September, aside from being the month of call-ups to the majors, features the minor league playoffs. Each league’s playoffs are staggered throughout the month with Triple-A finishing last, given they also play the longest season in total. Later this week, the IL and PCL championships will be played, but before then we will take a look some prospects who have been carrying their weight, and some who haven’t.
International League
Miguel Andujar (3B NYY AAA) is the sixth-ranked prospect in the Yankees system as a 22-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. So far in the 2017 post-season he’s batting .250/.238/.550 with a home run, three RBI, and a run in 20 at bats over five games. Throughout the 2017 regular season however, a season he played two levels, he toted a .315/.352/.498 slash line with a .335 BABIP and .373 wOBA with 16 homers, 82 RBI, 66 runs, and five steals. While his numbers look great on their own, his K-rate hovers about 13% for the last two years and 71 strikeouts in 125 games in 2017. Andujar has a cannon for a right arm and possesses good defense at the hot corner. While his defense will keep him on the field, it will also give time for his bat to develop past the .270-20 homer guy many, including me, believe he will be in the majors.
Dylan Cozens (OF PHI AAA) was the talk spring training for the Phillies and was high on everyone’s preseason prospect rankings. However a disappointing 2017 season has tarnished him a bit. A .210/.301/.418 slash line a Triple-A Lehigh Valley with 27 home runs, 75 RBI, 68 runs, eight steals a .283 BABIP and .321 wOBA. Unfortunately the BABIP, wOBA, AVG, OBP, SLG are all the worst of his career for full seasons. Cozens had a K-rate in the low-20s until the last two years where his K-rate has risen to 31.7% in 2016 and 35.8% in 2017, that’s nearly 400 strikeouts in 269 games. His average speed, despite the back-to-back 20 steal seasons, places him in a corner outfield but his strikeouts need to get back down to earth before he’s of real fantasy value beyond homers.
Jake Bauers (OF TB AAA) is a guy I have talked about before and a guy who is performing in crunch time in the playoffs. In 20 ABs, across five games, he’s slashing .400/.455/.600 with a homer, five runs, three RBI, and a steal after posting a .263/.368/.412 line with 13 home runs, 79 runs, 63 RBI, and 20 steals in 132 games at Durham. His 2017 season backs up the 2016 campaign he put together all while being 21 or younger. There is not one specific trait that sticks out with Bauers but the best description for him is that he’s a baseball player. He profiles as a .270-20-10 five hole hitter for Tampa starting potentially next season.
Pacific Coast League
Tyler O’Neill (OF STL AAA) was traded mid-season from Seattle to St. Louis in a prospect-for-prospect swap. That being said, his switch of teams didn’t affect his counting stats terribly, but his average did take a hit (excuse the pun). In the playoffs, he has a .320/.320/.800 line with three home runs, 10 RBI, and six runs in a five-game stretch. While the homers and RBI totals are not a shock from the 5’11”-210-pound O’Neill, the boost in average, in the small sample size, is nice to see. He is a very pull happy hitter who will need to change that if he hopes to raise his average at a higher level. Overall O’Neill will become a middle of the order bat capable of 25+ home runs, 70 runs, and 90+ RBI when he gets to the majors starting next season. His average may be the only thing that hurts his overall fantasy value in the long run.
Magneuris Sierra (OF MLB STL) has been an under-the-radar September call-up since he came straight from Double-A Springfield. Now he is playing for the Triple-A Memphis Red Birds in their playoff run. In the 2017 season however, he split his playing time between High-A and Double-A, playing 101 games combined. In that span he posted a combined .270/.318/.363 with one home run, 48 runs, 44 RBI, and 20 steals. So aside from no power, his downfall is his walk rate of around six percent, especially for the type of hitter he projects to be in the majors. Just 27 walks in 408 at bats in the minors this season isn’t good enough out of a top of the order type of hitter. Speed and opposite field hits are his calling cards at this point with 51 swipes in the last 223 minor league games and a 40% opposite field hit rate. When all is said and done he will be a gold glove caliber defender in center field with a .280 AVG and 25+ steals a season.
Mauricio Dubon (2B/SS MIL AAA) has been unheralded his entire career, starting with being a 26th-round pick of Boston in 2013. Since then however, he has continued to progress through the Boston farm system, before being traded in the Tyler Thornburg deal this offseason. Now with Milwaukee’s Triple-A affiliate, batting .222 in the five game playoff run, he’s put up some intriguing numbers. In 2017 as a whole, he posted a .274/.330/.382 line with eight homers, six of which came at Triple-A, 74 runs, 57 RBI, and 38 steals, only seven coming at Triple-A, between 71 games at Double-A Biloxi and 58 games at Triple-A Colorado Springs. All of Dubon’s other peripherals are good as well with a combined .309 BABIP and .322 wOBA and a 76:39 K:BB over 492 ABs. The biggest issue for Dubon at this point is the log jam of middle infielders ahead of him in Milwaukee already in Jonathan Villar, Orlando Arcia, Eric Sogard, and Neil Walker. He does have versatility but with a cache of solid-fielding, speedy infielders at their disposable, it may be tough for Dubon to break through with the Brewers.