Yoan Moncada. Lucas Giolito. Alex Bregman. Jose Berrios. Orlando Arcia — just to name a few. The top-30 prospects’ names roll right off the tongue. Quite a few have already been yo-yoed between the majors and minors this year, and nearly every one of them is on someone’s radar, whether as a potential trade target or on the brink of their highly-anticipated debut.
All but Franklin Barreto, that is.
Alex Jackson entered the 2014 draft heralded as the top high school bat in the nation, with some even arguing that he was the best athlete in the draft. Weeks of speculation had Jackson as the overall top pick, so when the Seattle Mariners were able to lock his then 70-grade power and advanced hitting approach at the sixth pick, they thought they had found a steal.
It has been anything but thus far in Jackson’s young career.
Luis Torrens opened a lot of eyes in his 2014 breakout season for the New York Yankees farm system. The young catcher showed the offense that the Yankees knew could match the sound defense he already had behind the plate. Hopes were high for Torrens to take it to the next level.
And as so often happens with young prospects, those hopes were derailed when Torrens missed the entire 2015 with a torn labrum.
Fully recovered, Torrens is looking stronger than ever in Charleston.
David Dahl is a warrior. That’s not an understatement. The Colorado Rockies top outfield prospect fought back from a spleen injury in an on-field collision last season and is having the best season of a really bright, young career. And if the Rockies pull a few strings at the trade deadline — as quite a few expect — he may even be a big leaguer soon.
The Minnesota Twins Jose Berrios has long been one of baseball’s top pitching prospects. The world got a glimpse of the 22-year old future ace late in April when the Twins called him up to The Show. Unfortunately it didn’t go as planned.
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t know much about Erik Gonzalez. I knew he was a shortstop in the Cleveland Indians system that was surpassed to the bigs by Francisco Lindor. I knew that he was the starting shortstop for the International League All Stars when I headed to Charlotte Wednesday night.
Hitting has never been a problem for the Chicago Cubs prospect Dan Vogelbach. He’s done it quite successfully since the day he was drafted. This year, it has been business as usual as Vogelbach is enjoying an All-Star season that saw him as the starting first baseman for the Pacific Coast League Wednesday night in Charlotte.
Thirty years ago, Wally Backman was the starting second baseman for the legendary 1986 New York Mets squad. They were a very high-profiled team, and to this day still very much are. Lenny Dyskstra just saw the release of his book, and ESPN aired the 30 For 30 on Doc and Darryl this week.
Backman is still in the limelight as well. Since 2013, he has been at the helm for the Mets Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas 51s. If you watched baseball last season, you are aware that the Mets had an exciting turnaround in 2015, led to the World Series by many of the young players Backman has coached since taking over as manager.
Ben Gamel has certainly had an exciting season. The New York Yankees’ outfield prospect got his first taste of the Bronx earlier this season. Wednesday, he got his first start in a Triple-A All Star Game.
This past Wednesday was one of the best experiences of my young journalistic career in covering Minor League Baseball. I was on hand in Charlotte, North Carolina at BB & T Ballpark — home of the Charlotte Knights — for the Triple A All Star Game.
The stars of tomorrow of the International and Pacific Coast League battled in what would be a 4-2 victory for the IL. I was surrounded by a dozen guys that will be in the big leagues by September and a handful that have already been there. Oh, and a PCL head coach that was the starting second baseman of one of the greatest World Series champion teams of my lifetime, a member of the 600 Home Run Club and a World Series champion manager.
It was a good night. Here are some videos and pictures from my evening.
![Minnesota Twins top prospect Jose Berrios ready for bigs once again [Interview]](https://waynecavadi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/screen-shot-2016-07-16-at-10-47-37-pm1.png?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![The Chicago Cubs Dan Vogelbach awaiting his turn in Iowa [Interview]](https://waynecavadi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/big-dan.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![Wally Backman still plays a big role in New York Mets success [Interview]](https://waynecavadi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/img_3176.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
![The New York Yankees Ben Gamel talks about his big 2016 [Interview]](https://waynecavadi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/screen-shot-2016-07-15-at-3-00-27-pm1.png?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
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