There’s been a ton going on in the world of MLB prospects over the last week. A few interesting top prospects have been called-up and could be valuable for fantasy baseball lineups going forward. Nolan Jones of the Cleveland Guardians headlines the recent MLB call-ups as he becomes a possible fantasy baseball waiver wire target. Jones and a couple of other prospects recently made their MLB debuts and could appear in fantasy baseball rankings and MLB projections the rest of the way. Some other youngsters have been promoted at the minor league level for lighting up the stat lines and possibly rising up the MLB prospect rankings. Plus, how can we forget about the recent trade that happened between the Atlanta Braves and Kansas City Royals involving a big prospect? Keep an eye on the latest fantasy baseball news and MLB lineups as the 2022 MLB Trade Deadline draws closer and other top prospects are dealt to new teams. Oh yeah, the 2022 MLB All-Star Futures Game rosters were also announced with a ton of intriguing names to know as you watch the action. We’ll touch on all of that in this week’s fantasy baseball prospect report. 

 

 

MLB Prospects Called Up This Week

 

 

Nolan Jones – 3B/OF, Cleveland Guardians

Jones has been a bit of an enigma in his time in the Guardians system. The scouting grades on his skills suggested that he’d be the prototypical corner infield or outfield power bat with not much speed and a so-so hit tool. That’s not necessarily been the case. So far, the hit tool has out-shone the power throughout his time in the minors. Across 462 games in the minors, he hit .275 with a .399 OBP but only racked up 54 homers – a pace just shy of 19 homers over 162 games. Not great for a 6-foot-4, 195-pound lefty-hitting corner infielder with 60-grade power. Jones has gotten off to a record-setting start with Cleveland having posted eight RBI in his first four games while hitting .412 over his first six games. However, if the power doesn’t start to show up soon, it might make him more of a better real-life player for Cleveland rather than a fantasy one.

 

 

 

Esteury Ruiz – OF, San Diego Padres

You’ve heard me mention Ruiz a few times previously. Once it was in a prospect report talking about how he might come up soon and the second time was on one of the podcasts with Colby Conway. Guess what? The call-up came. Ruiz is a blisteringly fast outfielder. There’s no other way to put it. Ruiz’s speed tool grades out at 80, and that might not even be good enough. While the hit tool and power are below-average, he’s still slashing .281/.360/.457 with 50 homers in 484 games in the minors. However, his speed is what everyone is talking about – so let’s talk about it. Ruiz has swiped 60 bags in 77 games this year between Double-A and Triple-A (mostly Triple-A). For his career, he has 218 thefts in those 484 games. If that’s not impressive enough, he’s only struck out 242 times in that same span – meaning he’s nearly swiped as many bags as he’s struck out in his career. The Padres are hurting in the outfield right now with production and injuries, so Ruiz has been called up to add a spark. There’s no real reason he can’t be a full-time regular in centerfield but at worst, he’s a steal threat any time he comes in off the bench too.

 

 

 

Korey Lee – C, Houston Astros

Unlike the other two in this section, Lee’s call-up was more out of necessity rather than performance. He was called up when Jason Castro was put on the IL with knee issues, though likely not long-lasting ones, and he’ll almost assuredly go back down once Castro’s back. Lee has only been catching full-time since 2019, but he’s made big strides behind the dish in that time – that is, until this year. Lee was hitting .226/.285/.419 in 64 games at Triple-A before his call-up and while he did have 10 homers and six steals, the 73 strikeouts are concerning. The Houston Astros' prospect profiles as a slightly below-average hitter with above-average pop and good defense – AKA your prototypical backstop. Lee just needs a little more time to season in the minors, as most catchers do at 23 years old. He’ll get that for the rest of the year after his two-week call-up to the majors is done, regardless of how he hits for Houston.
 

Hot MLB Prospects To Watch

Corbin Carroll – OF, Arizona Diamondbacks

It’s not often that we see a prospect come back from an injury and immediately get promoted but that’s what happened with Carroll. In the last 14 games he’s played, he’s hitting .320 with five homers and a steal with 11 RBI and 12 runs scored. In fact, the top-10 prospect in baseball has two home runs in his first two games at Triple-A Reno. Carroll has an immense skill set with a 60-grade hit tool, 55-grade power, and 70-grade speed. That’s led the 21-year-old lefty-hitting outfielder to hit .316/.430/.612 with 23 homers, 111 runs, 70 RBI, 41 steals, 21 doubles, and 17 triples in 111 career minor league games. The only concern is a K-rate that's a tad higher than it should be, but we’re just nitpicking now. There’s a real chance his first several years in the majors are like Mookie Betts’ in Boston.

 

Anthony Volpe – SS, New York Yankees

Everywhere we look over the last week or so we’ve seen Volpe’s name somewhere. Whether it be a rumored return piece for Luis Castillo in a potential trade, a spot on the 2022 MLB All-Star Futures Game roster, or simply Yankee fans talking about him all over Twitter. It’s hard to ignore what Volpe has been doing. In the last 10 games for Double-A Somerset, he’s slashing .342/.457/.553 with one homer, seven runs, three RBI, and seven steals. Granted we’d love to see more than one home run, however, he does have 11 on the year with his 35 steals. He also had 27 long balls to go with 33 steals last year. Volpe is still just 21 years old and the power is real, it’s just a matter of getting it to show in games consistently against more advanced pitchers. We’ll get to see him ply his craft against other top prospects on Sunday in the Futures Game and, eventually, against fellow major leaguers next year. Volpe has all the makings of the next superstar in New York for the Yankees.

 

Zac Veen – OF, Colorado Rockies

Since being a first-rounder in the odd, shortened 2020 MLB Draft, Veen has been on a hot streak. He’s really hitting it well the last 10 games or so with a .372/.426/.581 slash line, but the totality of the numbers in his 182 minor league games is impressive. The young, still-just-20-year-old, outfielder has hit .294/.392/.493 with 26 homers, 144 runs, 128 RBI, and a whopping 72 steals in that 182-game span while also adding 43 doubles and seven triples to the line as well. Now, he is only at High-A, and the speed grades out as just above-average – indicating the steals will drop as he moves up higher in the system. Still, the rest of his tools won’t. Veen has a 60-grade hit tool with burgeoning plus power and plays very good corner outfield defense. He should be manning right field in Colorado and hitting in the middle of their order starting in perhaps the second half of 2023.

 

 

MLB Top Prospects on 2022 All-Star Futures Game Rosters

Oscar Colas – OF, Chicago White Sox

The next Cuban in Chicago is coming. The White Sox have had a long list of Cuban players on their major-league roster in the past several years and Colas looks to be the next – assuming he beats Yoelqui Céspedes to the south side. In his first year stateside, Colas started at High-A and was just promoted to Double-A Birmingham a few days ago. In 60 games in 2022, he’s hitting .309 with a .366 OBP, .470 SLG, seven homers, 42 RBI, 38 runs, and a token stolen base. The power from the left side is his calling card as it grades out as a plus tool, but the hit tool is average as well – not a bad combo. There’s not much to write about in terms of speed, though, and the defense is good enough. Colas will need to work on plate discipline and approach in the upper minors as he adjusts to more advanced pitching, but the profile is there for him to be a five or six-hole hitter for Chicago at some point in 2023.

 

Henry Davis – C, Pittsburgh Pirates

Shocker that the first overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft is in the Futures Game the next year right? Well, Davis has earned it. He’s split his first full pro season between High-A and Double-A Altoona, where he now plays, and he’s been showing very well overall. In 41 games this year, Davis is slashing .268/.399/.483 with seven homers, five steals, 31 RBI, and 27 runs. There’s not a thing wrong with that stat line, especially for a catcher. The only thing to nitpick right now is getting the strikeouts in check with 33 over 41 contests so far this year. There’s little doubt that he’ll be a weapon on both sides of the dish for Pittsburgh as he profiles as a Will Smith type bat with a double-plus arm to throw out would-be base-stealers.

 

Jared Shuster – LHP, Atlanta Braves

We’ve heard a ton about Atlanta's former top prospect, Drew Waters, this week. We also continue to hear how solid the home-grown pitching talent for the Braves has been with Max Fried, Kyle Wright, and Ian Anderson all looking good this year. Add Shuster’s name to that list as the next intriguing arm in the Braves' system. The lefty’s second go at Double-A is going a lot better than his first. He’s posted a 2.87 ERA in 16 starts and 84.2 innings with a 98:21 K:BB ratio and a very nice .201 BAA and sub-1.00 WHIP. He’s more of a command-control lefty than a pure stuff lefty as two of his three pitches are average, to perhaps a tick above-average, while his third pitch is a plus offering. The fastball sits comfortably in the low-90s with great control and the slider has become a better swing-and-miss pitch working away from lefties and in on righties. However, his best pitch is the changeup. The fade and drop on the pitch are great and the velocity difference from the fastball is the quintessential 10-12 mph. He’ll throw it to either hitter and, in all counts, sometimes multiple times in a row since it’s that good. We’re not talking about the next ace or No. 2 starter here, but rather a solid floor left-handed pitcher who should be a No. 4 starter is still something to take note of for fantasy.

 

Jasson Dominguez – OF, New York Yankees

The hype surrounding Dominguez when the Yankees signed him for a $5.1 million deal in 2019 was palpable. Has he lived up to that hype? In his fist season stateside, no not really. However, the 5-foot-10 19-year-old dynamo is putting things together for Class-A Tampa this year. He’s hitting .267/.376/.444 with nine homers, 54 runs, 36 RBI, and 18 steals to go with 17 doubles and two triples in 73 games. In the last 10 games, he’s really caught fire with a .333/.500/.600 slash, two home runs, and four steals. When Dominguez was first signed, the belief was that he’d have five plus or better skills – but that’s been revised a bit now. While he’s still a five-tool player – and still just 19 with more maturing in every way still to happen – the hit, run, and fielding traits are better described as above-average with plus-power. What does that mean for a future profile? We’re looking at an outfielder who can hit .280-.290 with 25-32 homers, 22-26 steals, and be somewhere in the 80-90 run and RBI threshold. Still good right? Downgrading isn’t always bad, especially when you start as high as Dominguez did.

 


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