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Luis Matos

Giants Reinstate Robbie Ray, Option Luis Matos

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Robbie Ray is officially back from the injured list. San Francisco reinstated the southpaw from the 60-day IL to take the ball tonight against the Dodgers. The Giants also added recent waiver claim Derek Hill to their active roster. San Francisco optioned Luis Matos and Randy Rodriguez to Triple-A Sacramento in corresponding moves. To open a spot on the 40-man roster for Ray, the Giants moved Keaton Winn to the 60-day IL.

Ray makes his team debut after being acquired from the Mariners over the winter. Seattle and San Francisco lined up on an out of nowhere swap of veterans on big contracts. The Giants shipped Anthony DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger to Seattle to take a flier on Ray, who was about halfway through his rehab from last May’s Tommy John procedure. The M’s flipped DeSclafani to the Twins, with whom he suffered a Spring Training injury and underwent season-ending surgery. Haniger has underperformed for a second straight year.

The Giants hope their end of the deal yields better results. Ray is more than 14 months removed from his most recent MLB pitch. He’s one of the higher-upside pitchers in baseball when healthy. He won the American League Cy Young award when he turned in a 2.84 ERA with an MLB-best 248 strikeouts for the Blue Jays in 2021. That led the Mariners to sign him to a five-year free agent pact. Ray posted good but not elite numbers in year one, working to a 3.71 earned run average through 189 innings. He made all of one start last season before suffering the injury that sent him under the knife.

If the Giants get even the ’22 version of Ray, that’d be a major boost to their rotation. He joins last year’s Cy Young winner Blake Snell as high-risk, high-reward lefties. Logan Webb is one of the game’s best starters, while Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks round out the group. Harrison has a 3.86 ERA over 17 starts in his first full MLB season. Hicks started the season very well but has seemingly shown signs of fatigue lately in his first extended look out of the rotation.

Winn was also part of the rotation early in the season. The ground-ball specialist took the ball 12 times but struggled to a 7.16 ERA across 55 1/3 frames. He has been out for about a month with elbow inflammation. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reported earlier this week that Winn is still feeling soreness and has been shut down from throwing (X link). He’s eligible to return at the end of August, but it now seems in doubt if he’ll make it back this season.

On the position player side, Hill steps into the outfield at Matos’ expense. They’re each righty hitters with the ability to play all three positions. Matos has struggled to a .217/.238/.333 slash over 40 games. He’s also had some defensive lapses that’ll lead the Giants to send him back to Triple-A. Matos is only 22 and rates as one of the better prospects in the system. He owns a .295/.358/.536 slash over 76 career Triple-A games.

Giants Place Keaton Winn, Mike Yastrzemski On Injured List

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The Giants announced some roster moves this morning, including the news that right-hander Keaton Winn and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski have both been sidelined with injuries.  Winn has been placed on the 15-day IL with inflammation in his throwing elbow, while Yastrzemski is headed to the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain.  Both placements are retroactive to June 21.  Outfielder Luis Matos and infielder David Villar were called up from Triple-A in corresponding moves, and the Giants also sent utilityman Tyler Fitzgerald to Triple-A.

Yastrzemski left Thursday’s game due to his strain, and while oblique problems are known to have fluid timelines, the outfielder told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser (all links to X) that he doesn’t think he’ll miss much if any time beyond the minimum 10 days.  After a very slow start to his season, Yastrzemski’s bat has started to heat up over the last few weeks, bringing him to an above-average 104 wRC+ and a .224/.304/.406 slash line over 215 plate appearances.

Yaz has been the Giants’ regular right fielder when a right-handed pitcher is on the mound, but his absence will leave the team short on left-handed bats as a whole, with LaMonte Wade Jr. is also on the IL and Jung Ho Lee is gone for the season.  It isn’t an ideal situation for a team that likes to play matchups as much as the Giants, though Matos can help fill the void in the outfield overall, even though Matos is another right-handed hitter.

This is the second time Winn has visited the IL this season, as a forearm strain put him on the shelf for four weeks.  He had made three starts since his last activation from the 15-day, though the righty has struggled both before and after his IL stint, posting a 7.16 ERA across 55 1/3 innings.

As much as the Giants were hoping Winn could become a solid rotation piece in his first full Major League season, health is now the bigger question for the 26-year-old.  Winn missed the entire 2021 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, so a pair of injuries to his forearm/elbow area in quick succession certainly is a big cause for concern.  Past health history notwithstanding, it is also possible Winn’s current issue is just some basic soreness that can be cleared up with 15 days of rest and rehab.

Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks are now the only two healthy starters in San Francisco’s rotation, though both Blake Snell and Robbie Ray will pitch in rehab work for Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday.  Giants manager Bob Melvin told Slusser and other reporters that Snell might just need the one rehab start before being activated from the 15-day IL, if all goes well.  Kyle Harrison is rehabbing from a sprained ankle and might not need any rehab work after being placed on the IL last weekend with an ankle sprain.

Giants Place Michael Conforto On 10-Day Injured List

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The Giants announced this afternoon that outfielder Michael Conforto has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a right hamstring strain. Outfielder Luis Matos was recalled from Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Conforto’s injury first occurred during last night’s game against the Reds, which saw him pulled during the fourth inning due to what the club termed at the time right hamstring tightness (as noted by Maria Guardardo of MLB.com). John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle noted that manager Bob Melvin told reporters after the game that the injury was a hamstring strain, albeit one that “feels mild.” Melvin added that Conforto was scheduled to undergo an MRI today and that more details would be available then. The Giants have not yet commented on the results of that MRI, but Conforto’s placement on the IL guarantees that he’ll be out for at least ten days.

The loss of Conforto, 31, is a damaging one for the Giants. The veteran outfielder signed with the club on a two-year deal on the heels of a lost 2022 season where he did not play due to injury and while he posted league average results with San Francisco last year, he’s been one of their most productive bats this season with a strong .280/.331/.490 slash line that’s good for a wRC+ of 136. That production has been a rare bright spot on a Giants team that entered today with an 18-23 record in part thanks to a lackluster offense that has posted a collective wRC+ of just 97 this season, good for 19th in the majors. The offense’s struggles have been further compounded by injuries in recent days, as Conforto joins Tom Murphy, Jorge Soler, Austin Slater, and Nick Ahmed in departing for the injured list in the past week alone.

Replacing Conforto on the club’s active roster is Matos, a 22-year-old who was a consensus top-100 prospect back in 2022. He made his MLB debut last year but struggled in 76 games at the big league level, hitting a paltry .250/.319/.342 in 253 trips to the plate en route to a wRC+ of just 87. Despite those struggles, however, it’s at least feasible that Matos could help contribute to the club’s offense given his solid .310/.408/.417 slash line against southpaws last season and a contact-oriented bat that allowed him to post a strikeout rate of just 13% last year in the majors. Aside from Matos, Conforto’s injury could create more playing time for the likes of Blake Sabol and Wilmer Flores in the coming days.

Giants Select Nick Avila, Designate Otto López

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, with Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area among those to pass them along. Outfielder Mike Yastrzemski has been reinstated from the paternity list and right-hander Nick Avila has been selected to the roster. To open active roster spots, outfielder Luis Matos and right-hander Daulton Jefferies were optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. To open a 40-man spot for Avila, utility player Otto López was designated for assignment.

Avila, 26, will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a ballgame, though he’s been close before. The White Sox selected him from the Giants in the 2022 Rule 5 draft, but he didn’t make Chicago’s Opening Day roster in 2023 and was returned to the Giants. He spent last year in Triple-A, throwing 72 innings over 56 appearances with an earned run average of 3.00. His 12% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 21.3% of batters faced and kept 46.2% of balls in play on the ground. Amazingly, he managed to go 14-0 for the year and has already earned one victory in Triple-A here in 2024.

The Giants got crushed yesterday, eventually losing 13-4 to the Padres. Jefferies started the game and lasted just two innings, forcing long reliever Kai-Wei Teng to toss three frames and three other relievers to come in after that, though one of them was position player Tyler Fitzgerald. Avila will give them a fresh arm as they look to get through three games against a tough Dodger lineup.

To make room for Avila, they’ve had to remove López from the 40-man. Acquired from the Blue Jays in a cash deal back in February, the 25-year-old had 11 big league plate appearances with his former club. He’s hit just .270/.340/.368 in the minors since the start of 2022, production which translates into a wRC+ of 86. But he hit .315/.379/.437 in 2021, giving some hope for better offense going forward.

Regardless of the bat, López can provide value in other ways. He’s good for double-digit stolen base tallies on an annual basis and also provides defensive versatility. In his career, he has played all three outfield positions and the three infield spots to the left of first base. He still has one option remaining and could perhaps appeal to clubs looking for some extra depth that can be stashed in the minors. The Giants will have one week to work out a trade or pass him through waivers.

Giants Recall Kai-Wei Teng For Major League Debut

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The Giants announced a series of roster moves today, with outfielder Luis Matos and right-hander Kai-Wai Teng recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. Teng will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. In corresponding moves, outfielder Mike Yastrzemski has been placed on the paternity list while right-hander Luke Jackson goes on the 15-day injured list with a lower back strain. Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase had reported earlier that Matos would be taking Yastrzemski’s place on the roster. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle first relayed that Teng was at the ballpark tonight.

Jackson departed last night’s game with an apparent back issue. He didn’t seem terribly concerned with the severity but the club evidently feels he will need at least a couple of weeks to get back on the mound.

His injury will pave the way for Teng to be called up to the big leagues for the first time. The 25-year-old was signed by the Twins as an international amateur out of Taiwan. He came to the Giants in the 2019 deadline deal that sent Sam Dyson to Minnesota.

He has climbed the rungs of the minor league ladder since then, showcasing strikeout stuff but also control issues. He split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, making 28 starts and one relief appearance, tossing 126 1/3 innings. He struck out 29.8% of batters faced but also gave out free passes at a 12.4% clip, leading to a combined earned run average of 4.42.

He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He didn’t make the Opening Day roster but Jackson’s injury will allow him to come up just after. He’ll likely be in a long relief role out of the bullpen. The club is currently operating with 14 positions players and just 12 pitchers, meaning that eating multiple innings from the bullpen will be valuable for the club.

Giants Option Marco Luciano, Select Nick Ahmed, Release Pablo Sandoval

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The Giants announced a huge slate of transactions Thursday as they set their Opening Day roster. Shortstop prospect Marco Luciano and outfield prospect Luis Matos were optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to begin the season. San Francisco selected the contract of veteran shortstop Nick Ahmed and right-hander Landen Roupp, who’ll both make the Opening Day roster. The Giants also recalled lefty Erik Miller from Triple-A, placed righties Sean Hjelle and Alex Cobb on the 15-day IL (as expected), designated catcher/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment, placed lefty Ethan Small on the 60-day injured list and released infielder Pablo Sandoval. Out of options catcher Joey Bart made the roster.

Luciano, 22, is widely considered to be among the game’s top 100 prospects. He made a brief MLB debut last year and was in competition for the Opening Day roster nod throughout the entirety of camp, but the Giants will defer to the veteran Ahmed as their Opening Day shortstop.

Luciano heated up toward the end of camp, perhaps making the decision a bit tougher, but he finished with a .227/.364/.432 slash and a 34.5% strikeout rate in 55 plate appearances. Those strikeout troubles have been an issue for some time; Luciano fanned in 29.8% of his Double-A plate appearances last year and 35.9% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He’ll head back to the upper minors to continue to work on that area of his game.

In his place, the Giants will turn to longtime division foe Ahmed, who’s spent his entire 10-year career with the Diamondbacks. Ahmed, who’s won a pair of Gold Gloves in his career, has always been a defensive-minded shortstop. He’s long ranked as one of the premium defenders in the game, regardless of position. However, his already modest offensive production has taken a stark downturn over the past two seasons due to a shoulder injury that eventually required surgery.

Ahmed has looked sharp this spring, however, turning in a .355/.459/.645 slash with a pair of homers in a small sample of 37 plate appearances. The Giants bid adieu to their own longtime premier defensive shortstop, Brandon Crawford, this offseason. (Were it not for Crawford, Ahmed may have a few more Gold Gloves on his mantle.) Ahmed will bring a similar skill set to the table, though he’s three years younger. And, since he doesn’t have such a storied history with the franchise, it’ll be easier to cut him loose or significantly reduce his playing time if he struggles and/or if Luciano forces the issue with a big Triple-A performance.

Roupp, 25, was San Francisco’s 12th-round pick in the 2021 draft. He posted a 1.74 ERA and fanned more than a third of his opponents in 31 Double-A frames last season and will jump straight from that level to the big leagues. He earned that promotion with a huge spring showing, holding opponents to a pair of runs on two hits and four walks with 13 punchouts in eight innings.

Hummel, 29, is a career .166/.264/.286 hitter in 227 plate appearances at the big league level. He carries a far more impressive Triple-A track record, including a .262/.409/.435 batting line and a massive 18% walk rate there last year. He bounced from the Mariners, to the Mets, to the Giants via the DFA circuit this winter. Hummel still has a minor league option remaining, and the Giants will have a week to trade him or attempt to pass him through outright waivers.

Sandoval, 37, singled in his final at-bat of Giants spring training earlier this week. That game was played at Oracle Park, giving “Kung Fu Panda” the opportunity to suit up (at least) one more time in front of the Giants fans who revered him for his peak run as a middle-of-the-order slugger for the Giants even-year dynasty that saw them bring home World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014. An emotional Sandoval said after the game what a special experience it was to take the field and be embraced by the San Francisco faithful one more time. Whether he continues his playing career remains to be seen, but if not, it was a fitting sendoff to a beloved member of the franchise who’ll long be remembered as a fan favorite.

NL West Notes: McCarthy, Barnhart, Molina, Slater

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The Diamondbacks have gotten a lot of trade interest in outfielder Jake McCarthy but Arizona isn’t yet interested in dealing the 26-year-old, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  This isn’t the first time McCarthy’s name has surfaced in trade rumors, though the buzz quieted after McCarthy turned in a lackluster 2023 season.  The outfielder finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022, but followed up that breakout campaign by hitting only .243/.318/.326 over 312 plate appearances last season.  McCarthy’s struggles resulted in a loss of playing time and even a demotion to Triple-A, plus an oblique injury kept him from being a part of Arizona’s postseason rosters during the team’s run to the World Series.

Randal Grichuk is expected to begin the season on the injured list, so McCarthy should probably land a job as the Diamondbacks’ fourth outfielder for at least the start of the year.  He also has a minor league option remaining, so the D’Backs could stash him back at Triple-A if necessary.  It is worth noting that the D’Backs were reportedly open to moving either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in February’s trade with the White Sox that sent Fletcher to Chicago, though in the wake of that deal, Arizona might not be willing to further deplete their stock of young outfielders by also moving McCarthy in another trade.  Nightengale feels McCarthy might be more of a trade chip later in the season, if the Diamondbacks are having trouble finding playing time or a roster spot available for him.

More from around the NL West…

  • Minor league signing Tucker Barnhart looks to have won the Diamondbacks’ backup catching job, as The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro (X link) was among those to note that the D’Backs optioned Jose Herrera to Triple-A today.  Herrera acted as Gabriel Moreno’s backup last season once Carson Kelly was let go in August, but Arizona will now turn to the veteran Barnhart as a more experienced bench option.  Barnhart has won two Gold Gloves over his 10 MLB seasons, spent mostly with the Reds before one-year stints with the Tigers and Cubs over the last two seasons.
  • Right-hander Anthony Molina will make the Rockies’ Opening Day roster, according to MLB.com’s Thomas Harding (via X).  Selected as the third overall pick of the Rule 5 Draft last December, Molina was an international signing for the Rays who posted a 3.64 ERA over 301 2/3 innings in Tampa Bay’s farm system, including a 4.37 ERA in 55 2/3 Triple-A frames last season.  The 22-year-old worked mostly as a starter last year but now looks slated for a bullpen role in Colorado.  As per the stipulations of the Rule 5 Draft, Molina will have to remain on the Rockies’ active roster for the entire season in order for the Rox to claim his rights, or else Colorado will have to offer him back to the Rays.
  • Austin Slater returned to the field yesterday and is also set to play in today’s game, marking the Giants outfielder’s first action since last weekend.  Slater has been bothered by discomfort in his right elbow, which is a troubling sign since Slater underwent surgery on that same elbow last October to both remove a bone spur and address some nerve problems via an ulnar nerve transposition.  His recovery led to a slower start to his Cactus League work, and Slater has played in only six games this spring, so manager Bob Melvin told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Shayna Rubin and other reporters that Slater might need to start the season on the injured list.  As Slater himself told Rubin and company, “The quantity of at-bats, I’m not super concerned about.  It’s more about feeling healthy and being able to bounce back the next day which, at this point, I haven’t been able to do.”  If Slater isn’t available for Opening Day, Luis Matos is the likeliest candidate to step into the backup/platoon outfield role.

Giants Place Brandon Crawford On 10-Day Injured List

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The Giants announced that shortstop Brandon Crawford has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left forearm strain.  The placement is retroactive to August 19.  Outfielder Luis Matos was called up from Triple-A to take Crawford’s place on the active roster.

This is Crawford’s third IL stint of the season, as he missed roughly three weeks total due to a calf strain and left knee inflammation.  Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters (including Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle) that Crawford’s forearm issue was impacting his swing, which explains why Crawford has only a single hit in his last 31 plate appearances.  The club’s initial plan was to give Crawford a couple of days off, but he’ll now get at least 10 days to recover.

In a little over 14 months, Crawford has now made five different trips to the injured list.  Recurring knee problems have led to the majority of those placements, and he was also briefly shut down during Spring Training this year due to more knee discomfort.  The injuries have short-circuited what looked like a late-career revival for Crawford, who finished fourth in NL MVP voting in 2021 for delivering a huge performance in his age-34 season.

Crawford has hit only .194/.264/.318 over 270 plate appearances in 2023, and while his glovework has still been excellent, it surely isn’t the platform Crawford wanted for the final guaranteed year of his contract.  While Crawford was somewhat non-committal last winter about the possibility of playing beyond the 2023 season, a year of injuries and struggles at the plate isn’t how the longtime Giants shortstop would want to wrap up his outstanding 13-year career.  The severity of the forearm strain isn’t yet known, so it isn’t clear if Crawford could be in danger of missing the remainder of the 2023 campaign.

Casey Schitt was called up from Triple-A yesterday, and the Giants also recently selected the minor league deal of Johan Camargo.  These two players will likely handle shortstop duty while Crawford is out, and Thairo Estrada has also seen some time at the position this season.

Giants Select Johan Camargo

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The Giants announced they’ve selected the contract of infielder Johan Camargo. San Francisco also confirmed the selection of outfield prospect Wade Meckler and the designation of outfielder Luis González. Infielder Mark Mathias and rookie outfielder Luis Matos were optioned to Triple-A Sacramento in corresponding moves. To open a 40-man spot for Camargo, San Francisco transferred starter Anthony DeSclafani from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list.

Camargo gets back to the big leagues for a seventh straight year. The switch-hitting infielder had spent the ’23 campaign in Triple-A, moving from the Royals to the Tigers and then San Francisco. He just signed a minor league pact with the Giants over the weekend, reaching the majors after two appearances with Sacramento.

Between the three organizations, Camargo owns a solid .260/.339/.466 batting line. He’s been limited to 39 Triple-A games by an early-season injury. The 29-year-old has a fairly established track record, though. He owns an impressive .302/.375/.501 slash in a little more than 1000 career Triple-A plate appearances.

Camargo has a .255/.313/.410 mark over his MLB career. A productive everyday third baseman for the Braves between 2017-18, he’s settled into a journeyman role over the last few years. Camargo has hit .219/.271/.348 through 559 plate appearances over the past four seasons. The bigger appeal lies in his flexibility defensively. The Panama native has over 300 MLB innings at each of second base, third base and shortstop. Public metrics have given him roughly average reviews up-the-middle and plus marks for his work at the hot corner.

DeSclafani recently suffered a flexor strain in his throwing arm. He won’t throw until late September at the earliest and seems likely to miss the remainder of the season.

Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area first reported Camargo’s impending promotion.

Big Hype Prospects: Westburg, Matos, Crawford, Whisenhunt, Anthony

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The Orioles are finally calling up one of their top hitting prospects, and it isn’t the one I expected to get the first call. Jordan Westburg will make his debut later today. I expected Colton Cowser to win the race to the Majors. With Cedric Mullins recently returning, Cowser is left to await another injury or Aaron Hicks’ inevitable collapse (good outcomes, deeply terrible EVs).

Five Big Hype Prospects

Jordan Westburg, 24, 2B/3B/SS, BAL (AAA)
301 PA, 18 HR, 6 SB, .295/.372/.567

There’s a disconnect between public perceptions of Westburg and scouting reports. The bat will play, though Westburg’s penchant to swing-and-miss could result in long slumps as reports identify exploitable weaknesses. His minor league exit velocities would rate as above average in the Majors. Additionally, Westburg seemingly mixes discipline and targeted aggression in a way that could help keep his strikeouts under control – it has thus far in the minors.

The trouble is his defense. He’s trained all over the infield. Some think he’ll eventually land in left field. We see these sorts of bat-first players all over the league. His flexibility enables the club to view him as a tenth man akin to Chris Taylor (to be clear, Taylor is a far superior fielder). When approaching roster construction, Westburg can be slotted into whatever spot needs filling or else rotate with the regulars to keep everyone fresh.

Luis Matos, 21, OF, SFG (MLB)
45 PA, 1 HR, 2 SB, .282/.378/.385

On the back of a mediocre AFL performance, it wasn’t guaranteed the Giants were going to roster Matos this year. He would have likely gone early in the Rule 5 draft if they hadn’t. Matos immediately rewarded San Francisco’s decision to protect him. Though discipline has long been a weakness, he has more walks than strikeouts through 45 plate appearances after hitting .398/.435/.685 in 116 Triple-A plate appearances. The 21-year-old has looked like a new hitter this year.

There are still worrying details under the surface. His 89.5-mph average and 107.5-mph max exit velocities suggest middling power. Given his age, he could easily grow into more power – several evaluators believe this will happen. It’s my expectation Matos will soon enter a slump due to poor quality of contact. However, I’m optimistic about the long-range picture. In addition to burgeoning hitting skills, Matos is a plus defensive center fielder.

Justin Crawford, 19, OF, PHI (A)
202 PA, 0 HR, 32 SB, .346/.395/.456

I was surprised to recently discover Crawford had crept onto Baseball America’s Top 100 list. That’s not meant as a knock against Crawford. There happens to be a large number of high-quality prospects around the league. Crawford is more projection than actuality at this stage of his development.

The 17th pick of the 2022 draft, Crawford was seen as the sort of toolsy, incomplete prospect the Phillies have historically loved – and struggled to develop. He’s performing decently in Low-A where his first-rate speed is on display. A .423 BABIP has allowed him to get away with too many swinging strikes for his current low-power profile. He’s expected to age into roughly average pop, so this problem could go away in a couple ways. Comparisons to his father, Carl Crawford, come naturally as they share quite a few traits. He’s reportedly comfortable making adjustments to his hitting mechanics which further increases the volatility of his prospectdom.

Carson Whisenhunt, 22, SP, SFG (AA)
(A/A+/AA) 49.2 IP, 12.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 2.90 ERA

Whisenhunt would rank higher among evaluators if not for off-field issues. As it is, he’s still in consideration for the back-end of Top 100 lists. The simplest issue to comment on publicly is his failed PED test in college. You’ll notice, it’s rare for college players to be caught for PEDs, and it’s not because they’re squeaky clean. For his part, Whisenhunt blames a tainted supplement. The skinny southpaw leads with a double-plus changeup and is only just reaching a level where hitters will have some capacity to cope with the pitch. His changeup is such that he won’t truly be tested until he reaches the Majors. The profile and build are reminiscent of Cole Hamels.

Roman Anthony, 19, OF, BOS (A+)
(A/A+) 251 PA, 5 HR, 12 SB, .236/.379/.382

Anyone statistically minded is going to like Anthony. A 19-year-old performing well in High-A is exciting stuff, particularly when said 19-year-old has a 171 wRC+ in 49 plate appearances. He was considerably more ordinary in Low-A, posting a 110 wRC+ in 202 plate appearances. A sweet-swinging lefty slugger, Anthony has considerable development ahead of him if he’s to continue this speedy race toward the Majors. The P-word gets thrown around. Against better competition, Anthony will find himself behind in the count all too often. Passivity isn’t a death knell. We saw Gunnar Henderson defeat it entering last season and again about a month ago. It’s a trait which has a way of echoing. But for the passivity, Anthony has all the traits of a starting corner outfielder.

FanGraphs gives Anthony a four-paragraph writeup that says more than I can in this space.

Three More

Edouard Julien, MIN (24): The star of the 2022 AFL, Julien is on the verge of losing his prospect “eligibility.” He’s batting .252/.336/.439 through 123 plate appearances. A 34.1 percent strikeout rate has held him back. He also has a 12.5 percent swinging strike rate – nearly double that of his Triple-A performance. Defensively limited, Julien appears in need of an adjustment or two. He has the tools to pull it off.

Jacob Misiorowski, MIL (21): It’s good to be unique as a pitcher. Misiorowski certainly checks the “unique” box. The 6’7’’ right-hander has the sort of funky arm action that makes it hard to identify balls and strikes. Misiorowski lacks a changeup, but we’ve seen plenty of starters succeed without one in recent years, especially those who can live up in the zone with hard heat. He currently has poor command.

Quinn Priester, PIT (22): Priester has been on the radar for a while, bouncing in and out of the Top 100 prospects. He’s a ground ball pitcher who manages around a strikeout per inning while limiting walks and piling up ground balls. Since his fastball isn’t particularly effective, he should be viewed as a potential back-of-the-rotation guy – the type who keeps his team in the game.

Did I miss a detail or nuance? DM me on Twitter @BaseballATeam to suggest corrections.

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