2022 Fantasy Baseball Player Spotlight: Gabriel Moreno and Francisco Alvarez As Potential September Call-Ups
The Toronto Blue Jays made a bold move in firing Charlie Montoya mid-July in the hunt for a playoff spot. When expectations are high and you’re touting a mediocre record as manager, a change needs to be made considering many believed Toronto to be a playoff contender in 2022. Since Montoya’s release the Blue Jays are 27-16 and locked into the final AL Wild Card spot. With the new CBA, general managers have more wiggle room for September call-ups without utilizing the player’s service time. And as a bonus, once said player is on the roster full-time the following year, and they rank well in awards voting in the years that follow, then organization is rewarded with extra draft picks a few years down the line. This might be why we’re seeing players such as Gunnar Henderson for the Orioles get a September call-up. Josh Jung has been given the call by the Rangers. The Yankees fan base finally broke Brian Cashman into promoting Oswald Peraza. Triston Casas was brought up by the Red Sox over the weekend. The list may only grow with the added incentive of draft picks and one prospect I would like to see get called up (again) is Gabriel Moreno of the Blue jays.
Moreno had a brief call up with Toronto earlier in the year, so he already registered some games toward service time. He didn’t exhibit much power with only one extra base hit in 60 plate appearances, but he did hit .276 in his brief stint with Toronto.
Ranked as a top ten prospect on MLB.com, Moreno displays excellent defense with a decent bat. The concern with Moreno in 2022 is that there’s been a drop off in power. He hit eight home runs in 32 games at Double-A in 2021 but has just three in 61 games at Triple-A this season. While his slugging percentage at Triple-A is down to just .427 it looks like Moreno may have heard the comments on his power…
Anybody can hit a ball over the wall, but how many can hit it into the wall? While the home runs may be lacking there are still plenty of instances where he’s collecting hard hits and he touts a wRC+ of 123 in Triple-A with seven stolen bases as well.
A big problem for Moreno at the moment is the same one he’s had to deal with all year; there really isn’t a spot for him on the big-league roster aside from being just the third catcher with the Blue Jays behind Danny Jansen and Alejandro Kirk. In a case for Moreno’s promotion, Jansen has been slashing .162/.241/.265 with just three extra base hits since July 24th. For Kirk, he’s only slashing .222/.343/.289 with four extra base hits since July 31st. Promoting Moreno may lead to a lateral move regarding the power, but he can’t be much worse in terms of batting average than what the other two have been providing of late.
Toronto currently has a 2.5-game lead for the final AL Wild Card spot over their division rivals, the Baltimore Orioles. With their playoff surge since firing Montoya, the Blue Jays likely want to put themselves in position where they have the least amount of easy outs in their lineup. Time will tell what approach they take with Moreno. But if you are looking for a top prospect that should get a later September call up then we can consider Francisco Álvarez of the New York Mets.
If Alvarez wasn’t dealing with an ankle injury that had some questioning whether it would end his 2022 season, then he might be up with the big-league club currently. Alvarez is considered to be the top-ranked prospect since all the other number one prospects have gotten the call, but Alvarez has missed time due to his ankle but the good news is that it doesn’t require surgery right now. In the offseason? Maybe.
But Alvarez may end up in a similar situation to Moreno in that he would be the third catcher behind James McCann and Tomás Nido. McCann has only been slashing .188/.243/.273 with a 24.3% strikeout rate and a 4.3% walk rate. It doesn’t get much better with Nido who is slashing just .224/.266/.268 with a 24.6% strikeout rate and a 5.1% walk rate. These two also only have two home runs combined on the year. Fantasy Alarm’s resident Mets fan, Justin Vreeland, tweeted this gem out that still holds true even two months later…
There’s a little more certainty that Alvarez gets the call although it’ll likely be later this month. The Mets need an offensive injection at the catcher position and Alvarez provides that over what they currently have. If the ankle can hold up, he can improve an already impressive Mets lineup for the postseason run.
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