From now on, teams that call prospects up to make their major league debuts no longer have to worry that those players will go to arbitration an extra time. It's now June and prospects that debut from this point on will not pick up more than 124 days of MLB service time this year. There's almost no chance that that would be enough for super two status after 2012. We all know when to expect Stephen Strasburg, but let's take a look around the majors and anticipate the arrivals of some more top prospects:
- Mike Stanton – You thought Jose Bautista had a lot of homers? Stanton hit his 19th and 20th of the season tonight at AA in front of Marlins president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest. The 20-year-old Stanton, ranked by Baseball America as the Marlins' best prospect this offseason, entered today's action with 39 walks and 50 strikeouts. Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun Sentinel says it may not be long before Stanton is playing in the majors.
- Carlos Santana – The 24-year-old catcher began the season as one of the best prospects in baseball and he has lived up to expectations so far in 2010. Santana has hit .315/.450/.565 at Triple A with ten homers and more strikeouts than walks. Lou Marson, who is actually younger than Santana, struggled early on for the Indians, but has impressed Indians manager Manny Acta lately. Still, Marson has a .216/.270/.276 line this season, so Santana appears to have more offensive potential.
- Pedro Alvarez – The Pirates, who have scored the second-fewest runs in the National League, might be tempted by the .261/.349/.511 line Alvarez has posted in Triple A. No Pirate has a slugging percentage as high as the one Alvarez has posted in the minors and just Ryan Doumit and Andrew McCutchen have been getting on base as much.
Stanton, Santana and Alvarez have played well, but they aren't the only ones who could arrive in the majors before long. Desmond Jennings, Jeremy Hellickson, Aroldis Chapman and Brett Wallace could conceivably get the call within a few weeks.
Stanton isn’t ready but will be rushed to majors and will struggle mightily. Just my guess
I’m pretty sure there was an article a while back in which somebody connected with the Marlins said they will keep him in the minors as long as he needs, and will not try to rush him.
Whether that is accurate, I don’t know.
Of course .307/.436/.722 might mean that they wouldn’t be rushing him.
I’m really excited for when Alvarez finally gets here, then I’ll finally know what it’s like to have a big power bat in the lineup. Other than Alvarez, I’m also really excited for when Jose Tabata and Brad Lincoln come up. Hopefully all of these guys will be finishing the year in Pittsburgh.
Throw Bryan Morris in there too. More upside than Lincoln IMO.
I don’t think Morris will make his major league debut this year. He has a very slim chance to be a September call-up, but I doubt it. Huntington was quoted a couple weeks ago as saying that if Morris pitches well at AA (after his recent promotion there) that he might see a promotion to AAA in August…I don’t think they would give him a month there and then call him up for the end of the season. Who knows, though?
What about Tanner Scheppers?
Reliever now?
Yeah he’ll be up, but is he really a “top prospect”?
Yes. In the way that, say, Bard was, not that Price was.
Yes. In the way that, say, Bard was, not that Price was.
He is going to be good. But he will be weeks away. The Rangers just started to stretch him out to use as a SP pitcher. But i think he would be better suited in the pen this year.
How about Chris Carter of the A’s? His BA is a disappointment but the power is there.
when is santana getting the call? the guy is killing, and i really want the dodgers to see what they gave up.
Me and you both. haha Padres fan here. 😉
I think he’d be lucky to break .250. The comparison I’ve heard given was that Stanton’s production would be similar to Travis Snider last year, .241, 9 HR, 32% K%. Though I think he will strike out more.
i want to see when santana is coming up because i want to take him in my fantasy baseball midseason draft, and i dont want to take a player who isnt in the majors yet.
Anyone know when we should see him in an indians uni?
Why not take a guy that isn’t in the majors yet if he could make an immediate impact when he does? Some of those guys have been the difference makers for my team. Last year I held Tommy Hanson from early May and this year I snagged Jason Heyward at the beginning of Spring Training before it was known that he would make the team. If you have a bench slot available, a guy like santana would be a better choice than the replacement part that you would be able to snag off of waivers instead.
you and me both. i wish i had posey but this guy will do. i’m waiting for the call so i can add him too.
If they don’t want to rush Stanton to the Majors why not at least move him up to Triple-A? Let him spend some time there and if he continues to hit like he has in AA then bring him up.
Ben, did you mean to say that Santana has more walks than strikeouts rather than the other way around?
I really doubt that we will see Chapman pitching for the Reds before next June. He has been really up and down (although last night was his best start to date) with his command and high pitch counts. The reds are not in dire need of a pitcher at this point and the reports have been good on Volquez. So unless that changes, the Reds have no reason to rush Chapman.
“Santana has hit .315/.450/.565 at Triple A with ten homers and more WALKS than STRIKEOUTS”, is what I think you meant to write.
“Santana has hit .315/.450/.565 at Triple A with ten homers and more WALKS than STRIKEOUTS”, is what I think you meant to write.
It is fun to follow highly touted youngsters who are tearing it up in the minors, however you can do more damage then good by rushing a player to the majors before they are ready. Many of these highly touted players that teams have paid monster signing bonuses to will be busts. It is more the norm then not. A youngster struggles to hit, or get batters out and they end up overmatched and overwhelmed.