Rejoice! The offseason is officially behind us. Pitchers and catchers who are involved in the World Baseball Classic report today. The rest report on either 2/15 or 2/16. Fresh prospect news should start to trickle in soon. The WBC will give us additional opportunities to see prospects in competitive action. Not only do some top prospects participate in the contest, the outflow of players to international games means there are more opportunities for game reps in big league camps.
Five BHPs In The News
Jordan Walker, 20, 3B/OF, STL (AA)
(AA) 536 PA, 19 HR, 22 SB, .306/.388/.510
One of the most dynamic prospects in the league with a penchant for barreling the ball, Walker is in the process of converting to outfield in deference to Nolan Arenado. As we covered recently, the Cardinals don’t exactly have an opening in the outfield either. Walker also doesn’t have a spot on the 40-man roster yet, further complicating his path to the Majors. While fans are undoubtedly clamoring to see him early this season, a successful stint at Triple-A will almost certainly be required to force the issue.
If there’s any caveat about Walker, and this is nitpicking, it’s an elevated ground ball rate. Since he has special power, Walker could very well tap into an elite HR/FB rate like Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton to overcome a few extra bouncers. He’s expected to post above average BABIPs on account of the angle and quality of his contact.
Miguel Vargas, 23, 2B/3B, LAD (MLB)
(AAA) 520 PA, 17 HR, 16 SB, .304/.404/.511
Another third baseman by trade set to shift positions, the Dodgers have announced Vargas will man the keystone. The less fleet-footed Max Muncy will play third base. This is a conversion that usually works out for reasonably athletic young players like Vargas. The athletic requirements for the two positions are similar. Third basemen generally need more arm strength. Second basemen should have sharper footwork. Vargas projects as a roughly league average third baseman, and that likely holds true at second base too.
An evaluator I consulted doesn’t believe Vargas is a future star, though he does appear to be a high-probability core performer. While they’re not particularly comparable, these are the same sorts of comments I received about Jake Cronenworth prior to his debut in San Diego. There are some feel-based aspects to Vargas’ game that could allow him to exceed his physical limitations.
DL Hall, 24, SP, BAL (MLB)
(AAA) 76.2 IP, 14.67 K/9, 5.75 BB/9, 4.70 ERA
Hall posted the largest workload of his professional career last season. He tossed 98 innings in total across four levels including a brief debut in the Orioles bullpen. He’ll be offered an opportunity to compete for one of two open rotation slots in Baltimore. Hall’s stuff is filthy, and he works deep counts seeking strikeouts. He’s also prone to walks. His errant command shouldn’t be viewed as a permanent characteristic just yet. Like many pitching prospects, Hall has struggled with injuries throughout his ascent. Further setbacks could force a bullpen role – as we’ve seen happen with A.J. Puk. Conversely, a healthy stint might be the ticket for unlocking just enough command to carry his superb stuff as a short-burst starter. Notably, Hall’s stuff did not play up out of the bullpen.
Sal Frelick, 22, OF, MIL (AAA)
(A+/AA/AAA) 562 PA, 11 HR, 24 SB, .331/.403/.480
The Brewers could graduate a fresh outfield of the future this season. Roster realities, an uphill battle in the NL Central, and pricey left fielder Christian Yelich will complicate the juggling act ahead for General Manager Matt Arnold. None of Frelick, Joey Wiemer, or Jackson Chourio are yet on the 40-man roster.
Frelick is a prototypical leadoff hitter with above average discipline, speed, and feel for quality contact. His power rates as below average, though it remains possible he’ll make adjustments to unlock decent pop. Presently, there are doubts Frelick will stick in center field. He’s sufficiently athletic but has iffy instincts. Some players overcome this shortcoming. Others do not. His path forward as a left fielder is more fraught – both due to the presence of Yelich and his lack of impactful power.
Joey Wiemer, 24, OF, MIL (AAA)
(AA/AAA) 548 PA, 21 HR, 31 SB, .256/.336/.465
Wiemer stands out on a field. Not only is he a large man, he can fly around the diamond. The profile looks like a big-man version of Tyler O’Neill. He’s expected to be the sort of volatile player who will at times carry a team and at others slog through deep slumps. Presently, his game power is inconsistent. He appeared to make an adjustment late last season to a more balanced contact profile. That could also be a small sample artifact. Things to keep an eye upon in Triple-A and when he debuts include his line drive rate, pulled contact, and infield fly rate.
Three More
Jackson Chourio, MIL (18): It’s not yet confirmed if Chourio received an invitation to big league Spring Training. On the shortlist for number one prospect in baseball, I don’t believe I’ve seen this level of hype since the days of Mike Trout. He’s still learning center field where he’s physically capable but inexperienced. His bat is expected to play at any position. Most encouragingly, he made a number of key in-season adjustments last year – a trait which bodes well for his further development.
JJ Bleday, OAK (25): Bleday, whose least appealing attributes were covered last week, was recently acquired by the Athletics. Oakland is less inclined to feign competitiveness than Miami, meaning Bleday should have a fair chance for regular reps. However, the A’s have quite a few outfielders at present including Ramon Laureano, Tony Kemp, Seth Brown, Esteury Ruiz, Cristian Pache, and Conner Capel among others. Bleday might need to await the nearly inevitable trades of Laureano and Brown.
Ezequiel Tovar, COL (21): Tovar recently spoke to the media about his pursuit of an Opening Day role with the Rockies. Per his comments, he might parlay a strong Spring Training into an active roster spot. Given his youthful age, Colorado could be tempted to seize any excuse to manipulate his service time. A late April debut would secure control over his age 27 season. Tovar is not yet a finished product as a hitter, though his defense is considered excellent.
If it is like normal, only half the big hype guys will turn out to be something…if that.
Well going to fix this situation with the Brewers. Moving Yellich back to first where he was drafted. Then put Mitchell in left, Frelick to center, with Weimer to rightfield, plus since Chourio has played infield we can put at third. lol
So much pressure on those young kids, I sure hope they figure it out, it’s just so rare! I don’t remember this much hype for Brewers prospects since Fielder, Braun, Hardy and those guys came up. Pretty exciting! I doubt we see a lot of any of these guys except Mitchell until they get a feel for which way this season is going. They’ll stay in the minors getting regular at bats. Plenty of bench support to get started. If they’re struggling going into June, we could see some of them brought up as a spark. But you never know – I always like to see prospects play so well that you can’t ignore them.
Same guy that worshipped Braun. Real good guy to get behind, grade A scumbag I’m a little pissed off you brewer fans throw your weight behind such a POS.
You should be pissed about how much weight is thrown behind your mother.
The way you get behind your scumbag, Bauer? I prefer Braun over Bauer by a mile.
Bernie Brewer doggin your old lady on camera POV. Long strokes while you’re slapping it to Richie Sexson highlights, nerd.
OMG if the Brewers actually have a stud batting 3b for however many years?!! Yes Please!! I don’t think there’s been 1 there since Molitor.
Where is De La Cruz?
Thought he was already done in one of these topics within the last month.
Looks like his most recent appearance in the series was last August: mlbtraderumors.com/2022/08/big-hype-prospects-chou…
“Hall’s stuff did not play up out of the bullpen.” ????? Yes it did. He was scored upon in two of his ten bullpen appearances. He got lit up for three runs just the once, with the other scoring appearance giving up just one run. His one start was pretty awful, he got sent down and then found some momentum at the end of the season out of the pen. He’s a nice problem for my Orioles to have because he could be dominant as a starter, an opener or a high leverage reliever.
I think they’re saying that he did not throw harder, show increased command when out of the bullpen. His stuff is solid whether starting or relieving.
Correct. Velocity, pitch characteristics, and command were the same when starting or relieving.
Anyone know why the Dodgers don’t put Vargas at 3rd and Muncy at 2nd? Seems like that would make more sense,
It says because Vargas is more athletic than Muncy which makes sense
This report that Vargas is athletic is news to me. He’s much taller than Muncy. Ideally you want the bigger guy with bigger arm at third. Vargas didn’t do well at 3B in the minors. Dodgers want the shorter throw for Vargas is my opinion. There are more DP responsibilities at 2B though. Ultimately all that matters is that he hits and not hurt the Dodgers too much with his defense. Longer-term you’d think they would put him in LF.
mlbdodgerfan2015 ;
This is all nonsense. 2B is a far, far more difficult position to play than 3B….
All a 3B does is work around the bag. He’ll come off it to back up a cut-off throw to the SS from LF, and go after pop fly’s in foul territory – but that’s it.
A 2B has to cover far more territory on the right side of the field – especially if the 1B is holding a runner on. He covers 2B on singles. He’s the cut-off man on throws from RCF to the plate, and on a ground ball hit to SS during a possible double play he has to make the relay throw from 2B to 1B, usually while moving in the opposite direction – in both those plays he needs to have a strong accurate arm as well as having to make a quick decision on whether to risk a throw. And like the 3B he’ll also cover foul territory on popups – although he usually has further to run to do so.
There’s an old baseballs saying, “You never realize how important it is for a 2B to make the double play until you have one that can’t”.
The Dodgers D in 2023 has definitely taken major steps back from 2022 – in the infield and CF.
As I’ve said before though, 3B will always lead to a much lower fielding percentage. Balls come at you much faster. You have less time to get rid of it due to the longer throws. The longer throws lead to more errors. For example, a routine grounder to 2B can be bobbled or booted and still get the runner at 1B. You boot the grounder at 3B and you’re done. You bobble it and you rush the throw to 1B and some times an error because you’re rushing it.
Yes, less chances at 3B compared to 2B, but a lot of the putouts at 2B are easy putouts. Turning a DP does require more athleticism and so does playing 2B overall. Cutoffs are the least of your concerns. But that said, 3B is not easy either. You hide your worst fielders at 1B and LF.
If you really believe 2B is that much more difficult why don’t the Dodgers have Taylor or even Muncy at 2B over the error prone and inexperienced Vargas? You’d think that they want to make it easier for him on the field so he doesn’t get stressed on defense which could iimpact his hitting. I remember the Dodgers moving Pedro Guerrero out of 3B to LF because he was so bad at it, and him saying how relieved he was and how it helped him at the plate since he was more relaxed and less anxious about defense.
Maybe it has to do with a career .922 fielding pct for 3b while Muncy at the ML level is at .937? That Vargas’ Range Factor via B-Ref is also below where they list Muncy’s Range Factor? I don’t comparables on arm strength and that could also be a factor if Vargas’ isn’t as strong.
GM Brandon Gomes gave an interview recently where he says they’re trying Vargas at 2B because he’s the 2nd or 3rd fastest player on the team. Miguel feels most comfortable at 2B and the Dodgers will likely rotate him around the diamond as needed.
Being fast doesn’t mean better agility. When you’re 6 ft 3″ it’s hard to move around laterally compared to a shorter guy. I don’t think 2B is ideal for Vargas nor 3B. He’d be at 1B if Freeman wasn’t there for sure. LF is still his position and he may wind up there by the end of the season.
Doesn’t matter what you think dodgerfan2015. The Dodgers front office isn’t looking for advice in the comment section.
When did I ever say that they were. It’s called an opinion and a message board. Agree or disagree. Or else shut it.
Yeah your opinion is always uninformed. I’m not surprised
Funny. I haven’t read one insightful post from you ever on this message board. Again, if you disagree say why you disagree instead of trying to attack the poster. Otherwise, I suggest you move on. I get it the Giants suck but don’t take it out on the Dodger fans.
Who is this Jackson Chourio kid? Seems like everyone likes him as much as the San Antonio ladies love their churros, according to Charles Barkley.
He has future elite Exit Velocities that he shown at 18 turning 19. in March. Touched AA by the end of last season. You should get to see him in Spring Training games in the next month as the Brewers have at least a dozen participating including Frelick.
There is a strong chance his season forces the Brewers to call him up for September games. It’s this reason, I’m surprised they haven’t traded 1 of their 4 talented OF prospects to acquire talent elsewhere on the diamond or pitching. The comment above above about shifting him to 3b is interesting and if he could do that. My word the Brewers become a dangerous team in the future.
participating in the WBC*** Oops
The brewers should lock up their two stud starters long term and let this outfield develop.
Amen I agree Plus I think Turang will become a very decent second basemen too. After this year they could start locking up these young guys too.
GriffeyJrFan;
Don’t know that the Brewers have the payroll space to lock up two TOR pitchers available for FA. Even worse, if one of them is signed at current rates then goes south – as Yelich did – I don’t know how a small market team can be a contender for 3-5 years working around that with their payroll limitations.
Nevertheless, add those 3 to Turang, Mitchell, and young catcher William Contreras; allow Counsell and the coaching staff some time to work with them in adjusting to ML play; and they could have enough of a core to compete for years. I expect at least one of their pitchers being traded in-season, along with Adames either being traded or extended.
A very pivotal season coming up – the immediate future depends on how Baseball Ops handles the situations.
The season would have to really be in the crapper for them to trade one at the deadline. A more likely scenario is one (or both) being traded next offseason.
Would be nice, but Burnes and Woodruff, along with Yelich, would cost about $100 M. Not leaving much for the rest of the team.
They could probably sign one of the two, but still only if they’re willing to sign a well below market deal.
I think they can extend Woody, but Burnes (if he maintains his status quo) could very well become the highest paid pitcher in the game and way out of MIL’s price range.
How is Frelick as a base runner? That’s another area where great athleticism can be undone by iffy reads.
If he’s good on the bases, particularly with the new rules, I’m perfectly fine giving up a little power. The old Rickey Henderson double is just as good as a traditional one.
Looks like in about 1 full season’s worth of Minor League games he has 36 out of 46 attempts.
What gets me is that he has 12 OF assists only 3 errors in that same sample yet he’s dinged on his defense and arm strength.
While Garrett Mitchell the more highly regarded prospect defensively for CF has just 6 Assists with 3 Errors.
Thanks.
Outfield assists happen when guys think they can run on you but find out otherwise. Other teams are clearly following the scouting reports.
If his arm is legit, the number of assists will go down because people will stop running on him.
Always seemed like a bit of a no win situation to me.
Guys with weaker arms are the ones that tend to get more OF assists. Teams don’t run on strong arms, leading to less assists.
Which I can understand and expect. But he must be an accurate thrower with that arm to warrant less running on to have so many assists.
OF with weak arms still get assists, because more try to take the extra base. The question is how many were successful.
Re Vargas. Not a star but a core performer – like Cronenworth. Who was second in ROY voting and then an All Star the next two years? LOL! Ok. I’ll be happy if Vargas is second in ROY in 2023 and an All-Star in 2024 and 2025, thank you very much.
2025:
LF-Frelick
CF-Chourio
RF-Weimer
4th OF- Mitchell
1B- Yelich
You forgot DH. Yelich already has a foot in that realm and will probably get lots of DH (in)action this year.
Unless Winker gets hurt/sucks, Yelich is likely to get about the same number of ABs at DH as he did last year. Maybe even less.
I think to maximize his value they’ll want him to play on the field as much as possible. They also don’t have any 1B prospects on th horizon. Will he DH? Sure. But as long as his back and knee hold up, he’ll play 1B (the position he was drafted as).
Also expect alot of DH from Contreras, especially when Quero arrives.
Hall’s stuff didn’t play out of the bullpen? You’re kidding right? His first 3 games (1 start and 2 relief appearances) were absolutely awful. In his last 8 games though he had a 1.04 ERA 1.27 FIP and 11K in 8.2 innings. Do a little more research please.
He didn’t say “didn’t play” he said “didn’t play up.”. While its still good, it didn’t get better, which many time does occur.