4 More Minor League Recalls For Final 2 Weeks

If you thought all the top prospects had already been recalled after rosters expanded earlier in the month, you would be wrong. There have been another four promotions over the past week, and this group includes two names all keeper leaguers are very well aware of. Let’s dive in.

Josue De Paula | LAD OF

When Shohei Ohtani hit the IL last Friday, essentially ending his season, in a somewhat surprising move, the Dodgers decided to recall their top prospect, ranked 17th overall. It wasn’t surprising in the sense he didn’t earn it. It was surprising because he completely skipped Triple-A. You see pitchers skip Triple-A every so often, but it’s far less common for a hitter. Since his recall, he has started all three games, so he’s been thrown right into the fire. He’s left-handed, though, so we’ll see if he ends up being platooned or if the team at least gives him a chance to start against southpaws.

With 30/60 Game Power and 55/70 Raw Power grades, he’s seemingly both an unfinished product and one with massive power upside. Even accounting for the fact that the jump from Double-A to the Majors is a challenge, that’s still the kind of power you don’t want to ignore.

He actually took a major step forward with his power output this season. He posted a 20.9% HR/FB rate and .244 ISO, after marks of just 13.6% and .150 last year, mostly at High-A. That’s exactly the type of development you want to see from a 21-year-old. However, he could still afford to hit more flyballs, as he posted just a 31.7% mark this season, which is going to cap his home run upside.

What I absolutely love here is his plate discipline metrics, combined with his batted ball profiles in the last two seasons. He has posted double digit walk rates everywhere he’s played and he significantly cut his strikeout rate to the mid-teens this year, nearly walking as often as he struck out. It was supported by a mid-single digit SwStk% as well. In regards to his batted ball profiles, he has posted an LD% of 27.8% this year and 25.1% last year, so he should be hitting for high BABIP marks, though that hasn’t manifested yet for whatever reason aside from at Single-A back in 2023 and 2024. So he displayed the extremely rare combination of elite contact ability and above average power. That’s really, really exciting.

Oh, and he steals bases too, because why not?! He swiped 31 this year after stealing 32 last year, so he could very well deliver a power/speed combo platter, while also performing as a very strong hitter in real baseball.

It’s anyone’s guess whether he’s truly ready to hit at the MLB level after skipping Triple-A, but this is as exciting a skill set as it gets, for both fantasy leaguers and Dodgers fan.

Scott Bandura | SFG OF

After the surprising news that Rafael Devers has been playing hurt and was placed on the IL, it looks like Bandura is the name that will get the first crack at replacing the former’s bat in the lineup, at least against right-handers.

The 25-year-old was ranked as just the 39th best prospect in the organization, so I would imagine his leash isn’t going to be very long. Perhaps he’ll already lose a strong side platoon role if after a pair of 0 for 4 games, but we’ll have to see.

At Triple-A this season, he showed excellent plate discipline, continuing his string of double digit walk rates, while reducing his strikeout rate and SwStk% marks to career bests. He also posted an elite batted ball distribution, heavy on line drives and light on pop-ups. As it should have, that batted ball profile led to an inflated BABIP, fueling a .318 batting average.

He posted an odd combination of Statcast power metrics, including a slightly above average HardHit%, a strong maxEV over 110 MPH, but just a 4.4% Barrel%. Perhaps all his hard hit balls were on the ground. But that combo led to a 10.4% HR/FB rate, which is a level he’s generally been at his entire career.

Most exciting though is his speed. He stole 34 bases this year after swiping 41 last year and has been successful at ridiculously high rates. This year he went 34 for 38 and last year he swiped his 41 bases in just 43 tries.

His outlook is wholly dependent on how real his strikeout rate improvement proves to be. If he could maintain a strikeout rate no higher than 20%, he won’t kill your batting average and could steal a bunch of bases by season’s end. If he struggles to make contact, he’s not going to finish the season with a starting job.

Emmanuel Rodriguez | MIN OF

Finally, he makes his long-awaited debut! Injuries have really marred his career and particularly delayed his recall this year. In fact, I was so excited to have nabbed him cheaply through FAAB in AL Tout Wars earlier this season, just to see him hit the IL almost immediately after. I eventually had to drop him since he was taking up precious roster space.

After Walker Jenkins was recalled at the end of August, I didn’t think Rodriguez would make it, let alone be treated as a starter. But it looks like he’ll move around in the outfield, push other names to the bench, and play nearly every day. As a lefty, we’ll see if he takes a seat against southpaws.

Rodriguez is an OBP league owner’s dream. He has posted crazy walk rates in the minors up above 20% and is coming off a 19.1% mark at Triple-A this year. Of course, he’s dealt with strikeout issues in the past as well, posting marks around 30%, though that was improved to 26.4% this season, which is less red flaggy. Normally, that would mean a massive value boost in OBP formats, but he has posted just as crazy BABIP marks, including over .400 in both 2025 and 2024. That high BABIP could prevent him from killing your batting average, though I would still guess that he’s going to see a pretty nice jump in value in OBP formats.

The power here is pretty exciting. He posted a near 50% HardHit%, an absolutely elite 118.3 maxEV and double digit Barrel% this season. He also pushed his FB% over 40%, taking full advantage of that power. It’s actually quite the wonder he managed such a strong BABIP with that batted ball profile!

He owns speed as well, swiping seven bases this year and 10 last year, so he’s yet another potential power/speed mix. He’s worth rostering in the vast majority of leagues given the upside of a hot final two weeks.

Anthony Volpe | NYY SS

He’s baaaaaaaaaack! After being demoted to Triple-A and recording 169 PA there, he is back up to replace an injured Jazz Chisholm Jr. Most of his demotion was thanks to a complete power outage. After posting an 11% HR/FB rate and .180 last year with the Yankees, his power disappeared this season, as he has posted just a 4.2% HR/FB rate and .093 ISO.

All of his Statcast metrics have faltered, while his BatSpd is down 1.1 MPH. His season started late as he recovered from shoulder surgery, so you have to wonder if that has sapped his power. It would certainly make sense.

Normally you would have to wonder if his power will ever recover. But on the surface, it did at Triple-A. He posted a 26.2% HR/FB rate and .297 ISO there with 11 home runs in just 169 PA. That’s a really good sign that his shoulder is feeling better. His HardHit% also surged to 49.1%, while his Barrel% jumped to 12.7%. But, I’d still advise caution because his maxEV reached just 107.2 MPH. It seems pretty hard to post such strong HardHit%, Barrel%, and HR/FB rates with such a weak maxEV. So I’m not yet confident his raw power has actually full returned.

That said, with both power and speed upside, and a starting job, he’s worth giving another chance. He’s still just 25 and a hot two weeks could include a touch of power with a bunch of steals.