The Stash List – Post All-Star Break Edition

Hey y’all!  This week’s Stash List should be a pretty good one.  I dug deep to find guys having great seasons that should be available on most waiver wires.  One guy is a forgotten guy in a recent trade with some power and speed.  One guy is destroying baseballs in A ball and then we have two southpaws putting up some crazy strikeout percentages.

Mason Martin (PIT A) 1B Age 20 ETA 2022

The Pirates picked up Mason Martin in the 17th round of the 2017 draft.  Martin has massive power. After being drafted, he was assigned to the Appy League.  In 127 at-bats, Martin swatted eleven dingers to go along with eight doubles. He picked up ten more in 2018 before being promoted to A ball.  So far this season, in 301 at-bats, he has 23 home runs to go along with 19 doubles. As with most power prospects, Martin has strikeout issues.  The lowest strikeout rate in his professional career was 24.7% and that was in his first taste of professional ball. Martin is a pretty patient hitter, and some might say passive, with double-digit walk rates.  Being a right-handed first baseman, Martin will need to continue to hit to make it to the majors. If you are willing to take the risk, Martin is a power guy to stash in your minor leagues.

Kevin Padlo (TB AA) 3B Age 22 ETA 2020

The guy who most people forget in the Corey Dickerson for Jake McGee trade is not German Marquez but Kevin Padlo. The Rockies drafted Padlo in the fifth round of the 2014 draft before shipping him to Tampa in 2016. Since coming to Tampa he has been very up and down.  His 2016 season he had a 0.229 AVG but a 0.358 OBP due to his 15.5 BB%. He also hit sixteen home runs and stole 14 bags. He missed a bunch of time in 2017 for an undisclosed injury and underperformed when he returned from the IL.  The Rays assigned him to A+, where he was repeating the level, and again he did not perform well.

His average never got above 0.230 and his walk rate fell to 10.5%, a career-low. With everything going well in the Rays farm system, he was forgotten in most Rays top prospect lists.  With the way Padlo has been performing this year, he needs to be on your radar. Even with the less than stellar performance in A+, the Rays assigned him to AA this year. In 65 games, Padlo’s elite walk rate as returned; it is 16.4% as of this post. The strikeout rate is still a bit high, 25.0%, but he was hit twelve home runs and also swiped 11 bags.  If you are looking for a corner bat with power and speed, Kevin Padlo is your guy and probably sitting on your waiver wire.

Joey Cantillo (SD A) LHP Age 19 ETA 2023

The Padres might have found a diamond in the rough with Joey Cantillo.  He was drafted in the 16th round in the 2017 draft. He made seven appearances in the AZL after being drafted.  The Padres assigned him the AZL in 2018 as well and in 45 innings he posted a 2.18 ERA with 58 strikeouts and only 12 walks.  The great performance led to a late-season call up to A ball to finish out the season. The Padres assigned him to A ball again, where he is in the rotation with some other interesting Padres pitchers, Ryan Weathers and Henry Henry.

Even though Weathers has the high pedigree, Cantillo is pitching much better than him. In 74 innings so far this year, Cantillo has racked up 97 strikeouts and walked only 21 batters. His SwStk% is nothing to sneeze at either, at 14%.  The southpaw sits in the low 90s with a pretty decent changeup. The Padres have the best system in the minors and Cantillo was far down on many Padres top prospects list. Jump ahead of your league mates and grab the lefty before he becomes too in demand. 

Damon Jones (PHI AA) LHP Age 24 ETA 2020

The Phillies took Damon Jones in the 18th round of the 2017 draft and was assigned to low A.  During his draft year, he threw 26 innings over 13 appearances, struck out 38 but also walked 20 batters.  He was assigned to A ball last year and performed pretty well. The strikeouts were there but so were the walks.  Jones is a big-bodied lefty (6’5” and 225lbs) and uses his extension to deceive batters. However, Jones as been out of this world this year and might be forcing the Phillies hand with a call up later this year.

In 58.1 innings in A+, Jones had a 1.54 ERA with 88 strikeouts and 24 walks. His SwStk% was at a career-high 16.6% before the promotion to AA in the middle of June. His AA debut but him on my radar. In six innings on June 16th against the Potomac Nationals, he struck out twelve and walked only one batter.  In both stops this year, Jones has strikeout rates over 38% but walk rates above 10%. If you are looking for some interesting pitchers to take a flyer on, look no further than Mr. Damon Jones.