Prospect Stock Watch: Szapucki, McKenzie, Mundell

Today at the Prospect Stock Watch we take a look at two young lower-level arms that could develop into impact arms for their respective clubs… and a little-known slugging first base prospect on a collision course with Colorado.

Thomas Szapucki | LHP | Mets
ETA: 2019
Value: Rising

The Mets have developed some impressive young arms in recent years and Szapucki is another interesting pitching prospect on the way. But Mets fans will have to be patient. The 20-year-old lefty has spent the entire year in short-season ball and likely won’t enter full-season ball until 2017. There are some red flags with his delivery, which leads to inconsistent control and command, but Szapucki can hit the mid-90s with his heater and shows a curveball with plus potential. He’s struck out 86 batters in 52 innings and has held hitters to a .145 batting average. Personally, I see the young lefty developing into a dominating reliever like Andrew Miller but the Mets will no doubt keep him in the starting rotation for the foreseeable future and hope his change-up comes along and that he can smooth out the delivery.

Triston McKenzie | RHP | Indians:
ETA: 2019
Value: Rising

It’s been a great year for the Cleveland Indians at the big league level. But they’ve also had some successes in the minors. One such success is McKenzie, a 2015 first rounder (42nd overall) that has begun to blossom in the lower levels of the system. After pitching just 12 innings in his 2015 debut season, the Indians were understandably cautious with the highly-projectable right-hander (6’5’ 170 pounds) and had him open 2016 in extended spring training. They assigned him to short-season A-ball in June. There, he struck out 55 batters and held hitters to a .180 average in 49.1 innings. That earned him a promotion to low-A where he’s made another three starts. He’s been hit a little harder but still has at least seven strikeouts in each of his appearances and has a BB-K of 1-26 in 18 innings. McKenzie, 19, will no doubt return to low-A in 2017 but he could quickly see high-A ball if he continues on this development path.

Brian Mundell | 1B | Rockies:
ETA: 2018
Value: Sleeper

Scouting and projecting first basemen (especially those that entered pro ball at the position rather than moved from from another position) can be challenging. No one saw former eight-round pick Paul Goldschmidt coming, for instance. I’m not about to suggest Mundell is the second coming of the Diamondbacks star but he deserves some attention based on his season. A 2015 seventh-round pick, he’s hit 15 more doubles in low-A ball than the next closest hitter (50 to 35). He’s also added 14 home runs, good for sixth in the league (tied with five others). Now, some caveats apply. The South Atlantic League is a good hitter’s league. Asheville is a good hitter’s home park. And Mundell is not exactly young for the league at 22. But he’s also shown some aptitude with the bat. The .319 average is solid, as is his approach — which has seen him strike out just 70 times in 474 at-bats (and walk 48 times). As he matures, some of those doubles should turn into home runs — especially if/when he reaches Colorado. The worst thing the Rockies could have done for Mundell’s development was leave him in low-A ball to dominate competition all year so hopefully they’ll jump him on a more aggressive track in 2017 if he continues to succeed.





Marc Hulet has been writing at FanGraphs since 2008. His work focuses on prospects and fantasy. Follow him on Twitter @marchulet.

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Corey2member
7 years ago

Why can’t you look at off the radar AA and AAA players who may actually enter someone’s fantasy radar for the 2016 or 2016 season instead of A ball guys who nobody should be stashing? These guys are all going to either flame out without ever being fantasy relevant or there will be something useful to write about them for fantasy purposes no earlier than this time next year. If you want to write deep minor league reports that’s fine, but it has no place in rotographs.

evo34
7 years ago
Reply to  Corey2

Ever hear of dynasty leagues?