and he’s made strides from a swing-and-miss perspective. Liberatore’s ERA and walk rate are right in line with his 2021 marks, but he’s improved his strikeout rate by almost five points through his first seven starts.

Liberatore is also regarded by most evaluators as one of the top 100 minor league talents. He’s not seen as a future ace, but between his excellent control and well-rounded arsenal, he’s unanimously viewed as a possible rotation stalwart. Whether the Cardinals plug him into that role immediately isn’t clear, but it seems likely he’ll be taking the ball every fifth day in St. Louis before long.

Neither Gorman nor Liberatore will accrue enough major league service time this year to reach the one-year threshold. Even if both players are in the majors for good, neither will be eligible for free agency until after the 2028 campaign at the earliest. Both players are in good position to reach early arbitration as Super Two qualifiers after the 2024 season, although that’s contingent on sticking in the big leagues from here on out. In Liberatore’s case, in particular, it seems future optional assignments are still a possibility.

The Cards have Adam Wainwright, Steven Matz, Dakota Hudson, Miles Mikolas and Jordan Hicks as their primary starting five at the moment. Wainwright and Mikolas have been excellent. Matz has struggled but isn’t going to be bumped from the rotation two months into a four-year contract. Hudson doesn’t have great strikeout and walk marks, but he’s riding his typically elite ground-ball production to decent results. That’s more or less also true of Hicks, who has lengthened out into the rotation after a few years as a high-leverage bullpen arm.

Of course, St. Louis has been without arguably their best pitcher for the entire season. Jack Flaherty hasn’t thrown a pitch because of a shoulder issue that required a platelet-rich plasma injection. He’s been on the 10-day injured list all year, and the club announced that he’s been transferred to the 60-day IL to clear space for Gorman on the 40-man roster.

That’s merely a procedural move that keeps Flaherty out for two months from Opening Day. The 26-year-old has yet to embark on a minor league rehab assignment and surely wouldn’t have been ready to make an MLB return before the first week of June anyhow. Flaherty has recently progressed to throwing bullpen sessions, so it seems reasonable he could head out into minor league games within a few weeks.

The club will also need to create a spot on the 40-man roster for Liberatore, with that transaction set to occur before Saturday’s contest. Aside from Flaherty, St. Louis doesn’t have any obvious candidates for a 60-day IL transfer, so it seems likely someone will be designated for assignment within the next two days.

The only disappointing aspect of today’s news is that O’Neill is headed to the IL. He’s missed the past couple days battling the shoulder discomfort that will now cost him at least a week and a half. The team hasn’t provided an indication whether he’s facing an absence longer than the minimal stint.

So continues a rough start to the year for O’Neill, who is just a season removed from an eighth-place finish in NL MVP voting. The 26-year-old has hit just .195/.256/.297 with a pair of home runs across 133 plate appearances, nowhere near the 34-homer output he put forth last season. O’Neill, who also lost his arbitration hearing last week, will try to get back on track whenever he’s healthy enough to make his return.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Mariners Promote George Kirby, Place Ken Giles On 60-Day IL

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May 8: The Mariners have announced the selection of Kirby’s contract, with right-hander Riley O’Brien being optioned to create space on the active roster. To make room on the 40-man, Ken Giles was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Giles has been working his way back from October 2020 Tommy John surgery. Although it was initially hoped he would be ready for Opening Day, a strained tendon in his right middle finger set Giles back significantly during Spring Training. Based on this IL placement, it seems the club isn’t expected him to join the big league club until mid-June at the earliest.

May 7, 3:25PM: Kirby will start Sunday’s game against the Rays, according to MLB Pipeline’s Jonathan Mayo (Twitter link).

12:54PM: The Mariners are calling up George Kirby, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (Twitter link). Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com tweeted earlier this afternoon that Kirby had been scratched from his scheduled start with Double-A Arkansas.

Whenever Kirby first takes the ball, he’ll be making his major league debut. The 20th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Elon University, the right-hander quickly blossomed into one of the game’s top young arms. Regarded as a polished strike-thrower with solid but not elite stuff and as an amateur prospect, Kirby has taken his raw stuff to new heights as a professional. After working with a 91-95 MPH fastball in college, he’s pushed that velocity to the 95-99 MPH range in the minors.

That improved arm speed hasn’t come at the expense of the New York native’s pristine control. Baseball America, FanGraphs and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN all credited Kirby with possible plus-plus command (a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale) over this past offseason. He’s among the best locaters in the minor leagues, and his combination of velocity and feel for pitching made him one of the sport’s most highly-regarded prospects.

BA, FanGraphs, ESPN and Keith Law of the Athletic all slotted Kirby among the game’s top 50 overall prospects heading into the season. Baseball America was the most bullish of the group, ranking him 12th overall and the #3 pitcher. Evaluators were a bit divided about the quality of his secondary offerings; most suggested each of his slider, curveball and changeup were around average, but BA graded his upper-80s slider as a plus pitch. Not coincidentally, BA suggested he could have top-of-the-rotation upside, while each of FanGraphs, ESPN, and The Athletic pegged him as more of a mid-rotation type.

Between the canceled 2020 minor league season and some missed time last year due to shoulder soreness, Kirby only has 115 1/3 pro innings under his belt. He has shined in that time, though, with the results to match the strong visual evaluations. Kirby owns an ERA between 2.30 and 2.40 at all three of his stops, including a 2.31 mark over 50 2/3 Double-A innings. He has punched out a strong 29.6% of batters faced at that level against a tiny 5.9% walk rate.

Kirby will take the rotation spot of another top prospect. Matt Brash was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma and converted to relief (at least temporarily) after struggling to throw strikes over his first five MLB starts. Kirby doesn’t figure to have the same control problems out of the gate, but Brash’s initial difficulties are a reminder that even elite prospects often scuffle in their first taste of the big leagues. There’s uncertainty with any rookie, and Kirby is headed to the majors without so much as a single Triple-A inning under his belt.

Still, the Mariners wouldn’t have turned to Kirby if they weren’t bullish on his chances of being immediately effective. Seattle is off to a disappointing 12-15 start, but they’re seeking to contend for a playoff spot this season. If Kirby can solidify the back end of the rotation right out of the gate, that’d go a long way towards hanging around in the American League. The M’s rotation has been a mixed bag in the early going. Logan Gilbert has been excellent. Chris Flexen has been effective, while Marco Gonzales and offseason signee Robbie Ray have underwhelmed. The latter two players had a lot of pre-2022 success, though, giving the M’s reason to anticipate better results over the coming months.

Enough time has passed that Kirby won’t reach a full year of service in 2022 even if his promotion proves permanent, positioning him to reach free agency after the 2028 campaign at the earliest. If he sticks in the majors from here on out, he’d be a virtual lock to reach arbitration heading into 2025 as a Super Two qualifier. Future optional assignments could impact that service trajectory, of course. Kirby is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the Mariners will need to make another move to accommodate his official selection.

Twins Promote Jose Miranda

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The Twins announced this morning they’ve recalled infield prospect Jose Miranda and left-hander Jovani Moran from Triple-A St. Paul. In corresponding moves, first baseman Miguel Sanó and outfielder Kyle Garlick were placed on the 10-day injured list. Righty Cole Sands and catcher José Godoy were optioned to St. Paul as part of the culling of active rosters from 28 to 26.

The most notable move in the sequence is the promotion of Miranda, who is headed to the big leagues for the first time. Minnesota selected the 23-year-old onto their 40-man roster last offseason, but he began the year on optional assignment back to St. Paul. The right-handed hitter is off to a bit of a slow start, posting a .256/.295/.442 showing through his first 90 plate appearances.

That’s likely not of huge concern to the Twins, as Miranda tore the cover off the ball in the minors last season. The Puerto Rico native began the year with Double-A Wichita. Miranda hit .345/.408/.588 through 47 games with the Wind Surge, earning a bump to St. Paul by the end of June. He picked up right where he left off at the minors’ highest level, closing out the year with a .343/.397/.563 showing in 373 plate appearances for the Saints.

That high minors domination positioned Miranda as a near-term MLB option for the Twins while elevating his prospect status. Over the offseason, each of Baseball America, FanGraphs, Keith Law of the Athletic and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN slotted Miranda among the back half of their Top 100 prospects. Reports unanimously praised his combination of bat-to-ball skills and raw power, although all four outlets suggested he’s a fringy defender at best at the hot corner. Miranda has also posted low walk rates throughout his time in the minors, although that’s in large part due to the bat control for which he’s lauded. Given his ability to put the bat on the ball, he’s not one to work many deep counts, keeping both his walk and strikeout totals down.

With Sanó headed to the IL, Miranda looks likely to play a multi-positional infield role for the time being. All 14 of his defensive outings this season have come at third base, but he also had a fair bit of run at second and first base last year (in addition to briefer stops at shortstop and in left field). Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco are locked in up the middle in Minnesota, with Gio Urshela and bat-first utilityman Luis Arraez the top options at the corners. Miranda could work his way into the corner infield/DH mix, at least until Sanó returns.

It’s unclear how long Sanó will be sidelined after he hit the IL due to left knee soreness last night. The team announced it today as a sprain, with the placement retroactive to May 1. Garlick, meanwhile, suffered a right calf strain.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Padres Promote MacKenzie Gore, Place Blake Snell On 10-Day IL

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5:45PM: The Padres have officially announced the moves, putting Snell on the 10-day IL (retroactive to April 11) with a left adductor strain.

3:49PM: Padres manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including AJ Cassavell and Kevin Acee) that Snell has been placed on the 10-day IL, and Gore will indeed start Friday’s game.

12:33PM: The Padres are facing some early-season uncertainty in the starting rotation. Left-hander Blake Snell was scratched from what was supposed to be his first start on Sunday after experiencing adductor tightness. Snell hasn’t been placed on the injured list, but it’s expected he’ll need some time on the shelf to recover.

With Snell’s spot in the rotation up again tomorrow night against the Braves, it looks as if MacKenzie Gore will get his first big league look. AJ Cassavell of MLB.com tweeted Tuesday that Gore had joined the team’s taxi squad, and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote last night the organization expects to soon place Snell on the IL and start Gore in his place.

Gore’s prospect stock has fluctuated considerably in recent seasons. The third overall pick in 2017, he carved up low minors hitters over his first two professional campaigns. In the process, Gore emerged as a potentially elite young talent. Heading into the 2020 season, each of Baseball America, FanGraphs and The Athletic slotted Gore as the sport’s top pitching prospect. All three outlets ranked him among the top six minor league talents overall.

Having reached Double-A late in 2019, Gore looked as if he could make his MLB debut at some point that season. The pandemic wound up necessitating a shorter schedule and a lack of minor league play, however, and Gore spent the year at the alternate training site. Reports emerged that he’d gotten out of whack mechanically, with Baseball America writing over the 2020-21 offseason there were concerns about both his control and a velocity dip.

Those red flags persisted last year, as Gore walked an alarming 12.5% of opponents against a dramatically reduced 18.8% strikeout rate in six Triple-A starts. The Padres reassigned him to their Arizona complex for some lower-pressure work to get back on track, and he returned to an affiliate late in the season with a pair of Double-A starts. He walked another eight batters in nine innings but also punched out 16.

There’s no question Gore’s inconsistent past couple seasons have dealt some kind of hit to his prospect stock. He’s no longer a consensus top ten minor leaguer, nor has he reached the majors as quickly as it had once seemed he would. Yet Gore only turned 23 years old in February and is only two years removed from being perhaps the best pitcher in the minors. He’s certainly still a legitimate prospect, one whom Keith Law of the Athletic slotted #59 overall this offseason.

Law wrote that each of Gore’s fastball, changeup and slider are still plus pitches and that he’s athletic enough to yet emerge as a top-of-the-rotation arm if he finds more mechanical consistency. BA slotted the southpaw fourth in the San Diego system this winter, praising his high-octane repertoire and noting that his “misses off the plate were much smaller” late last year than they’d been early in that season. Gore has only made one appearance so far this year, but he didn’t issue a single free pass in five scoreless innings with Triple-A El Paso last week, fanning seven of the 16 batters he faced.

Gore is already on the 40-man roster, so a Snell IL placement would be sufficient to accommodate his call-up. How long he’d remain in the rotation is to be seen, but Acee writes that both Snell and right-hander Mike Clevinger are expected to require two minor league rehab starts before returning to the majors. The team announced last night that Clevinger, who missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery and opened this year on the IL due to some soreness in his right knee, will make his first rehab start today with High-A Lake Elsinore.

Reds To Promote Nick Lodolo

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Top Reds pitching prospect Nick Lodolo will make his Major League debut tomorrow, the team announced. Lodolo, the No. 7 overall pick in 2019, will start tomorrow’s game against the Guardians and join fellow top prospect Hunter Greene in the rotation. Greene impressed with seven punchouts and a barrage of triple-digit heaters in his own MLB debut this past weekend. Lodolo has not yet been selected to the 40-man roster, so Cincinnati will need to make a corresponding move before he is formally promoted to the big leagues.

Nick Lodolo | Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY NETWORK

It’s been expected since the season opened that Lodolo would take the mound this week and make his big league debut, but it’s nevertheless notable that Cincinnati has now made it official and set the stage for a forthcoming 40-man move to add the prized young lefty to the roster. Lodolo split the 2021 season between Double-A Chattanooga and Triple-A Louisville, pitching to a combined 2.31 ERA with an eye-popping 38.8% strikeout rate, just a 5.5% walk rate and a 54.3% ground-ball rate.

Impressive as those numbers were, Lodolo also missed time last year with blister troubles and, far more troublingly, with a shoulder strain that ended his season in August. He looked plenty sharp this spring, tossing 11 1/3 innings of 2.38 ERA ball with a 12-to-2 K/BB ratio, so it certainly looks as though he’s put the shoulder troubles behind him for now. Still, those injuries limited Lodolo to just 50 2/3 innings in 2021, and he of course didn’t pitch at all in 2020, when there was no minor league season.

The largest workload Lodolo has ever recorded is the combined 121 1/3 innings he pitched between his junior season at Texas Christian University and the Reds’ lower minor league levels in 2019, when he was drafted. It stands to reason that Cincinnati will be relatively careful when it comes to managing his innings.

Even if the Reds limit his innings on the season as a whole or on a start-by-start basis, there’s good reason to be excited about the lefty’s arrival on the scene. As one would expect for a pitcher with that lofty draft stock and those scintillating 2021 numbers, Lodolo is widely regarded as one of baseball’s most promising young pitchers. He ranked as a top-100 prospect at Baseball America (No. 32), MLB.com (No. 42), Baseball Prospectus (No. 42), FanGraphs (No. 52) and ESPN (No. 79).

There’s a fairly wide split as to just how highly Lodolo ought to be regarded, though most scouting reports on him will characterize him as a likely mid-rotation arm. Still, FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin wrote that Lodolo was one of the “more divisive” players discussed with evaluators when writing their top prospect rankings, noting that while analytics-driven evaluations love his changeup, scouts question it and wonder why he threw it so little (9%) if it’s truly one of his best offerings.

FanGraphs touts Lodolo for having three plus pitches, whereas Baseball America opines that the slider is Lodolo’s only plus offering. The Athletic’s Keith Law omitted Lodolo from his Top 100 altogether, but ranked him fifth in the Cincinnati system while opining on the lack of a third plus pitch and likening Lodolo’s slider and arm slot to that of Andrew Miller.

Split camps are nothing new when it comes to prospect evaluation, and there’s certainly still consensus that Lodolo is a big league talent who’ll play a role with the Reds for years to come. Data-driven models and traditional scouting may not agree on the lefty’s ceiling, but Lodolo will have the opportunity to start proving skeptics wrong beginning tomorrow. He’ll bring a mid-90s heater, a quality sweeping slider and that divisive changeup with him to Great American Ball Park, and there’s a clear long-term opportunity in the rotation now that Cincinnati has traded Sonny Gray and dropped Wade Miley via waivers.

If Lodolo is in the big leagues for good, there’s still enough time on the calendar for him to log a full year of service time — regardless of his finish in end-of-year awards voting. He’d be eligible for arbitration after the 2024 season and would be controlled through the 2027 campaign via arbitration. Of course, future optional assignments could impact that timeline, but Lodolo’s fate is largely in his own hands now that he’s getting his first big league look at a time when the rotation has such ample opportunity.

Giants Promote Heliot Ramos

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12:03PM: The Giants have officially announced the move.  Right-hander John Brebbia has been placed on the bereavement list to create a 40-man roster space.

8:12AM: The Giants are promoting outfield prospect Heliot Ramos to the big leagues, as initially reported by Munger English Sports Management (Ramos’ agency).  Ramos is expected to make his debut today for the Giants’ game against the Marlins.

With southpaw Trevor Rogers scheduled to start for Miami, the right-handed hitting Ramos is a logical fit for tonight’s lineup, and perhaps for throughout the season given the left-handed tilt of the Giants outfield.  Mike Yastrzemski, Joc Pederson, Steven Duggar, and the currently-injured LaMonte Wade Jr. all swing from the left side, though San Francisco also has Darin Ruf, Austin Slater, Mauricio Dubon, and Luke Williams as available right-handed bats.  Utilityman Williams might end up being the odd man out to make room for Ramos, as Williams still has three minor league options.

The 22-year-old Ramos has long been seen as one of the Giants’ best prospects, and he has been a regular on top-100 rankings since he was selected 19th overall in the 2017 draft.  His stock has somewhat dropped as a result of not playing in 2020, and then a 2021 campaign that saw Ramos hit a modest .254/.323/.417 over 495 combined plate appearances at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.  Still, The Athletic’s Keith Law rated Ramos 70th on his preseason top-100 list,  Baseball America had Ramos in the 94th spot, and Fangraphs has Ramos ranked 101st.

Ramos only just turned 22 in September, and BA’s scouting report notes that Ramos has made his way up the minor league ladder “usually as one of the younger players at every stop.”  Along the way, Ramos has shown glimpses of his potential, if there is some master-of-none aspect to his performance.  As Fangraphs’ report puts it, “while it’s easy to call him a five-tool player since he’s competent in every aspect of the game, scouts struggle to figure out what Ramos’ one carrying tool is.”

At the plate, Ramos has hit .270/.340/.448 over 1625 PA in the minors, with 47 homers and 41 steals (out of 64 attempts).  He has also struck out in 440 of those at-bats, and evaluators note that his swing lacks some loft, and that Ramos has looked a little susceptible to off-speed pitches.  Ramos is expected to eventually move to right field due to his relative lack of top-tier speed and his good throwing arm, but Ramos has mostly played as a center fielder throughout his career and has looked decent up the middle.  The Giants are probably likely to use Ramos primarily in center, though he has the flexibility to play at any of the three outfield positions based on situations.

Ramos hit well in the small sample sizes of Spring Training (10 PA) and the early stages of the Triple-A season (13 PA).  While he didn’t break camp with the team, his quick promotion means that Ramos should still clock a full year of service time should he remain on San Francisco’s active roster for the remainder of the season.  The newly-instituted Prospect Promotion Incentive could also somewhat mitigate the Giants’ service-time concerns, though Ramos may technically not qualify.  As per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, prospects are PPI eligible if they “are included in two or more of the preseason top-100 prospect lists put out by Baseball America, MLB.com or ESPN,” and of those three specific outlets, Ramos only cracked BA’s list.

Padres Select C.J. Abrams, Jose Azocar; Kyle Tyler Designated For Assignment

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The Padres set their Opening Day roster Thursday, announcing that top prospect C.J. Abrams and outfielder Jose Azocar have been selected to the Major League roster. The Padres placed Fernando Tatis Jr. on the 60-day injured list and designated right-hander Kyle Tyler for assignment in a pair of corresponding 40-man moves.

Abrams is a consensus top prospect, ranked among the sport’s 15 most talented minor leaguers by each of Baseball America, The Athletic, FanGraphs, ESPN and MLB Pipeline. Kiley McDaniel at ESPN is the most bullish of the group, slotting Abrams fourth among the sport’s prospects. Reports praise his top-of-the-scale speed and athleticism and excellent hit tool, although evaluators also suggest Abrams has a chance to hit for average or better power at peak.

San Diego originally selected Abrams with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of a Georgia high school. He hasn’t had much professional game experience. Abrams spent the second half of his first pro season in rookie ball, with a late cameo at Low-A. The pandemic wiped out the 2020 minor league season, and the Friars pushed him to Double-A Amarillo to start the 2021 season.

Abrams handled the aggressive assignment well, hitting .296/.363/.420 with a pair of home runs and 13 stolen bases over 183 plate appearances. He showcased his advanced bat-to-ball skills with a 19.7% strikeout rate that was a few points below the league average, in spite of the fact that he was younger than virtually every arm he faced. Unfortunately, Abrams was deprived of a second half of reps after he fractured his left tibia and sprained his MCL in an on-field collision in early July.

There’s no doubt some risk for the Pads in pushing Abrams straight to the big leagues. He’s played all of 44 games above Rookie ball because of the pandemic and last season’s injury, none of that time at Triple-A. Yet there’s little question he has electric physical abilities, and the San Diego front office evidently feels he’s at least capable of keeping his head above water in the early going while continuing to develop into a core long-term piece.

Abrams has played the middle infield exclusively during his minor league tenure. Evaluators have been divided on his ability to stick at shortstop long-term, but the general consensus is that he’d be a solid defender at second base. Given his elite speed, Abrams could probably be a plus defender in the outfield as well, and he’s gotten some work on the grass this spring. He’ll presumably need more than a few weeks to become completely comfortable reading fly balls off the bat, but there’s little doubt he’s athletic enough to develop into a long-term outfield option.

It remains to be seen how first-year skipper Bob Melvin will deploy the 21-year-old in the early going. He figures to see some action at each of shortstop, second base and in the outfield. Jake Cronenworth has second base accounted for, but Tatis’ injury had thrust Ha-Seong Kim into the primary shortstop job. A well-regarded signee out of South Korea, Kim struggled during his rookie season in MLB. Melvin can give regular shortstop run to either of Abrams or Kim, and the Pads are set to rely on some combination of Jurickson Profar, Brent Rooker and Matt Beaty in left field.

The Padres aren’t wedded to keeping Abrams on the big league roster from here on out, as he’ll have all three minor league option years remaining. Yet San Diego wouldn’t have carried him out of camp if they didn’t feel he was ready for the challenge, and they’d certainly love if Abrams is in the big leagues to stay. If that’s the case, he’d be controllable through 2027 and wouldn’t reach arbitration eligibility until after the 2024 campaign. Future optional assignments, if needed, might push those trajectories back.

As a consensus top prospect, Abrams qualifies for the so-called Prospect Promotion Incentive in the new collective bargaining agreement. Based on his finishes in Rookie of the Year and MVP voting over his first three MLB seasons, the Padres could stand to collect some extra draft choices if he excels.

Azocar isn’t anywhere near the caliber of prospect Abrams is, but he’ll likewise be making his big league debut whenever he gets into a game. Signed by the Tigers as an amateur free agent from Venezuela in 2012, he spent eight seasons in the Detroit farm system and played his way to Double-A. After reaching minor league free agency, he landed with the Padres on a minors deal last winter.

The 25-year-old split last season between Amarillo and Triple-A El Paso. Over 544 plate appearances, he hit .281/.341/.438 with nine homers and 32 steals. Azocar has never hit more than 10 homers in a minor league season and has well below-average power, but evaluators have long credited him as a plus runner and solid defensive outfielder. He can play all three outfield spots and gives the team a true fourth outfield type behind Trent Grisham in center field.

Tyler just landed with San Diego on waivers a couple weeks ago. The righty has bounced from the Angels to the Red Sox to the Padres on the wire over the past month, and he figures to land back on waivers in the next few days. He made his big league debut last season, tossing 12 1/3 relief innings over five appearances with six strikeouts and walks apiece. Tyler still has all three options remaining.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Bryson Stott To Make Phillies Opening Day Roster

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The Phillies will carry top shortstop prospect Bryson Stott on the Opening Day roster, the team informed reporters (including Todd Zolecki of MLB.com). They’ll need to clear a spot for him on the 40-man roster before Thursday’s game. The team will also carry third baseman Alec Bohm on the big league club. Matt Gelb of the Athletic wrote yesterday that keeping both players on the roster was under consideration.

The pair of young infielders figure to see a good bit time together on the left side of the infield. Stott, presumably, will play regularly at shortstop. Bohm figures to handle the hot corner on most days, getting another crack to take hold of the position after a sophomore slump saw him optioned to Triple-A late last season.

It’ll be the first MLB look for Stott, whom the Phils selected 14th overall out of UNLV in the 2019 draft. The left-handed hitting infielder was regarded as a well-rounded shortstop prospect coming out of college, and he moved fairly quickly up the minor league ladder. Stott mashed in the low minors late in 2019, and he picked up where he left off last year after the canceled minors season.

The 24-year-old tallied 351 plate appearances with Double-A Reading, hitting .301/.368/.481 with ten homers. Stott posted solid walk and strikeout numbers and earned a late-season bump to Triple-A. Despite playing in only ten games with Lehigh Valley, he’ll step up to the major league level.

Each of Baseball America, The Athletic, ESPN, MLB Pipeline and FanGraphs placed Stott among the game’s top 100 prospects this offseason. FanGraphs was the most bullish of the group, ranking him the #34 prospect in the sport. General consensus among evaluators is that he’ll be a productive everyday player in the near future. Stott doesn’t get overwhelming grades for any of his physical tools, but he’s seen as a polished defensive shortstop with good bat-to-ball skills and average or better raw power.

Stott’s promotion figures to result in less playing time for incumbent shortstop Didi Gregorius. The Phils brought back the veteran on a two-year deal last offseason, but his 2021 production was disappointing. Gregorius hit just .209/.270/.370 in 103 games. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acknowledged at the start of the offseason the 32-year-old wouldn’t be guaranteed the primary shortstop job, pointing to Stott as a possible internal alternative.

Jean Segura is lined up as the everyday second baseman, and carrying Stott and Bohm could push Gregorius into a utility role. The Phils also signed Johan Camargo to a one-year deal this winter, giving manager Joe Girardi a few options for juggling playing time. Much figures to depend on how well Stott and Bohm start the season. Bohm, a former #3 overall pick and top prospect, had an excellent rookie showing in 2020 but is coming off a season (.247/.305/.342) not too much stronger than Gregorius’. He still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, increasing the pressure to stake a claim to the everyday third base job early in the season.

As a consensus Top 100 prospect, Stott’s immediate big league promotion could result in the Phils accruing some extra draft capital down the line. The new collective bargaining agreement includes the so-called Prospect Promotion Incentive, a feature that could entitle the Phils to a bonus selection in the amateur or international drafts (if the international draft is ultimately instituted) depending upon his finishes in Rookie of the Year or MVP voting before he reaches arbitration eligibility.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Julio Rodriguez Makes Mariners’ Opening Day Roster

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Julio Rodriguez didn’t give the Mariners much of a choice. The team announced Monday that the 21-year-old outfielder, who is near-universally ranked among MLB’s top three prospects, has made its Opening Day roster.

Julio Rodriguez | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Rodriguez obliterated Cactus League pitching, appearing in a dozen games and slashing .419/.471/.839 with three home runs and four doubles through 34 trips to the plate. He tacked on three stolen bases in four attempts, also flashing his wheels when he circled the bases on an inside-the-park home run, and drew three walks against nine strikeouts.

The massive spring showing comes on the heels of a similarly explosive minor league campaign in 2021. Playing the entire season at age 20 — he turned 21 in December — Rodriguez split the year between Class-A Advanced and Double-A, slashing a combined .347/.441/.560 with 13 home runs, 19 doubles, two triples and 21 stolen bases in just 340 plate appearances. (Rodriguez missed time during the regular season to suit up for the Dominican Republic in the Olympics.)

With just 46 Double-A games under his belt, the Mariners might’ve had a defensible case to keep Rodriguez down in the minors to begin the season had he shown any sign of struggles in camp. But with such a blistering performance in the Cactus League and perhaps in part thanks to the new Prospect Promotion Incentives in the 2021-26 collective bargaining agreement, he’ll instead leapfrog the Triple-A level entirely and get the chance to prove he’s ready to face the sport’s very best pitchers.

Rodriguez figures to join an outfield rotation that also includes offseason acquisition Jesse Winker, veteran right fielder Mitch Haniger and another touted, hopeful building block in Jarred Kelenic. Rodriguez figures to see the bulk of playing time in center field during the early portion of his career, though both Kelenic and Haniger have experience there as well. It’s a talented outfield group has sky-high offensive potential, though both Rodriguez and Kelenic will need to prove that they’re able to handle big league pitching at such young ages. Thus far at least, Rodriguez has been up to the task at virtually every step of his professional career.

Scouting reports on Rodriguez gush over his potential not just to emerge as the face of the Mariners but one of the best players in all of MLB. Baseball America touts Rodriguez’s 80-grade raw power (on the 20-80 scale) and places 70 grades on both his hit tool and his in-game power, noting that while his most impressive long balls are to the pull-side, he can hit the ball out of the park to all fields “with shocking ease.” The Athletic’s Keith Law calls him a potential “long-term cleanup hitter who’ll challenge for MVP awards with 30-40 homers, high OBPs and, at least, solid defense in right field.” Superlatives of this nature are easy to find, as scouts and talent evaluators all agree that Rodriguez looks every bit like a star in the making.

Whether that translates immediately remains to be seen, of course, and for all the lofty expectations placed on Rodriguez, it’s worth recalling that not every ballyhooed prospect hits the ground running. Mike Trout hit .220/.281/.390 in 40 games as a rookie. Ronald Acuna Jr. had a .742 OPS through his first 42 games. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was five percent better than league-average with the bat as a rookie in 2019. The mere fact that Rodriguez is ranked so highly that he can even be mentioned alongside talents of that nature is impressive in and of itself, but not every top prospect breaks down the big league door and thrusts himself into MVP conversation from the jump, a la Juan Soto.

If Rodriguez is indeed in the Majors to stay, he’ll remain under club control all the way through the 2027 season. He’d reach arbitration after the 2024 season, although it’s quite possible that via the newly implemented bonus pool for pre-arbitration players, he’ll boost his earnings beyond the standard minimum (or close to it) levels for pre-arb players. That’ll depend on Rodriguez’s overall performance and his finish in Awards voting over the next few seasons. If he fares well, it’s also possible that the Mariners will be awarded some bonus selections in future drafts, under the previously mentioned “prospect promotion incentives” put in place under the new CBA.

All that aside, Rodriguez’s immediate promotion to the big leagues is cause for Mariners fans to celebrate. Expectations surrounding the club have rapidly escalated in recent years, due in no small part to last year’s 90-win season and a vaunted farm system headlined by their new Opening Day center fielder. The hope of both the team and fans alike will be that Rodriguez can play a pivotal role in snapping what has become the longest playoff drought not only in MLB but in the NBA, NFL and NHL. The last time the Mariners made the playoffs, Rodriguez had not yet celebrated his first birthday. If the Mariners indeed break through into October baseball this year, there’s a good chance that Rodriguez will have played a considerable role — but for now, fans can simply look forward to getting their first look at a potential franchise cornerstone just over 72 hours from now.

Hector Gomez of Z101 Deportes first reported the news a few minutes before Seattle’s formal announcement (Twitter link).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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