YOUNGSTER UPDATES

Orlando Arcia might be called up by the Brewers? The club dealt Aaron Hill to the Red Sox opening up a roster spot at the big league level. The thought goes that Jonathan Villar will be moved to third base and Arcia will be called up to take over at shortstop. Could happen. The only problem with that is that he’s not exactly tearing it up. Over his last 10 games Arcia’s hitting .190 to drop his season long slash line down to .268/.320/.397 this year at Triple-A. He’s hit seven homers with 12 steals, though he has been caught six times. Not exactly looking like that bat is ready for prime-time.

Jose Berrios is a righty I love who I wrote about last week. Since that point he went out and tossed a one run, seven strikeout no walk complete game against Syracuse. That’s 4-straight quality starts that includes 29 strikeouts in 30 innings with a 0.62 ERA. He should be in the big leagues.

Alex Bregman has hit .389 with a 1.310 OPS, four homers and 14 RBI in eight games at Triple-A. The bat is on fire. Will he be called up immediately? I wrote why he might not be coming as quickly as you think in Ray’s Ramblings.

Lewis Brinson is batting .250 with one homer and three steals his last 10 games. An uber-talent, the outfielder of the Rangers has hit .230 with a .291 OBP and .423 OPS this season. He’s just been off virtually all year. He might be up in September, but it won’t be before then.

J.P. Crawford of the Phillies has appeared in 36 games at Double-A and 44 games at Triple-A. All told the shortstop has hit a mere .265 though his .366 OBP is solid. Too bad his .358 SLG ain’t. Crawford has also stolen just 10 of 15 bases he’s tried to swipe. His slash line is slightly worse at Triple-A (.264/.338/.333) though he has hit better the last 10 games with a .410 average. The Phillies could call him up at any point but the bat isn’t quite there yet, though the 1:1 K/BB ratio is impressive.

David Dahl is a future star. There are rumblings that the Rockies could, might, deal Carlos Gonzalez. If they do make that decision one would think that Dahl would be called up. We shall see. If Dahl is called up, what will be coming? A lefty swinger who is batting .296 with a .378 OBP and .534 SLG is who Dahl is. In 80 games he’s hit 15 homers and stolen 16 bases, driving in 50 while scoring 58 times. That’s elite level stuff. He’s also hit .381 over his last 10 games. That bat is impressive. The only negative is 85 strikeouts against 39 walks, but Coors Field will render that moot, right?

Joey Gallo hit a home run Thursday night giving him 15 homers and a .583 SLG in 55 games at Triple-A. He also owns a .389 OBP which impresses. However, the strikeouts have returned. On the year he’s whiffed 69 times in 55 games, and that’s scary bad level of 1.25 punchouts per game. The last 10 games he’s struck out 18 times or 1.8 per game. The power bat is as good as any on in baseball, but he so lacks refinement.

Aaron Judge has nine RBI and eight walks the last 10 games. Great stuff. Alas, he’s hit .237 in that time to drop his average down to .263 on the season. He has a big power bat, but 85 punchouts in 82 games ain’t great, and his .256/.364/.389 slash line against righties doesn’t stand out at all.

Austin Hedges is a catcher with the Padres organization, and one would think the big league club is trying to move Derek Norris to open a spot up for Hedges. Over the last 10 games there may not be a hotter hitter in all of baseball as Hedges has four homers, 20 RBI, 15 runs scored and a .439 batting average. Out of control. That run pushed his numbers at Triple-A up to .389/.435/.786 with 14 homers in 35 games. When called up, he’s a must add in two catcher leagues.

Yoan Moncada has appeared in 76 games this season hitting .309 with a .414 OBP, .522 SLG, eight homers and 40 steals. In 15 games at Double-A he’s hit .317/.358/.619 with four homers and 14 RBI. Elite skills. However, where does he play? The Red Sox have Dustin Pedroia at second, Xander Bogaerts at shortstop, and now Aaron Hill and Travis Shaw at third base. Moncada might get a September callup, but nothing more.

Alex Reyes faces an issue with the Cardinals – where does he fit? Here is the top-5 with the Cardinals: Adam Wainwright, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Jaime Garcia and Mike Leake. Where does Reyes fit? Nowhere. It will take an injury, and they happen all the time, or a move to a 6-man rotation for Reyes to get the call. Over his last three outings he’s also allowed 10 runs over 15.1 innings and just once in six outings has he worked more than 5.0 innings. Great talent though.

Finally, a quick rundown of these and many other prospects at Baseball Prospectus.

DFS DIAMONDS

*The following list of players are guys that Ray recommends as daily plays.

CATCHER: Buster Posey is batting .313 with two homers in 32 at-bats against Patrick Corbin who has a 4.90 ERA and 1.45 WHIP this season. Against lefties this season Posey’s batting .315/.473/.573.    

FIRST BASE: Eric Hosmer has a hit in 8-of-9 games. Hosmer also has a .924 OPS and has a .318/.382/.472 slash line against righties. He’s 5-for-12 against Hisashi Iwakuma.

SECOND BASE: Anthony Rendon in July: .333/.481/.667 with two homers. In 12 at-bats against Noah Syndergaard he has a homer and a .417 batting average.     

THIRD BASE: Yunel Escobar has hit .385 with two homers in 26 at-bats against Ubaldo Jimenez. He has a hit in each of his last 12 games and is batting .483 with a 1.102 OPS in six July outings.  

SHORTSTOP: Troy Tulowitzki has hit .350 with a homer over 20 at-bats against Mike Pelfrey. Over his last nine games Tulo has hit four homers and driven in 14 runners.   
  
OUTFIELD: Michael Bourn has hit .450 with two steals against Jeff Samardzija (20 ABs) who over his last three starts has allowed 22 hits and 16 runs over 16.1 innings. Bourn has hit .387 with a steal his last seven games.   

OUTFIELD: Righties have hit .286 with a .389 OBP against Francisco Liriano. This season Ben Zobrist has hit .290 with a .396 OBP. Zobrist also has three homers and eight runs his last nine games.

OUTFIELD: Michael Saunders has a .300/.371/.540 slash line against righties this season. He also owns a .914 OPS at home this season and a 1.018 OPS at night. Lefties have blasted Mike Pelfrey hitting .347 with a .397 OBP and .455 SLG.

 

Ray Flowers can be heard Monday through Friday, 7 PM EDT and Friday on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). You can also hear Ray Sunday nights at 7 PM on the channel talking fantasy sports. Follow Ray’s work at Fantasy Alarm and on Twitter (@baseballguys).