The Prospect Stock Watch: Olivares, Gatewood, Maples

This week’s prospect stock watch takes a look at an under-the-radar prospect in the Blue Jays system, a shortstop-turned-first baseman showing outstanding pop (and lots of swings and misses), and a long forgotten ($2.5 million) arm now making good in the bullpen.

Edward Olivares, OF, Blue Jays: It’s time to start talking about Olivares – who has been greatly overshadowed by teammates Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, two of the top prospects in the game. The lesser known prospect appeared in just 15 games in 2016 due to injury and has made up for lost time in ’17. He’s slugged 11 home runs (fourth in the league) with 14 doubles and eight triples. Olivares, 21, has also successfully stolen 14 bases in 19 tries and is well on his way to a 20-20 season in his first full year. The only real negative to his game so far is the 3.9% walk rate. Defensively, he can play all three outfield positions. Look for him to get a taste of high-A ball before the year is out.

Jake Gatewood, 1B, Brewers: Selected 41st overall out of high school in 2014, Gatewood struggled for a good portion of the previous three seasons. Something clicked at the beginning of 2017, though, as the now-21-year-old infielder shot out of gate with impressive numbers. After walking just 3.4% of the time in 2016, he’s up to 10.9% in ’17 and has actually hit for more power; he’s seen his line drive rate jump 5% to 24.4% and his Isolated Slugging rate is up .060 to .212. Now, there are some downsides to Gatewood’s game. Most notably, he’s still striking out at an alarming rate at 27.6%. And he’s also gone from playing shortstop to third base to first base. And at his new position he’s already made 11 errors in 54 games. There’s still lots of work to do with this former top draft pick but he has some enticing power in his right-handed bat.

Dillon Maples, RHP, Cubs: It’s nice to see Maples having some success. I ranked him as the Cubs’ fourth-best prospect back in 2012 after getting glowing comments from people within the Chicago organization (Not to mention he was given $2.5 million to forgo college where he would have played both baseball and football). However, injuries derailed his career from 2014-16 and he didn’t ascend out of A-ball into double-A until this year. Maples, now 25, has a crazy-heavy fastball and has a ground-ball rate up over 60%. Toss in a strikeout rate of more than 12 batters per nine innings and you have a dominant arm. His control needs some work but he has the power fastball/breaking ball combo to be a high-leverage reliever and could get his first taste of The Show in late 2017 or ’18.