Slapdick Prospects: Three Different Ones

Welcome to the inaugural and in all probability final episode of Slapdick Prospects, your source of all things Blake Snell might conceivably label “slapdick.” In the event this phrase means nothing to you in a 30-50 Feral Puigs kind of way, I refer you to the following brief PSA.

Blake Snell hearing about the trade while streaming live haha its a whole new world pic.twitter.com/5azmNuIshp

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) December 6, 2019

It’s only fitting that we begin the column with Xavier Edwards, but first, perhaps we should attempt to define slapdick. Ostensibly, this is a qualitative statement about a hitter’s ability – namely the trait we colloquially refer to as pop. Websters might come up with something like…

Slapdick Prospect: ˈslapˈdik ˈprä-ˌspekt – an individual, particularly a young, non-pitching baseball player, who possesses a flaccid bat

Edwards does indeed lack for power. He’s hit one lonely home run in 662 career plate appearances – all in the lower minors. McDongenhagen rate him as possessing 20/30-grade game power. You can read that as “currently terrible, future really bad.” They do allow for some degree of upside. His raw power is listed as 40/45-grade.

Usually when you see this sort of discrepancy, it means the athlete’s hitting mechanics will prevent him from hitting for any power. This is a common issue with speedsters. Edwards is perhaps the most promising speed-first prospect to appear in the minors in the last decade. Think of Dee Gordon but with plate discipline. Billy Hamilton with a better contact rate. In many ways, he’s the perfect leadoff man. His ability to work counts, avoid strikeouts, and flat-out fly could lead to a high OBP with old school baserunning prowess.

From a fantasy perspective, especially in this current era of extreme home run totals, rostering no-power players at any position is often a non-starter. I’ve linked my more disappointing performances in 2019 in part to an overreliance on Mallex Smith for steals. It’s possible a new era will roll around before Edwards is ready for the fantasy prime time. The Rays are also notorious for micro-managing playing time. They often slow-roll their prospects through the minors too.

With the Padres, there was an outside chance we’d see the 20-year-old make his debut this season. It’s even less likely with the Rays. Even so, it should be noted that Edwards has thrived at every minor league stop while playing as one of the youngest in the league. He might start 2020 with the Rays Double-A affiliate.

Another slapdick prospect was sent the other direction in the same trade. Jake Cronenworth appeared multiple times in Peripheral Prospects, the column I share with Alex Chamberlain designed to highlight underappreciated non-prospects. Cronenworth, despite a meager 35+ scouting grade assigned by McDongenhagen, managed a robust .334/.429/.520 batting line in 406 Triple-A plate appearances. His output was backed by quality bat control and plate discipline. He even popped a career best 10 home runs, although my live looks confirmed a classic slapdick approach at the plate.

The Padres have never been shy about using unusual and untouted players in the majors. They gave Ty France multiple opportunities to run with a job. Now Cronenworth joins France in a crowded battle for second base reps with Jurickson Profar and Ian Kinsler. If Cronenworth can eek out a regular role, his upside is something like a slightly lower contact David Fletcher but with 20 steal potential. That’s useful off a waiver wire in deep formats.

One might wonder, “who is the best slapdick prospect?” That’s an easy question to answer: Nick Madrigal. He’s a fringe Top 20 prospect despite 10 home run upside. He’s gone yard just four time in 644 career plate appearances. The former fourth overall pick is a Marco Scutaro throwback with 70-grade speed tacked on top. He almost never swings through a pitch, leading to nearly three times more walks than strikeouts in 214 upper-minors plate appearances.

Like Scutaro, there’s some sneaky pop lurking under the hood, but a high ground ball rate will likely put most of the pressure on his legs. In today’s game, we can never count out a player making a major adjustment to unlock latent talent. Madrigal seemingly has a surplus of contact to trade for additional power. Whether he has the physicality to truly access better game power is an open question. Madrigal is built like Jose Altuve, and we all know he has no problem accessing power. His hitting mechanics certainly have a vaguely Altuve-like feel to them – at least to my eyes.