Tag Archives: MLB

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Moniak, Sensel, Ray and Collins start their careers off with a bang

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It’s been a bit over a month since the MLB Draft. The top ten picks were nearly an even split between bats and arms, with six pitchers going in the first ten picks and four bats rounding it all out.

Let’s take a peak at how those bats are doing since signing.

1-1 Mickey Moniak, Philadelphia Phillies ($6.1-million signing bonus)

While Zack Collins was my personal favorite bat in the draft, Moniak was hands down my favorite all around player. I felt the Phillies were wise going for a bat — either Corey Ray, Kyle Lewis or Moniak — with this year’s pitching options, and thus far it seems that they have chosen wisely.

Moniak went hitless in his June 25th Gulf Coast Phillies debut, but has been hitting ever since. Heading into Sunday he is slashing .315/.378/.397 with one double, triple and home run while swiping three of six stolen base attempts. He has struck out a bit, posting a 14-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 77 plate appearances, but that is hardly alarming at 18 years of age. He saw a seven game hitting streak come to an end yesterday, in which he went 11-for-29 (a .379 batting average).

1-2 Nick Senzel, Cincinnati Reds ($6.2-million signing bonus)

Senzel was the easiest pick in Mock Drafts. He filled a glaring need for the Reds and was arguably the most major league ready bat in the top picks. He has shown it thus far in his brief debut.

Surprisingly, Senzel didn’t hit all that well in the Pioneer League. He hit .152 in ten Rookie League games, but did show great plate awareness striking out five times and walking six. Since jumping up to the Midwest League of Low-A ball, he has been on fire.

He is slashing .333/.435/.536 since his promotion. He went 6-for-14 in his first three games in Low-A and posted a big 4-for-5 night on July 18th in which he launched his first career home run. He is showing advanced plate presence at the next level as well, walking 13.8 percent of the time while striking out 17.5 percent of his plate appearances. After posting a rather unlucky .172 BABIP at the Rookie Level, he has been helped by a .373 BABIP in Dayton, but I think that is more indicative of the solid contact he makes as opposed to bad positioning in the field.

How are Corey Ray and Zack Collins performing? Head on over to my full article at Minor League Ball and find out by clicking on the link below:

Checking in on the MLB Draft Top 10 — the bats

 

Basbeall, MLB

New York Yankees prospect Dermis Garcia blasting his way to stardom

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Dermis Garcia likes to hit home runs. The New York Yankees one-time shortstop prospect doesn’t bring too much else to the table right now. But he likes to hit home runs and a lot of them.

Garcia came to the Yankees when they went on their international market spending frenzy back in 2014 and 2015. Signed for $3.2-million at the age of 16 out of the Dominican Republic, the 6-foot-3, 200 pound right-handed hitter was widely considered a top ten international free agent. Most saw his exciting raw power, with the ability to hit mesmerizing long balls, but strongly questioned how his video game-esque hitting would translate from the batting cage to pro ball stateside.

Those concerns were justified in his GCL debut. Garcia slashed .159/.256/.188 with a horrific 32.1-percent strikeout rate in just 78 plate appearances. Strangely enough, you would think such a free swinger wouldn’t know how to take a walk, yet he drew a free pass nearly 12-percent of his plate appearances, which is promising for a 17-year old getting his first taste of pro ball. That power was nowhere to be found, as he hit no home runs and two doubles.

Perhaps that is because he was saving it for 2016. His sophomore campaign in Pulaski has been well documented of late. In just 97 plate appearances, Garcia has launched 10 home runs, some of epic proportions such as the one below from Baseball America’s Josh Norris that made it’s way around social media the other day.

Garcia is posting an insane 158 wRC+ backed by his power surge, which also includes four doubles. His strikeout rate has risen as high as some of his moonshots (38.1-percent), but so has his walk rate (13.4-percent). He recently came off a streak where he launched four home runs in a four-day span. Garcia is slashing .250/.366/.655 with a 1.021 OPS, so — minus the strikeout issues — a very impressive stat line to say the least.

For more on the big bat of the Yankees Dermis Garcia, head on over to Minor League Ball for my full analysis and projections by clicking on the link below:

Dermis Garcia is the Yankees newest Baby Bomber

Basbeall, MLB

The Washington Nationals Erick Fedde back to form after TJS

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Jordan Zimmerman. Stephen Strasburg. Lucas Giolito. Three exciting arms who are still rising to great success because the Washington Nationals exhibited patience as they traveled the long road to recovery from Tommy John surgery.

Is Erick Fedde the next in line in the nation’s capital?

Keep reading for more on the Nats most recent success story.

Basbeall, MLB

The Los Angeles Dodgers Alex Verdugo shaping into top outfield prospect

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Alex Verdugo came to the Los Angeles Dodgers widely considered the best two-way prospect in the draft. He and the Dodgers both had a choice to make at the professional level, however: Would Verdugo become a pitcher with his 94-mile-per-hour cannon, or would he become an outfielder with a lightning-quick bat?

Based on the results thus far, they chose wisely.

Keep reading for more on Verdugo’s transformation to top prospect.

Basbeall, MLB

The Oakland As Franklin Barreto is baseball’s most unsung top prospect

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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.

Find out more on one of MLB’s most exciting prospects.

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The Seattle Mariners Alex Jackson’s career off to a slow start

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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.

Read more about the struggles of the once top pick.

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New York Yankees sleeper catching prospect Luis Torrens coming alive in A Ball

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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.

Read more about the return of Torrens.

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Colorado Rockies David Dahl on the brink of big league promotion

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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.

Keep reading for more on Dahl’s prospect.

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The Cleveland Indians Erik Gonzalez earns trip to bigs with breakout All Star Game

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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.

Read more on the eye-opening performance of Gonzalez.