Roto Riteup: August 7, 2013

Today’s Roto Riteup was written while the current author took a break from assembling a 1000-piece puzzle. Normally the author enjoys puzzles and finds them to be mentally stimulating, but in this case, the stupid puzzle has a stupid border around it, make all the edge pieces nearly identical in design.

On today’s agenda:
1. Tom Wilhelmsen stretching out in the minors
2. Domonic Brown returns
3. Minor Leaguers: Zimmer, Wong, Sano

Tom Wilhelmsen stretching out in the minors
A top-5 fantasy closer coming into the season, Wilhelmsen has been largely pedestrian and ineffective this year, and now the Mariners are trying to right his proverbial ship. Wilhelmsen started yesterday’s game for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, going two innings and giving up two dingers before he recorded a single out. Wilhelmsen also struck out four batters, so it’s not like his outing was a total loss, but it’s certainly not what the M’s brass was hoping to see. Wilhelmsen is being tried as a starter, but the added bonus is that the right-hander will get extended chances to figure things out without being pulled after only an inning of work at a time. I sincerely doubt Wilhelmsen makes it back to the majors as a member of Seattle’s rotation, but he’s still a salvageable late inning reliever.

Domonic Brown returns
After missing over a week on the concussion DL, Brown was back in action for the Phillies last night. Brown has mostly been the stud he projected to be a few years ago, and if he says he’s healthy enough to return, there’s no real reason to keep him on your bench.

Minor Leaguers: Zimmer, Wong, Sano
Once in awhile, players run through my head, and I decide I want to check in on them. It’s my honor to share these check-ins with you.

Kyle Zimmer, KCR
Since being promoted to AA, Zimmer has made two tremendous starts (that is, before yesterday’s scheduled appearance). Going a total of 12 innings, Zimmer has struck out 19 batters compared to a mere three walks, allowing no runs along the way. Zimmer is Kansas City’s best pitching prospect, and we should see him in a MLB uniform in 2014.

Kolten Wong, STL
After playing 100 games for the Cardinals’ AAA affiliate, Wong has a solid .298/.362/.453 batting line at the young age of 22. Wong is an advanced hitter who’ll walk without striking out, and he has power to the alleys. If not for Matt Carpenter’s brilliance and the Cardinals’ all around depth, Wong would be playing in the bigs by now. Wong is blocked unless the Cards want to try either him or Carpenter at short, and that doesn’t seem likely.

Miguel Sano, MIN
Since moving up to Double-A, Sano has shown his tremendous power, but he hasn’t been able to get his batting average up. Sano’s struggles come down to BABIP, since his ISO is still over .300 and his strikeout rate is virtually the same. Sano is perhaps the best power prospect in all of baseball, and while there’s a chance he makes it to the Twins in mid-to-late 2014, I think it’s more likely we see him make a true impact once 2015 rolls around.