You did in fact read the title of this week’s prospect report correctly even though it seems like an oxymoron of sorts. I mean if they are ranked that highly, how in the world are they underrated? Well okay perhaps underrated isn’t the best term so how about we go with…less talked about or under-hyped. There are several prospects amongst the top-50 that just don’t get talked about as much as some of their counterparts do and it’s high-time we give them their time in the spotlight this week.
Royce Lewis, SS MIN – Lewis is the seventh-ranked prospect in all of baseball right now and the third best shortstop prospect, but he’s done most of that relatively under-the-radar. Lewis was the top overall pick of the 2017 draft out of the California High School ranks and since then he’s been moving up the minor league levels fairly quickly and is currently the youngest players in the High-A Florida State League. In 2019, Lewis is slashing .236/.311/.342 with a home run, 25 runs, 11 RBI, and eight steals in 40 games at High-A while in 2018 he split time between Class-A and High-A the shortstop slashed .292/.352/.452 with 14 home runs, 83 runs, 74 RBI, and 28 steals in 121 games. The Twins took the athletic infielder on the hope that his athleticism could play while the rest of his tools polished up and so far it’s working in their favor as he’s a guy that possesses five above-average or better skills. He is still just 19 years old but it’s quite clear that he has everything needed to succeed playing short at the major league level once he has enough seasoning at the minor league level which should come to an end at some point in 2020.
ETA: Late-2020
Alex Kirilloff, OF MIN– Not to pile on the Twins here, but their other top prospect in Kirilloff, who’s ranked 12th in baseball, has also flown a bit out view of the spotlight since being the top overall pick in the 2016 draft. Perhaps the reason he’s been a bit more unknown than some others is that he missed the entirety of 2017 with Tommy John surgery but then had a big-time comeback in 2018 when he finished third in all of the minors in batting average and seventh in RBI. The 6’2”, 195 lb. outfielder has all the makings of a major batter for the middle of the Twins order with five plus-tools at his disposal. This year at Double-A for the first time, the 21-year-old hasn’t started all that well slashing .214/.313/.598 with four XBH, six RBI, five runs, and two steals in 18 games thus far. He is off the recovery protocol this year and should be able to make Triple-A in 2019 after playing 130 games in 2018 but the power numbers will definitely will need to come up to make the jump since he hit 20 dingers between Class-A and High-A last season. Overall, the 65-grade hit tool and 55-grade power are great but the 55-grade Arm and Field tools are what will keep him in the lineup every day in a corner outfield spot.
ETA: Mid-2020
Cristian Pache, OF ATL – The Braves prospects get all sorts of hubbub just about everywhere you turn nowadays especially with the recent call-ups of Austin Riley and Mike Soroka prior to that but there’s someone else not getting nearly the talk he should be. Pache is the top prospect in the Braves loaded, number two overall system, yet the pitchers get all the talk. The 20-year-old is a top-15 prospect overall and has three double-plus (70-grade) tools in his toolbelt in his Run, Arm, and Field skills while the Hit tool rates as a 55-grade and the power is slightly below average at 45. In his first full season in pro ball, Pache played 119 games at Class-A in 2017 while slashing .281/.335/.343 with a .314 wOBA, zero homers, 60 runs, 42 RBI, and 32 steals. He backed that season up with a 122-game campaign in 2018, split between High-A and Double-A, while slashing .280/.307/.410, a .325 wOBA, nine homers, 56 runs, 47 RBI, and seven steals. Now in 2019, starting at Double-A Mississippi, he’s hitting .284/.333/.477, a .371 wOBA, three home runs, 21 RBI, 19 runs, and six steals in the first 40 games. The youngster is a future all-star centerfielder just as soon as he gets more consistent across the board in the minors.
ETA: Late-2020
Joey Bart, C SF – Catchers in general don’t get a lot of attention and only the top few in the majors are known as household names to casual fans. Bart though should be known more widely given that he’s not only the top catcher prospect in the minors and the top Giants prospect but also a top-25 prospect overall following being drafted second overall in the 2018 draft. In 51 games in his rookie year, split between rookie ball and Low-A, Bart slashed .294/.364/.588 with 13 home runs, 40 RBI, 28 runs, and two steals but it wasn’t just the offense as he also threw out 39-percent (16-of-41) of would-be base stealers as well. This season he’s only managed 10 games at High-A before being sidelined until early June with a broken hand but in those 10 appearances he is hitting .270/.341/.541 with two home runs, eight RBI, seven runs, and a .396 wOBA. Clearly the heir-apparent to the veteran Buster Posey , Bart has a couple of years left down on the farm as he refines his receiving and framing skills while also improving from a game-calling perspective. When he gets to the bigs though, he should hit for a nice average and 22-25 home run pop while shutting down opposing running games.
ETA: Mid-2021
Sixto Sanchez, RHP MIA – The centerpiece of the return for dealing away J.T. Realmuto inside the division was Sanchez, the 25th-ranked prospect in baseball and one of the top right-handed pitching prospects in the game as well. Sanchez wasn’t a known commodity when he signed with the Phillies in 2015 but that all changed when he won the Gulf Coast League ERA title in 2016 with a 0.50 mark (2.26 FIP) across 54 innings in 11 starts. Since then he’s risen up the ranks and levels of the minor leagues. The 20-year-old righty has perhaps the best fastball of any one in the minors at a 75-grade on the 20-80 scale as it not only routinely hits triple-digits late into starts but he also throws both a two-seam and four-seam variety. The two-seam sinks and produces ground ball contact while the four-seamer gets thrown high in the zone as an out pitch. The curve and changeup are both above-average offerings with the ability to develop to plus pitches in the near future. Sanchez has plus control and plus command making his, already great arsenal, play up despite his 6’0”, 185-pound frame. He’s already made Double-A Jacksonville this year and should be at Triple-A next year before getting the call to be the future ace of the Marlins burgeoning rotation.
ETA: Late-2020
Brendan McKay, LHP/DH TB – The Rays made some news a few weeks back for calling up their top first base prospect Nate Lowe after a hot start at Triple-A but given that they have one of the top systems in the league, there are plenty more from where Lowe came from. McKay is one of those plenty. He was taken in the first round of the 2017 draft out of Louisville as a two-way player and the Rays have continued to develop him that way, though gradually reducing his on-field time and steering him more toward mainly a pitcher. Since Tampa wants to be more like a Shohei Ohtani in that he pitches while DHing around his pitching schedule, we’ll focus more on his pitching repertoire. Including the 35.2 innings at Double-A Montgomery this year, McKay has taken the mound for 134 innings in his pro career and has amassed a combined 2.08 ERA, 2.16 FIP, 0.86 WHIP, 11.8 K/9, 1.81 BB/9, and a 35.3-percent K-rate in 30 starts (32 appearances). The southpaw has a four-pitch mix containing four above-average offerings anchored by the 92-95 mph fastball that works to both sides of the plate well and he follows that up with a cutter, changeup, and curveball which all work as out pitches despite being secondary. The command and control sets him apart too as they both grade out as plus skills. The bat on the other hand, hasn’t come around yet with a career .210/.339/.331 slash line in 115 games (395 at bats) with 10 homers, 69 RBI, 56 runs, and two steals. McKay’s future is clearly on the mound and he should be treated as a number two starter in terms of future standing.
ETA: Mid-2020
Jesus Sanchez, OF TB – With so many Rays ranked highly on prospect lists it’s easy to skip over a few but Sanchez shouldn’t be one of those as he is a future middle-of-the-order right fielder for Tampa bay who’s already shown some of what he can do. In 2017, his first full season in pro ball, Sanchez slashed .305/.348/.478 with a .369 wOBA in 117 games at Class-A while tallying 15 home runs, 82 RBI, 81 runs, and seven swiped bags which paces him out to a 21-homer, 114-RBI, 112-run, 10-steal campaign in 162 games. His approach at the plate has led to a career average over .300 and a sub-20-percent K-rate in 389 career games while also learning how to fully tap into the power that his 6’3”, 230-pound frame can generate. The 21-year-old outfielder has a cannon for an arm and is an above-average defender in right which is where his offensive profile best fits. Sanchez just needs to keep doing what he’s been doing and he’ll get to the majors soon enough as he’s already in Double-A this season for the second time.
ETA: Mid-2020
Adrian Morejon, LHP SD – Chris Paddack , Fernando Tatis Jr., Luis Urias, Ty France , Nick Margevicius, and Cal Quantrill are the prospects to make the majors for the Padres thus far in 2019 however Morejon is ranked higher than all but three of those prospects. In fact he’s the 46th-ranked prospect and is the sixth-best left-handed starter prospect as well. At 6’0” and 175 pounds he’s not the biggest guy on the mound but that hasn’t stopped him from going after hitters with a career 25.2-percent K-rate and 8.1-percent BB-rate. He sits at 93-96 mph with his fastball and it plays up because of the control he has on the pitch while the curveball is the main secondary pitch and is just as good as his fastball. The changeup is really two different off-speed pitches as he throws a straight change and a knuckle-change with both being above-average offerings. Morejon has been up and down in ERA terms in his pro career with marks of 3.57, 4.23, 3.30, and 6.11 in his 146-career innings including the highest mark in Double-A this season. While the K-rate and BB-rate are great, he needs to be better about not allowing the opposing team to score if he is to realize his number-three starter upside.
ETA: Late-2020