Lonnie Chisenhall: Mining the Minors
Another top-notch prospect made his long-awaited debut this week. No point in keeping you from getting better acquainted.
Another top-notch prospect made his long-awaited debut this week. No point in keeping you from getting better acquainted.
This stretch of the season is often the toughest for owners. Most of the big breakouts have already happened (hello, Michael Pineda, Alex Avila and Matt Joyce), plenty of the bounceback candidates have proved they can still play (right, Lance Berkman, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett?) and many of the elite prospects have been called up (thanks, Eric Hosmer, Jordan Lyles and Dustin Ackley). That leaves owners who missed out on those players to seek help either via trade or by identifying — and adding — players who have underperformed so far. This late in the game, it’s a trickier decision-making process because all the options come with some ugly pock marks (hence, the underperforming and all), but there are always a few possibilities for second-half surges. Like these three American League outfielders.
One name that has come up often this year in the fanciful world of Prospectville is the Diamondbacks’ Paul Goldschmidt. He leads the minors with 22 home runs, in case you didn’t know. That sort of thing tends to get fantasy owners’ attention. As does Kevin Towers, the team’s GM, recently hinting that the D-backs may consider promoting a few of their minor leaguers in the weeks surrounding the All-Star Game. Seems like a good time to take a look at Goldschmidt and a few others in the system.
Alas, for the first time in almost two months, there are no really big names to cover this week. (Thanks for the break, front office folks.) As such, nobody below is likely to make an impact in mixed leagues. But there are still two new names — and a pair of old friends — worth looking at in single-league play.
Mariners top prospect Dustin Ackley will step into a major-league batter’s box for the first time when he faces off against Philadelphia’s Roy Oswalt just about 12 hours from now. You probably shouldn’t wait that long to pick him up.
There’s news of Dustin Ackley’s debut Friday. We’ll look at the 2009 No. 2 pick more in depth for tomorrow’s post. For now, let’s rewind and point out a handful of guys who were promoted in the past week, including one who just might be more valuable than Ackley.
Two weeks into June, it’s about time to update our rankings for American League outfielders. Again. Also in this installment? An apology to Melky Cabrera.
As Tom Petty once sang: the waiting sucks. (I may be paraphrasing.) So while anticipation is brimming over a prospect who will make his major league debut later today, alas, there was ungood news about another elite ‘spect who was also ready to help fantasy owners, until as Phil Collins once sang, something happened on the way to the big leagues. (Paraphrasing again.) Plus? A whopping kit and a heaping caboodle of other callups.
In this installment: Kyle McClellan‘s temporary rotation replacement and Jack Cust’s potential DH intruder.
This week’s edition covers one top prospect making his MLB debut and a pair of recalls who didn’t fare so well earlier this season. Plus? The usual batch of players who only apply to really deep leagues. In fantasy, no transaction is too small.