Let’s Talk 8 Recent Hitter Callups

We’re only a week away from the trade deadline, which means a ton of movement is going to occur in the days leading up to and after that day. But that doesn’t mean teams haven’t already been busy recalling minor leaguers over the last couple of weeks and handing them starting jobs. So let’s discuss eight such recalls.

Lucas Spence | HOU OF

Spence was recalled on Jul 17 and started every game in center field, except for yesterday’s. The Astros have gone through a number of center fielders and Spence is merely the latest name, despite not even making our top 30 Astros prospect list.

The 23-year-old only recorded 67 PA at the Triple-A level and didn’t even hit well there, so it tells you how desperate the team was to throw everything against the wall, hoping something sticks. Before his promotion to Double-A, he posted a 115 wRC+, with a touch of power and 10 steals. Over 600 PA, he was pacing for around 12 home runs and 30 steals, which is a pretty good fantasy player.

However, over a small Triple-A sample, his strikeout rate skyrocketed over 30% thanks to a SwStr% spike, and he posted just a .299 xwOBA. With limited power and a potential strikeout rate problem that will cap his stolen base opportunities, I would be surprised if he lasted very long as a starter. For now, he’s merely an injury stopgap for AL-Only leaguers, but you should constantly be on the lookout for something better.

Tommy White | ATH 3B

When White was recalled, the reaction made it seem like he was a top prospect, and he was even picked up in my shallow 12-team league. So I was surprised to see he was ranked just 18th in the organization, making me question why fantasy owners would be excited here.

He spent most of the year at Triple-A and has shown an interesting skillset for a corner infielder. He doesn’t walk very often, but he also rarely strikes out, and has done so at a lower rate than you might expect given his good, but not elite, SwStr%. That suggests that he’s a free swinger, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s going to make him significantly more valuable in batting average leagues than OBP formats.

In the minors, he’s been a line drive hitter with a low FB%, which is the type of profile that typically results in a high BABIP and limited power. His BABIP has actually been up and down through the years, but he’s coming off a .326 mark between Double-A and Triple-A this year. He’s also only posted an ISO over .200 once, and it was at High-A last year.

His power is…odd. He posted a 43% HardHit% at Triple-A, which is solid enough, along with a 112 MPH maxEV, which is above average. Yet, he also posted just a 6% Barrel%, which you don’t normally see paired with those first two Statcast values. That Barrel% is definitely being weighed down by his low FB%, which caps his home run potential. That’s not great since he also owns no speed.

He posted a .367 wOBA at Triple-A, which sounds pretty good, but his xwOBA was just .310, and that’s not pretty good. The projections see a .300 wOBA at best, with low teen home power, barely any speed, and a poor batting average. Obviously, his home park is a positive and he might get an extended look. But I don’t see any value here aside from playing time driven counting stats in an AL-Only league.

Luis Lara | MIL OF

The Brewers’ 12th best prospect was recalled earlier this month and has received inconsistent playing time so far, though has now started three straight games. He spent all season at Triple-A, making it a lot easier to evaluate his season.

What is already intriguing here is that he walked more than he struck out! That’s exceedingly rare in an era where strikeouts are accepted if it also comes with power. Not only has he walked more than he struck out, but he has walked a lot, posted mid-teen walk rates in both Double-A last year and Triple-A this season, while striking out at a similar mid-teen rate, supported by a mid-single digit SwStr%.

His batted ball profile leans toward grounders and line drives, which you would expect from a guy whose scouting grades are heavily weighted toward speed and not power. His BABIP hasn’t always reflected the batted ball profile though, but he did just post a .359 mark this year.

His power has never been a strong suit, but his HR/FB rate surged to 13% after never exceeding 4.3%, while his ISO jumped above .090 for the first time, nearly doubling his mark last year. His HardHit% and maxEV are around league average, which is probably quite an improvement from previous years if he had the data (I’m just guessing). However, his Barrel% sat at just 2.9%, so I’m still not buying the double digit HR/FB rate.

He’s been a big basestealer in the minors, stealing as many as 45 bases in 2024, and swiping 24 this year before his recall. So you’re buying the speed and any home runs are just a bonus.

Remember how I doubted his supposed power breakout? Well, it looks like Statcast bears that out. He posted an excellent .408 wOBA at Triple-A this year, but just a .316 xwOBA, which is a massive differential. Perhaps it wasn’t buying his .359 BABIP either.

Statcast doubts aside, I like this skill set and would be particularly aggressive in OBP formats given the walk rate potential.

Tyler Locklear | ARI 1B

After a pair of disappointing cups of coffee in 2024 and 2025, Locklear is back once again, getting the call-up on July 17. And then it took until his third game with the team to actually earn a start. Since, he can barely be called the starter, as the right-hander has only started five of the team’s last eight games and two of those missed starts came against southpaws, which is weird. The Diamondbacks have sometimes opted to give Ildemaro Vargas starts at first base, despite a 91 wRC+ since April 1, which is quite head-scratching.

Back to Locklear, he continues to show pretty interesting skills at Triple-A, where he just spent his third season. He has shown good plate discipline, with a double digit walk rate and high teen strikeout rate, driven by a single digit SwStr%. He also recorded an elite LD%, though that has resulted in a low FB%, capping his power. He has posted above average Statcast rates, leading to a 19.5% HR/FB rate.

He has shown some speed in the past and stole four bases this year. A full season pace could yield 20 home runs and 10 steals, which is plenty valuable to deep leaguers. Of course, he’s never going to reach that pace if he doesn’t start and it’s anyone’s guess when he’s going to be in the starting lineup. Note that like Lara, his Triple-A xwOBA was significantly below his actual mark, but not as weak as the Lara’s.

Brady House | WAS 3B

Guess who’s back, back again? After the Nationals turned surprise breakout Curtis Mead into one of the former top pitching prospects in baseball, the team recalled House to regain his old job back. While strikeouts have been a bit of an issue during his time in the Majors, his power surged this year, as his Barrel% jumped into double digits.

In the minors this year, he showed similar skills, though became a line drive machine, reducing his FB% and propping up his BABIP. He has now posted elite LD% marks during all of his Triple-A stints, so perhaps he has some BABIP upside to his career .299 mark. He could certainly use a high BABIP to offset his low walk rate.

The power here could be well above average, but a relatively low FB% is hampering his home run total. So you end up with a guy with neutral batting average potential, a touch of speed, and good, but not great power. That makes him worth a look if you’re desperate for a corner guy in shallow leagues. But also remember that the Nationals could be on the verge of dismantling, which could take a bite out of his supporting cast’s ability to lift his RBI and runs scored potential.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand | BAL 1B

I have been a fan of Encarnacion-Strand in the past and strongly considered preemptively picking him up weeks ago in AL Tout Wars. However, I was scared off by the fact that he simply wasn’t dominating Triple-A after all these seasons of hitting there and it would take a lot for him to be vaulted to a starting job in Baltimore.

Well, sure enough, injuries have vaulted him and he’s dominated the Majors so far, driven by three home runs in just 26 PA. At Triple-A, he exhibited awful plate discipline with just a 4.7% walk rate and a 30.6% strikeout rate with a high SwStr%. The power was there as usual and benefited from a 41.7% FB%, but a .338 xwOBA just wasn’t getting me excited at all.

His hot streak has most definitely gotten him picked up in the majority of leagues and given his power, he always had the potential to enjoy a hot week or two with a bunch of home runs. With all the Orioles injuries, and Coby Mayo failing to run away with a starting job, Encarnacion-Strand does have a chance to deliver some homers over the rest of the way. I’ve just lost a bit of my previous bullishness.

Alan Roden | MIN OF

Roden is another name I considered weeks ago as a Tout Wars stash candidate, but didn’t follow through because I didn’t believe the upside to him actually being recalled was high enough to bother. I also figured Matt Wallner (who I own) would get the call to return before Roden, but alas, I was wrong.

The former top prospect clearly isn’t seen as a starter, at least not anymore. After not starting in his first game after being recalled, he started in six straight. Since then, he has started in just three of the Twins’ last nine games. One of those starts came against a lefty, which is weird considering Roden is a lefty. So he’s not even being strictly platooned when he does get a start.

At Triple-A this year, he showed his typical elite plate discipline, walking and striking out at similar mid-teen rates. He also recorded the highest HR/FB rate of his career at 18.6%, though that came in just 151 PA. That sat, it was somewhat supported by his Statcast metrics, as his HardHit% jumped to a career best 48%, while his Barrel% also spiked to a career best 8%. I wouldn’t say the Barrel% justifies a high teen HR/FB rate, but it’s significantly higher than what he’s posted in the past, and is leaps and bounds better than the measly 2% mark he posted in the Majors last year.

If Roden is no longer a zero in power, that’s a big plus because he hasn’t been much of a basestealer recently and the projections don’t think he’ll be a big batting average contributor. He gains significant value in OBP formats, though, which is why I considered him in Tout Wars to begin with.

Like Locklear above, Roden obviously isn’t going to earn much value if he doesn’t play. But even if he does, he’s only really a consideration if you play in an OBP league.

Spencer Jones | NYY OF

Welcome back to another name, one whose future potential is certainly the most debatable of all the names in this article. With 70/80 Raw Power and 60/60 Speed grades, he seems like a potential fantasy owner’s dream. With Cody Bellinger hitting the IL, Jones is getting another opportunity to show off that power and figures to start as a strong-side platoon bat once again.

Let’s start with the elephant in the room, and the cause of the uncertainty about his future. Right now, he looks like the next Joey Gallo, which isn’t so terrible, as Gallo did enjoy some strong offensive campaigns. Jones has posted a strikeout rate of at least 30% everywhere he has played since 2024, with SwStr% marks of at least 18%. So just making contact has been a major struggle, and obviously a hitter can’t succeed if he rarely puts the ball in play.

But man, that power. He posted a 30.6% HR/FB rate in 2025 and a 28% mark this, both at Triple-A, while his HardHit% was between 54% and 55% both season. His maxEV jumped to an elite 117.4 MPH this year, while his Barrel% increased from an already elite 17.6% to a crazy 25.6%.

What makes me somewhat excited and willing to look past the strikeouts is that he has always posted inflated BABIP marks. A high BABIP is one way to avoid a sub-.200 batting average and weak OBP from all the strikeouts.

He steals bases too! He stole 29 between Double-A and Triple-A last year and already swiped 10 at Triple-A this year.

It’s been 86 PA so far in the Majors and things haven’t gone well. He has struck out at a 40.7% clip and only hit two home runs, while recording a shockingly low 2.4% Barrel%. But because of the double digit walk rate and high BABIP, he managed to post a 92 wRC+, which ain’t great, but not as disastrous as you might assume given the strikeouts and lack of power.

I’m really excited to see what he could do over an extended period of time, but getting platooned is really going to cut into his value and make it tough for a weekly transaction leaguer to start him in a shallower format. He’s a much better bet in OBP formats given the walk rate.