Welcome back to this annual series that first began in 2008. While taking a look back at the 2019 minor league season, it will also help you prepare for the 2020 fantasy season and beyond. We began the series recently with the Arizona Diamondbacks, followed by the Colorado Rockies. Today, we continue on with the San Diego Padres, an organization brimming with good, young talent.

Best Move of the Season:

It wasn’t anywhere near the steal of Fernando Tatis Jr. from the White Sox but the addition of center-fielder Taylor Trammell in a three-way trade with Cleveland and Cincinnati was a very underrated move. Yes, the Padres gave up three players but southpaw Logan Allen is overrated, outfielder Franmil Reyes is a very one-dimensional player, and the third player, Victor Nova, is a raw lottery ticket. Trammell, meanwhile, was already considered a Top 100 prospect despite his struggles with the bat in 2019. He’s ultra-athletic with plus speed and the raw power to hit 20 or more home runs. Despite his struggles in 2019 and issues making consistent contact, Trammell walked 65 times in 123 games (13% walk rate). Acquiring him was a worthwhile gamble considering what was given up in exchange.

The Org Depth:

The Padres graduated Luis Urias in 2019 but there is still an incredible amount of middle-infield depth on the way.

C.J. Abrams: Abrams was one of the most talented and most athletic players in the 2019 draft but no one expected his bat to be quite as advanced as it was. He laid waste to the Arizona rookie league with a 1.104 OPS and .401 batting average in 32 games. Abrams also showed more pop in the bat with 23 of his 57 hits in Rookie ball going for extra bases. The speedy infielder also added 14 steals on his way to an early August promotion to Low-A ball — a nearly unprecedented move for an 18-year-old.

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Welcome back to this annual series that first began in 2008. While taking a look back at the 2019 minor league season, it will also help you prepare for the 2020 fantasy season and beyond. We began the series last week with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Today, we continue on with the Colorado Rockies, an organization that has some intriguing offensive players but continues to struggle to produce impact arms.

The Org Depth:

The Rockies’ system continues to see good infield depth even after the graduations of Ryan McMahon and Garrett Hampson in recent seasons.

Colton Welker, 3B: Welker dominated the lower levels of the minors with a career batting average of more than .330 after three pro seasons. He then hit a wall in Double-A. Welker missed over a month with an injury and never really looked healthy after his return. He’ll spend time in the Arizona Fall League and look to make up for lost time with an eye on jumping to Triple-A in 2020. To be an impact Major Leaguer, Welker needs to get stronger and continue to put more balls in the air. He also needs to be more selective with the pitches he’s swinging at.

Ryan Vilade, SS/3B: A more well-rounded player than Welker above, I’d put my money on Vilade eventually being the more valuable big leaguer. He’s not a speed-burner but the young infielder can run well and is becoming a smarter base runner. He’s also more selective at the plate and took 56 walks in 126 High-A ball games (just shy of a 10% walk rate) which bodes well for his future. He’s also getting stronger and hitting more balls in the air so a 20-homer season is a realistic goal.

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Welcome back to this annual series that first began in 2008. While taking a look back at the 2019 minor league season, it will also help you prepare for the 2020 fantasy season and beyond. Today, we kick off the 2019 series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a club that is quietly building an impressive minor league system.

The Best Move of the Season:

The development of Geraldo Perdomo allowed the Diamondbacks to flip the more highly-rated shortstop (and overrated), Jazz Chisholm, to Miami for rookie hurler Zac Gallen — which was a steal of a move no matter how you look at it. Perdomo is a much more polished hitter overall despite his inexperience. The switch-hitter doesn’t have nearly the raw power that Chisholm does but he’s exceptionally athletic and pretty much guaranteed to stick at shortstop while providing a good average, gap pop, an excellent BB-K (with above-average on-base skills) and double-digit steals. Gallen has always been underrated on the mound and I’ve been driving the bandwagon for a few years now and even undersold him a bit early on.

The Org Depth:

The Diamondbacks have skillfully built up a glut of athletic outfielders with high ceilings.

Alek Thomas: Thomas is at the head of the pack and should open 2020 in High-A ball with an eye on reaching Double-A in the second half and impacting the Majors in 2021. He’s a strong hitter who could flirt with a .300 average in the Majors and overall strong on-base skills after taking 52 walks in 112 minor leagues in 2019. On the downside, he’s not currently much of a power threat and, despite good speed, he doesn’t run much. Still, a .290 average with 15 home runs and 15 steals as a big-league center-fielder is a solid player. And he’s just 19 so there could more to come. A strong 2020 could help him reach the Majors in 2021.

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Hey y’all! The Arizona Fall League rosters were finally released this week, and they feature a bunch of interesting players. Two of the players I discuss today will be playing in the league this fall. If you have a chance to go to Arizona this fall, please consider doing so. You will see young, upcoming stars playing against one another. The league begins on September 18th and concludes on October 26th. All games begin at 12:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m and with the close proximity of the parks you can catch two games each day. The weather in Arizona this time of year is still warm but not overbearing and tickets are pretty cheap, especially with the type of talent on the field.

Today, I’m bringing you one slick-fielding shortstop whose bat is starting to play, one outfielder who has 80-grade speed, a right-handed control artist, and a southpaw with some strikeout upside.

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8/26/19

Originally uploaded the wrong file, that has been corrected as of 7:40 Central on 8/26

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It’s never too early to think about next year, right? Or, for that matter, three years from now.

With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at six players in short-season leagues that should be poised to jump to full-season ball in 2020. If that happens, it should put them squarely on your watch list in dynasty formats.

I don’t advocate adding too many low-level prospects to a fantasy team’s roster, even in a format like Ottoneu that has a 40-man roster, but one, maybe two, won’t hurt, especially if they project to be impact players like the players listed below.

Aaron Bracho, 2B, Indians: Cleveland continues to churn out excellent results from its international scouting department and 2017 was an especially good year. That market produced three players with impact potential in Brayan Rocchio, George Valera, and Bracho. That third player listed has shown an advanced approach with the bat after an injury kept him off the field in 2018. Bracho has an encouraging BB-K of 22-21 in 29 rookie ball games while showing above-average pop with six home runs and 10 doubles — accounting for more than 50% of his 31 hits. It’s extremely rare for 18-year-old prospects to show that kind of balance between power and plate discipline.

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Hey y’all! Can you believe it is almost the end of August and the end of the minor league season? I know I am not ready for the season to end. With the minor leagues almost finished for the year, I thought it would be fun to check out some recent draftees you might want to draft in your First Year Player Drafts. It is never too early to get a hit start on draft prep! Today, I’m bringing you two outfielders, one with speed and the other with power, and two pitchers who are performing well in their first taste of pro ball. 

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The 2016 draft was an interesting one and it has a chance to be a gold mine for 2020 fantasy baseball managers.

On first blush, it appears to be a rather weak offering with Mickey Moniak leading off the draft. But there’s some real depth here in the first round with very few hard misses. Those that might eventually find their ways into the miss column include Riley Pint, Corey Ray, Delvin Perez, Will Benson, Cole Ragans, Will Craig, and Blake Rutherford. But even then, some of those players could still punch their union card and carve out part-time roles in the Major Leagues.

A number of first-round picks have already made it to the Majors, including Dakota Hudson, Eric Lauer, Nick Senzel, Cal Quantrill, Will Smith, and A.J. Puk. And look at the list of players selected in later rounds that have already played in the Majors: Zac Gallen, Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac, Joey Lucchesi, Pete Alonso, Bryan Reynolds, Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and Tommy Edman.

There is a strong second wave coming. You’ve already seen some of the 2016 draftees make brief appearances in the Majors including Carter Kieboom, Nate Lowe, Jon Duplantier, Bryse Wilson, Nick Solak, Jake Fraley, and Dustin May. But let’s take a closer look at some of the other 2016 picks that could see significant playing time in 2020 that have yet to reach The Show:

Catchers

Sean Murphy, Athletics, AAA: Murphy would likely be in the Majors right now if most of his season had not been wiped out by trips to the disabled list. Just back in Triple-A after a brief rehab assignment in Rookie Ball, the young catcher went deep twice in his first game back in Triple-A — giving him an eye-popping eight home runs in his last five games (19 at-bats) at that level reaching back to July.

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The 2015 draft started off with a run on college players who have gone on the become solid big league contributors. Dansby Swanson and Alex Bregman were then followed by high school infielder Brendan Rodgers, who was selected third overall but has yet to establish himself in the Major Leagues. However, Rodgers has had a taste of big-league action as a member of the Rockies’ 40-man roster.

There many former high school picks from the 2015 draft that have yet to even make it onto a 40-man roster, let alone reach the Majors. And this fall will represent the deadline to add those prep players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft in December. Let’s take a look at a few names that could be added to teams’ 40-man rosters and also potentially help fantasy owners in 2020 and beyond.

Tyler Stephenson, C, Reds (AA): The Reds organization lacks a true starting catcher (apologies to Tucker Barnhart) but that could change when Stephenson reaches The Show. He was selected 11th overall in 2015 but, as is often the case, the high school catcher’s development has been a slow one. Stephenson has yet to tap into his raw power potential but he’s posted three straight seasons of offensive results surpassing the league average. Even without the home-run results to show for it, he’s getting stronger and has hit a lot more line drives over the past two seasons. The young catcher also has posted three straight seasons with walk rates above 10%. Along with the patient approach, he shows a good eye and has struck out just 55 times (17% K-rate) in 79 games this year. Stephenson is a tall catcher so it’s taken time for him to show improvements on defense but he has a very strong arm and has used it to throw out 28% of base runners so far this year. There are few concerns about his ability to stick at catcher and be able to play every day.

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Hey y’all. There are only about two more weeks left in the minor league season. There have been some interesting call-ups including Stash List alum Dylan Carlson and Sean Hjelle. This week I am bringing you some power-hitting middle infielder, a young outfielder destroying the DSL, an advanced college pitcher with an uptick in velocity, and a pitcher that should be knocking at the door of the bigs early next year.

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