Archive for Prospects

Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: Houston Astros

The Graduate: Carlos Correa, SS: The Astros recently traded another first overall pick (Mark Appel to the Phillies for young closer Ken Giles) but you won’t see them flipping Correa any time soon. The 21-year-old shortstop was an offensive force for the surprisingly-successful Astros in 2015. He was worth more than three wins for the club and slugged 22 home runs and adding 14 steals. He also showed an advanced approach at the plate and promise in the field.

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Yesterday included one of my favorite activities of the offseason – the Rule 5 draft. If you’re not familiar with it, the Rule 5 draft is when teams have a chance to select players from rival franchises. Here are the main rules:

• Any player on the 40-man roster is protected
• Players signed at age 19 or older are protected for four seasons
• Players signed at age 18 or older are protected for five seasons

If none of those conditions apply to a player, then he may be selected in the draft. Draft picks cost $50K and the drafting team must keep a player on the major league roster for the entire season in order to retain him. Injured players must spend at least 90 active days on the roster.

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: San Francisco GiantsThe Graduate: Matt Duffy, IF: Duffy’s amazing rookie season came out of nowhere. Considered a solid. professional hitter, he nonetheless lacked the standout tools that makes scouts drool and analysts run to their databases. He was a former 18th round draft pick who signed for just $50,000 in an age of multi-million-dollar deals being lavished upon 16 and 17 year olds. Give major kudos to Duffy for tirelessly working on his overall game and becoming a threat on both sides of the ball. Add in the fact that he’s produced almost 5 WAR for league minimum and you have a really winner here for the Giants and fans alike.

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: Los Angeles Angels

The Graduate: Carlos Perez, C: A former Blue Jays and Astros prospect, Perez landed in LA for his rookie season and performed well — although hardly spectacular. He’s become a more aggressive hitter than he was early in his career and he doesn’t posses anything more than gap power. His strongest value comes from his defence and ability to control the running game (He threw out more than 30% of base runners in ’15), which doesn’t help at all in fantasy baseball. He’ll split playing time during the 2016 season with import Geovany Soto.

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: Los Angeles Dodgers

The Graduate: Joc Pederson, OF: The 23-year-old outfielder broke into the veteran outfield in 2015 and had an outstanding first half of the year. He came back down to earth in the second half but still had a respectable overall season. The youngster hit 26 home runs and played good outfield defence. His batting average was just .210 and he struck out almost 30 percent of the time so there are improvements to make — including improvement against same-handed pitching (and in his home stadium). Pederson stolen just four bases in 2015 but has 20-30 potential so there is more fantasy value in there.

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Thirty-year old Chris Coghlan just had his best season of his career. He’s only surpassed 500 plate appearances twice in his seven-year career, and as a guy without a standout tool and some established platoon issues, he obviously owns a substantial ‘bust rate.’ As in, he could be unusable next year, even though he was worth $6 in mixed leagues this past season.

And so, even though we liked some boring veterans at third base, it’s time to take inspiration in another direction — where’s the line, when you should bypass the veteran for the unproven prospect? Is it right around a guy like Chris Coghlan?

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: Texas Rangers

The Graduate: Delino DeShields Jr., OF: I definitely raised an eyebrow when the Astros left DeShields Jr. vulnerable to the 2014 Rule 5 draft. Selected by the Rangers, he had a solid rookie season and was a key contributor to a club that narrowly edged Houston for the American League West title. And the Astros certainly could have used the young speedster after injuries to the likes of George Springer and Jed Lowrie. The infielder-turned-outfielder played 121 games and stole 25 bases but he’ll need to continue to work on his defence in the outfield to become more than a league-average contributor.

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Welcome to the annual series: ‘A Minor (League) Review of 2015.” This series is a great way to receive a quick recap of the ’15 minor league season for your favorite club(s), while also receiving a brief look toward the 2016 season and beyond. It can also be a handy feature for fantasy baseball players in keeper and Dynasty leagues.

A Minor Review of 2015: San Diego Padres

The Graduate: Austin Hedges, C: This young catcher parlayed defensive acumen into a second round selection in the 2011 draft. His defence continued to be ahead of his offence while ascending through the minors and it completely took a backseat during his MLB debut in 2015. With offensive-minded Derek Norris also on hand in San Diego, Hedges will likely be relegated to a back-up role — or more time in Triple-A to try and find at least a little more authority in his swing.

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Just prior to last year’s holiday season I wrote a piece for FanGraphs+ that ranked the Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015 by position. Because it’s in the middle of the offseason, it’s often an exercise in futility to properly project playing time for rookies — especially considering the large number of free agent signings and trades that have yet to take place. It’s quite fun, nonetheless, and still serves as a good starting point for understanding who might be turn into a unexpectedly valuable fantasy player for the coming year.

And with every preview, must come a review. With the regular season now behind us, I present to you a review of the projected Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015. I’ve already written about the catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, outfielders, right-handed starters and left-handed starters. Today we round out the series with a review of the relievers.

Actual Wins Above Replacement (WAR) Results
2.3 — Trevor May, Twins
2.1 — Carson Smith, Mariners
2.0 — Ken Giles, Phillies
1.8 — Alex Colome, Rays
1.5 — Keone Kela, Rangers
1.3 — Roberto Osuna, Blue Jays

Marc’s Top 3
Aaron Sanchez, Blue Jays
Cam Bedrosian, Angels
Corey Knebel, Rangers

Collectively speaking, I didn’t expect rookie relievers to play a big role in the 2015 season but MLB managers have become more and more confident in handing the ball the hard-throwing youngsters in key situations.

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Just prior to last year’s holiday season I wrote a piece for FanGraphs+ that ranked the Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015 by position. Because it’s in the middle of the offseason, it’s often an exercise in futility to properly project playing time for rookies — especially considering the large number of free agent signings and trades that have yet to take place. It’s quite fun, nonetheless, and still serves as a good starting point for understanding who might be turn into a unexpectedly valuable fantasy player for the coming year.

And with every preview, must come a review. With the regular season now behind us, I present to you a review of the projected Top 50 Fantasy Prospects for 2015. I’ve already written about the catchers, first basemen, second basemen, third basemen, shortstops, outfielders and right-handed starters. Today is the review of the left-handed starters.

Actual Wins Above Replacement (WAR) Results
2.1 — Robbie Ray, D-Backs
2.1 — Carlos Rodon, White Sox
1.7 — Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox
1.6 — Andrew Heaney, Angels

Marc’s Top 6
Andrew Heaney, Angels
Marco Gonzales, Cardinals
Julio Urias, Dodgers
Henry Owens, Red Sox
Carlos Rodon, White Sox
Daniel Norris, Blue Jays

Honorable Mentions
Brandon Finnegan, Royals
Eduardo Rodriguez, Red Sox
Manny Banuelos, Braves
Justin Nicolino, Marlins
Robbie Ray, Tigers

The 2015 season saw some impressive southpaw prospects solidify themselves into true big league performers. Ray and Rodon were the Top 2 arms despite taking very different paths to The Show. A 12th round selection back in 2010, the former need five years of seasoning before making 23 starts at the big league level in ’15. He didn’t show wipeout stuff but he held his own in a difficult home park and definitely has the makings of an innings-eating No. 4 starter.

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