Cristhian Adames & Trevor Story: Deep League Wire

In the wake up the Troy Tulowitzki trade, it’s an all-Rockies waiver wire edition this week. That’s because the speculation is that the newly acquired Jose Reyes won’t be spending very much time in Colorado and may very well be shipped right back out. The two names highlighted here could be manning shortstop the rest of the way. Or not, and remain worthless, if Reyes stays in Colorado.

Cristhian Adames | SS/3B COL | CBS 0% Owned

When Tulo was traded and the talk began that Reyes’ stay may not be very long, I initially thought that it was time for deep leaguers to pick up Trevor Story. Instead, it was Adames who got the call from Triple-A. Adames isn’t a highly-ranked prospect and his scouting grades from our own Kiley McDaniel are unimpressive. But he’s had a respectable season in the minors, combining a bit of pop with a touch of speed. In a full season, it could yield results close to 10 homers and steals. He has improved his strikeout rate, which now sits at the best mark of his minor league career, though he could afford to be a bit more patient at the plate and increase his walk rate.

Don’t mistake Adames for an intriguing young player with a whole lot of upside. He has been a rather poor basestealer throughout the minors, has posted ISO marks that generally hovered around .100 and isn’t supposed to be elite in the field. He’s most certainly not the long-term answer at shortstop. But if the Rockies do indeed flip Reyes, he appears to be an acceptable stopgap. And since he calls Coors Field home, then he immediately merits deep league fantasy consideration if the job falls into his lap.

Trevor Story | SS COL | 8% Owned

Story is the better long-term bet than Adames, but with just 93 plate appearances at Triple-A, he might not be ready for a promotion just yet. His scouting grades, though, are as unimpressive as Adames’, but his offensive performance has been a whole lot better. Though it hasn’t yet translated to Triple-A, he has always displayed excellent plate patience, walking over 10% of the time nearly every stop he’s played at. He has also hit for good power and has stolen over 20 bases the last two seasons.

Story’s biggest weakness is his strikeout rate. Except for his debut in the Rookie league back in 2011, his strikeout rate has sat above 22% everywhere he has played. That’s not so terrible when it comes with good power numbers, but he’s been so up and down that we can’t be sure what we’re going to get. His strikeout rate has been as high as 34.6%, which came just last year at Double-A. So far, he has shown improvement in that department at Triple-A this season, but remember, it’s come in a relatively small sample size of fewer than 100 plate appearances.

One would imagine that if Story continues to hit for the next couple of weeks and Reyes is dealt, that he’ll be up and take over the starting shortstop job the rest of the year. So he’s the better speculative pickup, but requires more to happen for him to earn any value.