April has been a busy month for call-ups around the majors as teams needed them for injury protection or just rewarding hot starts at the Triple-A level. The biggest name to be called up was obviously Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after once more dominating the Triple-A ranks after coming back from the oblique injury that caused him to miss the first few weeks of the season. I won’t be breaking down Guerrero here as he’s been the most broken down prospect in the game for the last year-plus at this point but there are still several prospects worth mentioning for fantasy purposes.
Michael Chavis (2B/3B BOS) – The injuries to Dustin Pedroia , Brock Holt , and Eduardo Núñez forced the Red Sox hand with this move as they needed the infield help. Chavis had been getting work at the keystone at Triple-A this year as preparation to bring him up knowing that Rafael Devers was still blocking him from the hot corner in Boston. He’s been the Red Sox top prospect for a little while now and got some unwanted attention last year when he was suspended for the first 80 games of the season after failing a drug test, but since returning, he’s proven that the numbers put up pre-suspension weren’t a fluke. In 33 games at Double-A Portland last year he slashed .303/.388/.508 with six homers, 23 runs, 17 RBI, and three steals before getting a brief taste of Triple-A. This year at Triple-A in 12 games, he’d already hit four long balls with seven runs and six RBI. He is a power over average kind of bat, which isn’t surprising given that he’s a natural third baseman, but that power does play with potential 30-home-run pop. Boston is confident that he will play an adequate enough defense at the keystone to keep his bat in the lineup everyday and it’s possible that Pedroia will be relegated to a bench spot when he returns because the future is with Chavis.
Nick Senzel (2B/OF CIN) – Senzel has been a match ballyhooed prospect basically since he was drafted as the best college bat in that year’s draft and then the attention really ramped up last season when Eugenio Suárez missed time and Senzel appeared ready to take his place. The call-up that has been a year plus in the making is finally happening this week, on Friday to be precise, as the Reds just have too many holes to fill to keep Senzel down any longer. He did only get seven games at Triple-A Louisville this season because of a sprained ankle late in spring that held him back, but those seven games were still a sold showing of what he can do. For a better sample-size we will look at his 44 games played at Louisville last year when he hit .310/.378/.509 with six home runs, 25 RBI, 23 runs, and eight steals. There is some questions as to where he will play with the Reds since they used him in centerfield in spring but he fits at second as well and can play short in a pinch. Senzel registered 28 error-free games at second last year at Triple-A while turning 20 double plays. Overall, he is a five-tool guy that will hit better than .290 with 20-15 upside.
Cal Quantrill (RHP SD) – The Padres are going with a six-man rotation for the time being and to make that happen they have called up Quantrill to start on Wednesday against the Braves. Quantrill was a first-round pick of the Padres in 2016 and has since jumped two levels a season until reaching Triple-A last year for the final 31 innings of the season. Now he’s thrown 25 innings at El Paso this year, but it hasn’t been off the charts by any means with a 4.68 ERA, 4.00 FIP, 4.80 xFIP, 8.64 K/9, and 2.88 BB/9. The 6’3”, 208-lb. righty uses a four-pitch mix to attack hitters that is anchored by two plus pitches in his low-90s fastball and a low-80s changeup that he commands with precision. The two other pitches are a slider and curveball which are both at least average pitches but are still inconsistent in their bite and break which can leave him vulnerable on the mound. He will likely be up for as long as San Diego wants to go with the six-man rotation concept, but his ceiling is far lower than Chris Paddock or Logan Allen or even a couple of starters already in the rotation.
Carter Kieboom (SS WAS) – Kieboom got some nice looks at spring training this year but was ultimately sent to Triple-A Fresno since there wasn’t a spot for him on the active roster with both middle infield spots accounted for. Now though, since Trea Turner went down, the Nationals have been struggling to replace Turner’s bat in the lineup while mainly using Wilmer Difo . Kieboom in the meantime got off to a roaring hot start hitting .379/.506/.636 with three home runs, 18 RBI, 14 runs, and a steal in 18 games. Possessing five-plus tools including his hit and power tools rating the highest, the 21-year-old shortstop is one of the top-25 prospects in baseball. While he is playing shortstop for the Nationals currently and that is his natural position, he does have the requisite defensive abilities to move to second base and did play there in the Arizona Fall League last year as well. Expect him to stick with the Nationals throughout the rest of the season as they find creative ways to get his bat in the lineup even when Trea Turner returns from the broken finger he’s currently dealing with.
Nate Lowe (1B TB) – Lowe, while sharing the same spelling of the last name with the starting second baseman in Tampa, isn’t related to the other youngster in the right-side of the Rays infield. A former 13th-round pick of Tampa, Lowe has really started to put things together over the last two seasons as he’s risen through the minor league ranks starting with a .330/.416/.568 slash and 27 homers and 102 RBI last year across three levels. Now in 21 games at Triple-A Durham this year Lowe posted a .300/.444/.543 with three home runs, 16 runs, 14 RBI, and a steal. The power is legit given his 6’4”, 245-pound frame and the improvement in the launch angle he’s made while still keeping his eye at the plate and his average at a plus-level. Overall, he is the prototypical profile of a first baseman who has 30-home-run upside while still hitting for average so if he’s still available on waivers in your league, pick him up.
Darwinzon Hernandez (LHP BOS) – If you have been paying attention since the pre-season on the podcasts, you would have heard us mention Hernandez a few times as a guy that could be up early in the year for the Red Sox and fill a few different roles. Now, Hernandez is up with the team and being used in a bullpen role, which his pitch-combo lends perfectly to. The southpaw owns a 70-grade fastball and 60-grade slider along with a 50-grade curveball and changeup. The two-pitch mix of the upper-90s fastball with tons of late life and a three-quarter arm slot on the low-90s slider is more than enough to get swings and misses at a high rate out of the pen given the fact that he’s had a double-digit K/9 rate at every stop in the minors since the start of 2016. Ultimately the Red Sox would like to keep him as a starter long-term but right now his control is just too much of a liability to make him a legitimate starting option so he will likely take a multi-inning role in the Boston pen for the foreseeable future.
Jon Duplantier (RHP ARI) – Duplantier has been the top pitching prospect for the Diamondbacks since 2017 and for good reason as he’s dominated every level of the minor leagues in the Arizona system. Since turning pro in 2016, he’s not posted an ERA over 2.00 for any season and only in the second half of 2018 was his FIP over 3.00. The right-hander has a four-pitch mix that he uses to keep the opposing hitters off-balance starting with his mid-90s fastball that has great sink and run, an upper-80s slider with late bite, a low-80s curve that’s still a bit inconsistent, and a mid-80s changeup that is a weapon against left-handed hitters. Duplantier was up with the team for two separate stints this season with the last being a four-inning scoreless relief appearance in the marathon game on Sunday night. The Diamondbacks sent him back to Reno to get stretched out more for a starter because the talk is that he will take a spot in the rotation, likely Zack Godley ’s spot, once he is stretched out more in a few weeks. He’s proven that his arsenal can get MLB hitters out already so it’s just a matter of time before he’s up for good.