The Tampa Bay Rays are the talk of baseball for their 11-0 start. However, they’re about to be the talk of baseball for another reason — Taj Bradley. He highlights the call-ups this week with the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians also making moves. We’ll highlight those as well as who could be the next prospects on their way to the major leagues in the next few weeks.

 

Recent MLB Call-ups

Taj Bradley — RHP Tampa Bay Rays

The top Rays’ prospect is making his debut on Wednesday evening following Tampa placing Zach Eflin on the 15-day IL. What can we expect from one of the best pitching prospects in baseball? To start with, the 6’2” righty is overall a frontline starting caliber arm. That doesn’t mean he’ll be an ace in his MLB debut. Bradley offers four pitches in his repertoire with three of them being at least above-average if not plus offerings. The fastball sits in the mid-90s, topping out at 98 with some tight movement. The best secondary pitches are his cutter and split-finger changeup. The cutter is closer to a slider sitting in the mid-80s but both play off of the fastball well and give options against LHH. The curveball needs work to be a true out pitch and right now it’s mainly for show and a change of looks. He should have at least two starts in the rotation before Eflin returns and if he does well in those starts he could hang around for more. He’s a guy who will get a lot of attention on the waivers this week, and for good reason, but be cautious giving up the farm for him because it might just be a two start stint for the time being.

Edouard Julien — 2B Minnesota Twins

There’s one thing that caught the eye of everyone in the Twins’ camp at spring training… Julien can hit. Everyone from Rocco Baldelli to Carlos Correa to their pitchers noticed that Julien can really make contact with a baseball. That’s the good news. His minor league offensive stats are very good slashing .284/.437/.487 with 37 HR, 179 R, 143 RBI, and 54 SB in 234 total games with 122 of those in the upper minors. Before we get all excited about the steals upside, his speed grades out as a 45-grade tool at best which is below average. There’s perhaps a handful of steals here but not much more than that. The true value of Julien is in the 60-grade hit tool and 50-grade pop that’s risen to a 55-grade tool of late. The biggest question with Julien is where he’s going to play defensively? He’s mainly a second baseman but has played a few other spots in the minors. The hope is he can play the keystone well enough to keep the bat in the lineup but there is always the possibility of a DH spot.

Peyton Battenfield — RHP Cleveland Guardians

The Guardians suffered another blow to their pitching rotation with the injury to Aaron Civale. Thus the promotion of Peyton Battenfield from Triple-A. One thing’s for certain, Battenfield isn’t their top prospect, by a long way, but he’s the guy perhaps most capable of stepping into the big league rotation right now. While he had a great season two years ago that got him higher on most prospect rankings than he is now, his lack of strikeouts in Triple-A in 2022 showed more of the type of pitcher he truly is. Battenfield posted a great BB% of 8.8-percent but his 16.6-percent K% leaves a lot to be desired in terms of fantasy baseball relevant starters. He has a deep five-pitch arsenal that keeps hitters off-balance and gets soft contact but that fits the mold of a number-four or number-five starter in a major league rotation.
 

Next MLB Prospects Who Could Be Called Up

Tyler Soderstrom — 1B/C Oakland Athletics

The A’s need some juice or something to talk about. So why not make Soderstrom the guy that gets that talk? They’ve gotten nothing from their current combo of Jesus Aguilar and Ryan Noda. Soderstrom has slashed .263/.310/.553 in nine games this year at Triple-A with seven XBH, seven RBI, and six runs. That follows his .267/.324/.501 slash line, 29 homers, 105 RBI, and 66 runs in 134 games over three levels in 2022. Clearly, the A’s aren’t playing for anything other than the first pick this year but it will become a necessity to call-up Soderstrom shortly to get him the MLB experience needed for when he and his 55-grade hit tool and 60-grade power tool are in the middle of a contending A’s lineup.

Matthew Liberatore — LHP St. Louis Cardinals

Liberatore has looked more like his old self, the one that made him a top-100 prospect. In two starts thus far he’s thrown 10 shutout innings at Triple-A while striking out 14. Yes, he struggled in the majors last year as well as at Triple-A, but the tweaks he made in his delivery and sequencing are starting to pay off. Let’s face it, if the Cardinals are going to compete seriously in the NL Central, they’re going to need more pitching help than Jake Woodford is currently providing that’s for sure. Liberatore should be up soon if he has another good start at Triple-A and Woodford continues to struggle like he has.

Brett Baty — 3B New York Mets

Baty has been crushing the ball thus far at Triple-A, even with missing a couple of games with a thumb issue. He nearly broke camp with the team and has done nothing to dissuade those thoughts at Syracuse. Couple his hot start with Eduardo Escobar completely sucking at 3B to start the year and you have a case for Baty to be called up. Escobar is slashing .111/.125/.222 with a BABIP of .115, wOBA of .166, and a wRC+ of ONE. It’s not like Mark Canha is fairing much better in left field. Baty could/should supplant either in the lineup in short order.

Ronny Mauricio — SS New York Mets

In 10 games so far for Triple-A Syracuse, he’s slashing .361/.439/.806 with four homers, 10 RBI, seven runs, and a steal. Last year at Double-A there were concerns with his discipline as he struck out 125 times in 123 games while walking just 24 times leading to a sub-.300 OBP. However, he still went 26-20 in HR-SB and this year he’s showing better discipline with four walks already to seven strikeouts. If you put Mauricio at 3B (his power and plus arm make him a great fit) and Baty at LF it gets both Canha and Escobar out of the everyday lineup and gives Mets’ fans a taste of the next core with Alvarez already up as well.

Chase Silseth — RHP Los Angeles Angels

It’s time to give Silseth another shot at the MLB rotation. We’ve seen enough of Jose Suarez to know he’s not cutting it. I mean Suarez got hammered by a mediocre (at best) Nationals’ offense. Silseth has been dominant in two Triple-A starts this year with a 13:3 K:BB ratio and 11 shutout innings. The Angles need some help in the pitching staff as it’s just been Shohei Ohtani and Patrick Sandoval this year and that isn’t going to cut it.

Tanner Bibee — RHP Cleveland Guardians

He’s been a fast riser through the Guardians system since being drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 draft out of Cal State Fullerton. While he’s only had one start at Triple-A (5.0 IP, four hits, seven Ks, 0 ER), he was dominant last year over 132.2 innings at two levels. He posted a 167:27 K:BB ratio and a 2.17 ERA with a 0.96 WHIP all of which were top-six in the minor leagues across the board. His four-pitch mix has improved a lot including a now-upper-90s fastball with run, a mid-80s sweeping slider, an upper-80s changeup, and a mid-70s curveball which are all at least above-average. If he continues the good start at Triple-A, Bibee could be in the middle of the Guardians rotation in short order even when Civale returns from injury and Triston McKenzie is back. If you can stash him now, it’s worth it.

 

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