With roster expansion coming, let’s discuss some minor league hitters who might be up for a cup of coffee over the final month of the season. To make things easier, I filtered for hitters who have posted an aggregate .400+ wOBA across whatever minor league levels they played at this year, while also currently playing at Triple-A. For deep or keeper leaguers, perhaps you speculate on some of these names, acquiring them cheap before their callup when it might take more to roster them.
I love weeks like this, when the Rockies play a full seven game homestand at Coors Field. They are set to face the Marlins for four games, followed by the Orioles for three. Why am I so obsessed with taking advantage of long Coors Field homestands? Because it’s the most hitter friendly park in baseball!
Let’s continue diving into some recent prospect call-ups to determine whether any deserve to join your fantasy squad. In addition to three prospect names, I included a bonus in light of the Austin Riley injury.
Although rosters haven’t expanded just yet, we’ve already seen a flurry of prospect callups over the last couple of weeks. Let’s dive into four of those names.
A couple of weeks ago, Jorge Mateo landed on the IL with an elbow injury. Though not a regular, he started at second base every so often. Then, last Wednesday, Jordan Westburg, the former prospect in the midst of a mini breakout, fractured his hand when it was hit by a fastball while batting. No problem thought the Orioles, we’ll just recall two more top prospects!
Note: I’m not sure just a couple of days after the trade deadline will be the best snapshot of lineups. I’m sure there can be some advantages gained by going over them this weekend.
Here is my best estimate on which hitters gained or lost fantasy value because of trades. Over the next few days, I’ll note any changes at the end as news comes on how teams plan to utilize each player. Also, several teams are going to need to promote some players to fill their roster.
Note 1: This ranking is by how much a player’s value changed, not the best players. Randy Arozarena and Jazz Chisholm Jr. are the top two talents, but since both were already regulars hitting near the top of lineups, their fantasy value after the trade didn’t change much.
Note 2: All these trades and roster moves happen in the last few hours and days. I’m sure some batters will play more or less than I predict. My goal here is for a quick look.
Major Upgrade
Miguel Vargas: Goes from a short-side platoon role to a top-of-the-order bat.
Austin Hays: Goes from a short side-platoon bat to what seems a full-time gig with the Phillies. Check back after a week on the playing time situation to ensure he’s not in a platoon.
Jonny DeLuca: Three starts (one vs LHP) since the Arozarena trade.
Dillon Dingler: Detroit called up Dingler to catcher with the trade of Kelly. Batting .308/.379/.559 with 17 HR and 5 SB in AAA.
Alex Call and Harold Ramírez: Both from zero contributions to regulars. Keep an eye on Call. He might end up in a platoon.
Marco Luciano: Sounds like the Giants are going to give me full-time at-bats as note here (7/31 update):
The Giants recalled Luciano, who hit six home runs and has a .416 on-base percentage for Triple-A Sacramento in July while drawing as many walks as strikeouts. Zaidi and Melvin made it clear that Luciano will get everyday at-bats and most of those opportunities will come in Soler’s place as the DH.
Kyle Stowers: Batting third in his first game with the Marlins (7/31 update).
Upgrade
Joey Loperfido: Should get most of the DH at-bats in Toronto but might not hit enough to stay in the majors.
Jazz Chisholm Jr.: Better park and surrounding cast with the Yankees.
Amed Rosario: Rosario’s value will drop going to the Dodgers but he has a huge range of outcomes based on his usage. The team needs middle infielders and outfielders and he could fill in at any position. He’ll start as the team’s shortstop until Edman and/or Betts come off the IL.
Rays infield includingTaylor Walls, José Caballero, Curtis Mead, and Junior Caminero: After trading away Paredes, the third base job opened up. Knowing the Rays, it won’t be one player getting all the playing time but spread around.
Alejandro Kirk: With Jansen gone, he’ll get most of the catcher reps.
Marlins Outfielders: Nick Gordon and Cowser got the first starts. Dane Myers is an option when he comes off the IL (update 7/31)
Slight Upgrade
Heston Kjerstad: More playing time but still splitting time with the other outfielders.
Jorge Soler: Better ballpark. Maybe a better lineup.
Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan: With Edman gone, both should see more time at second base. I’m not sure they will play enough to be rosterable in any league except NL-only.
Neutral/Unknown
Josh Bell: Might be taking over for Walker (oblique) at first base.
Ty France: On on the Reds with no obvious roster spot.
Joey Wiemer While all played in the majors, there are no obvious roles for them right now. I could see Norby and Stowers move up as plans come out of Miami.
Kevin Kiermaier: A part-time player moving on to be a part-time player on another team.
Mark Canha: With Soler traded away, Canha will get the DH at-bats and might cycle them with the other outfielders.
Austin Slater: Weak-side platoon bat with a career 122 OPS against lefties and 84 OPS against righties. Could slide into Austin Hays’s previous role.
Dylan Carlson: A short-side platoon bat with the Cardinals and remains in the same role with the Rays.
Sight Downgrade
Danny Jansen: He seems to have moved from being the primary catcher to the backup (7/31 update)
Isiah Kiner-Falefa: Looks to be a super sub. When healthy with the Blue Jays, he was playing every game. He might not with the Pirates.
Jesse Winker: I don’t think Winker will get more plate appearances with the Mets than with the Nationals and he will almost certainly run less as the Mets have nearly half (76) as many SBs as the Nats (147).
Isaac Paredes: Park downgrades his pulled home runs.
Paul DeJong: In my first take, I might have been too harsh on DeJong calling him Royals’ luggage boy. He seems like he’ll be playing more than I expected (7/31 update).
Christopher Morel: I suspect he’ll sit more as the Rays take advantage of matchups.
Tommy Edman: The Cards seemed to love Edman and had no problems batting him at the top of the lineup. With the Dodgers, I’m not sure how much he’ll play with the Rosario add, a hot Gavin Lux, and Mookie Betts returning.
Alex Verdugo: He might sit against lefties (career 113 OPS vs RHP, 79 OPS vs LHP) with Chisholm playing in the outfield.
Johan Rojas: Will be splitting time in center field with Brandon Marsh. I might be ranking him too high.
Carson Kelly: Goes from full-time at-bats with Detroit to the backup job with Texas.
Eloy Jiménez: Huge team improvement but Orioles are loaded with hitters so I don’t think he’ll play much. Originally, I didn’t take into account how much of a playing time hit it will be for him (7/31 update).
Mitch Haniger: Fewer DH at-bats and Arozarena will steal outfield starts. Might belong in Down Hard.
Michael Siani and Tommy Pham: The pair will split time in the outfield, killing their values.
Gosh, I love trade deadline time as it’s always fun to see if any players switch to new teams and home parks that might dramatically affect their results. Like a hitter departing T-Mobile Park, the Mariners home, for Coors Field to join the Rockies. Or vice versa. Of course, with only about two more months of games left to play, small sample size randomness is likely going to overshadow any effects a change in park might have. That said, it’s still worth reviewing the factors for team switchers, as it could affect rest of season projections.
Note: I know that the information here could be dated the minute it gets published because of a trade. This will be one weekend to track the news and overreact to weekend lineups.
