Breaking Down All 109 of MLB’s 40-man Roster Additions — Prospects Live

Your one-stop post for 40-Man adds.

Padres send Luis Urias to Brewers, get Trent Grisham, Zach Davies

Urias is a second baseman who is presumably being moved to SS.  This deal opens a hole at second for the Friars.  And while obviously Urias isn’t a 398/600 hitter (like he was at El Paso last year), he looked to have second nailed down in a Placido Polanco sort of way.  Their outfield does need help, in part because they traded Franmil Reyes (who, to be fair, really is a DH). Padres also gave up Eric Lauer to get Zach Davies.  That part of the deal is fine, if kind of boring.

Here’s the best athlete in all 30 farm systems

Everyone loves an impressive showcase of athleticism on the baseball field. Whether it’s Byron Buxton improbably running down a ball in center field, Yasiel Puig uncorking a jaw-dropping throw from right or Cody Bellinger launching a tape-measure home run on what should be an unhittable pitch, there are eye-opening feats of athleticism across the Major Leagues on a daily basis.

Amidst our ongoing State of the System series, in which we provide an in-depth breakdown of all 30 teams’ systems, we’re using this week to highlight some of the premier athletes in the Minors—guys who possess the type of high-end athleticism and tools comparable to the aforementioned big leaguers.

Specifically, 20 of the 30 prospects selected by MLB Pipeline for the article are outfielders, and, overall, position players occupy all but one spot on the list.

MLB’s top prospects deal with good, bad of ‘robot’ umpires

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — First baseman Ali Sanchez was standing in the on-deck circle so he had a great vantage point of the two-strike breaking ball to Jacob Heyward. It finished so low that by the time it reached the catcher it nearly bounced in the dirt.

Sanchez — like everybody else who was watching this game on a Tuesday night in the Arizona Fall League — had an immediate mental reaction.

“That’s a ball,” Sanchez said.

Not so fast in the brave new world of “robot” umpires.

Next, the robot umpires shall be eating old people’s medicine for fuel.

Giants prospects Joey Bart, Heliot Ramos could start 2020 in Triple-A

SAN FRANCISCO—Mike Yastrzemski was a hell of a find, and the Giants feel good about what they saw from Tyler Beede, Logan Webb, Tyler Rogers and others late in the year. But as they try and build a contender, the best developments in 2019 came at much lower levels.

For the first time in a decade, the Giants have a group of high-end prospects coming through the system, and a couple could arrive as early as next year. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos finished the season in Double-A, and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on this week’s Giants Insider Podcast that both will enter spring training with “the opportunity but not with a guarantee of starting the season in Triple-A.”

Being in Sacramento in April would put Bart, a 22-year-old catcher, and Ramos, a 20-year-old outfielder, in position to debut next season.

“They’re going to have to earn that (promotion to Triple-A) and then we’ll see where things go from there,” Zaidi said. “One thing that we really wanted to emphasize and create a culture of this year was you earn your way through the system and there’s no fixed timetables. Guys will be moved on merit and be given opportunities. That’s true for guys that might be perceived as org guys and it’s also true for the top prospects.

Something to watch for, particularly for those of us lucky enough to live in a AAA city.

After 114 losses, Tigers still waiting on top prospects

DETROIT (AP) — The most promising moment for the Detroit Tigers this year may have occurred far away from Comerica Park — or any other major league field.

On April 29, Casey Mize threw a no-hitter in his debut for Double-A Erie.

After narrowly avoiding triple-digit losses the previous two seasons, the big league Tigers sank all the way to a 47-114 record in 2019. They were particularly awful at home, going 22-59. If there was going to be any cause for optimism, it was going to be because of young prospects who might be able to help this team in the future.

“I think our fans down at spring training are going to see some of these guys,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “They’re going to get their chances out on the mound during games and hopefully our fans will get to see those guys firsthand produce and throw the ball like we know they can throw the ball. Some of the infielders and outfielders that we’ve got, you’ll see them in spring training I’m hoping. I’m asking for some of those guys (from the) Double-A team.”

A brief reminder as for what the phrase “wait until next year” has such power in baseball.

Here’s the final Top 100 Prospects list of the year

Now that the Minor League regular season and playoffs have concluded, we’re making a few adjustments to MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list.

While Rays shortstop Wander Franco remains at No. 1, we’ve jumped a pair of position players to the Nos. 2 and 3 spots and anointed a new best pitching prospect in baseball. We’ve lightly reshuffled the first 15 prospects, moved eight others up and six others down, plus added three new guys to the list.

Other than replacing a couple of prospects who may lose their rookie/prospect status by exceeding 130 at-bats or 50 innings in the big leagues through the remainder of the season, these will be the last changes we make to the Top 100 until a total overhaul in January.

So, any thoughts on this list?

Source: A’s to call up No.1 prospect Jesus Luzardo for stretch run

Jesús Luzardo’s highly-anticipated major league debut appears to be on the horizon.

The A’s will call up their top prospect from Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday. MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos was the first to report the move.

Luzardo, 21, is ranked as the No. 3 left-handed pitching prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and the No. 18 overall prospect. He has put together back-to-back excellent starts for Las Vegas, combining to allow just two runs in 11 2/3 innings with 17 strikeouts and two walks. In seven total starts for Las Vegas this year, he went 1-1 with a 3.19 ERA.

As a side-note, the Las Vegas team was just eliminated from the Pacific Coast League playoffs- I have no idea if it did (or should) have influence on the A’s decision, but the timing makes it seem like it wasn’t a coincidence.

Report: Dodgers calling up prospect Gavin Lux

MLB.com’s William Boor reports that the Dodgers are promoting infield prospect Gavin Lux to the majors. Ron Cervenka of ThinkBlue LA was the first to break the news.

On the bright side, if baseball doesn’t work out, he can have a long and happy existence as a character in a soap opera.

Royals’ Van Buren records 5-K inning

While four-strikeout innings are impressive, five-strikeout frames are nearly unheard of. But that’s exactly what reliever Malcolm Van Buren recorded in the seventh inning of Rookie Advanced Burlington’s 7-6 win over Elizabethton on Wednesday night at Burlington Athletic Stadium.

“Honestly, I was kind of struggling with command at the time,” Van Buren said.

The right-hander began the inning simply enough, when Seth Gray swung and missed at a 3-2 curveball low in the zone. Parker Phillips whiffed at a 1-2 curve in the dirt for what should’ve been the second out, but he reached on a throwing error by catcher Jesus Atencio.

“I didn’t really realize that he struck out also,” Van Buren said, “because I was trying to focus and get in the zone.”

Astros land Greinke from DBack at deadline

HOU: Zack Grienke, $24MM
ARI: Seth Beer, J.B. Bukauskas, Corbin Martin, Josh Rojas

That’s a haul.  Beer could be a star, Martin looks like a decent mid-rotation guy, Bukauskas is K’ing more than 10/9 (albeit in AA), Rojas is a flier who is killing it this year.  This is how you restock a farm system.

Prospects Traded At Deadline Rarely Make Big League Impact

In all, 86 of the 428 prospects traded in July deals from 2003-2014 went on to play the majority of at least two seasons in the major leagues and post a positive career WAR, as measured by Baseball-Reference. That’s just 20.1 percent of all prospects moved in such trades.

There are big hits among them to be found, however. Corey Kluber, Josh Donaldson, Adrian Gonzalez and Nelson Cruz were all traded as prospects in July deals. So were Jean Segura, Eduardo Escobar, Kyle Hendricks and Patrick Corbin. Mitch Haniger, Addison Russell and Josh Hader were among those were dealt in the most recent years of our sample, 2013 and 2014.

But, by and large, such players are the exception. Much more often than not, prospects traded at the deadline fail to make any significant impact in the major leagues.

How Dodgers prospect Gavin Lux developed into the hottest hitter in baseball

Augie Schmidt, a baseball lifer, sat alone in his home in Kenosha, Wisconsin last Thursday watching a Triple-A baseball game.

He was nearly brought to tears by what he saw.

The moment struck when Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop prospect Gavin Lux, Schmidt’s nephew and star pupil, parked a homer in the right field seats at Principal Park in Des Moines, Iowa.

Schmidt, a former minor leaguer and the head baseball coach at Division III Carthage College since 1987, knew he was witnessing the culmination of the work started more than a decade ago.

Note to self: Check back in at this time in 2029 to see how this panned out.

Youngest MLB, Minor League Players By League In 2019

The next big thing in prospects is now the youngest player in LoA.

John Sickels’ Top 100 prospects (UPDATED) – The Athletic

Sickel’s latest.

Here’s the current Top 100, with updated ranking and grade. Note that this does NOT include 2019 draftees.

1) Wander Franco, SS, Tampa Bay Rays, Grade A: Previously number 4; hitting .326/.396/.514 in Low-A; best position player long-term still in the minor leagues.

2) Mackenzie Gore, LHP, San Diego Padres, Grade A: Previously number 8; completely dominant in High-A with 1.21 ERA in 60 innings, spectacular 83/14 K/BB.

3) Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros, Grade A-: Previously number 11, got off to a slow start in AAA but has been on a tear recently, now up to .282/.356/.633 with 23 homers, 17 steals in 66 games.

4) Casey Mize, RHP, Detroit Tigers, Grade A-: Previously number 9; insane 0.92 ERA in 78 innings, 75/12 K/BB between A and AA; went on DL with sore shoulder recently, otherwise he would be number three; will have to monitor health status.

5) Keston Hiura, 2B, Milwaukee Brewers, Grade A-: Previously number 17; excellent in AAA at .315/.391/.663, performed well in big league trial at .281/.333/.531 in 64 at-bats; he’s ready and thus this ranking.

An Introduction to Cluster Analytics in the Prospect World – Prospects365.com

Similarity scores?

Freeman heading to Carolina League | MiLB.com News

Lindor’s replacement.

Alexander: Which Cal League All-Stars will become big league stars? – Press Enterprise

Consider: From that 2015 Cal League-Carolina League game, 10 players out of the 42 who played in it were in the big leagues at last look. Bellinger, of course, but also pitchers Ryan McMahon (Rockies), Zack Godley (Diamondbacks), Paul Fry (Orioles), Tyler Beede (Giants) and Nick Pivetta (Phillies), catchers Kyle Farmer (Reds, also part of the Puig trade) and Omar Narvaez (Mariners) and infielders Jack Mayfield (Astros) and Johan Camargo (Braves). Twelve others have had one or several cups of coffee in the big leagues.
And the crazy thing about that game, a 9-2 California victory? Bellinger was 1 for 4 with two RBIs. Quakes teammate Brandon Trinkwon was 2 for 3 with three runs scored and two RBIs and was named the game’s MVP.

Two years later, the Dodgers released Trinkwon, and he’s now out of baseball.