It’s Wednesday. You know what that means. We are back with another prospect report where we look at rookies who were just called up, making an impact in the big leagues or are turning heads in the minors.
This week, we are looking at some big-name prospects who are getting a taste of the big leagues. It’s an exciting week, so let’s not waste any time and get right to it.
All stats are accurate as of Tuesday afternoon on June 13.
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Fantasy Baseball Prospects
Here’s a look at some of the most notable prospects in fantasy baseball.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (1B – CIN)
The poor, poor Reds social admins. From Andrew Abbott to Matt McLain to Elly De La Cruz — they’ve been tagged so many times about promoting their top players.
It’s CES time, as he’s continuing to rake in the minors. The first base prospect is slashing .362/.427/.734 with 17 home runs, 87 runs+RBIs and a 22.1 K%.
It’s only a matter of time before Cincy calls him up and completes the youth movement. Well, until Noelvi Marte is ready.
There were talks on Twitter that Mauricio would be getting called up during the Subway Series, which was quickly dispelled by the media. We love Twitter, right?
But he should be on his way to the Big Apple soon, though, as the 22-year-old is running out of things to prove at Triple-A.
He has a .320/.360/.524 slash with eight homers and nine steals. I’m not sure where he will play for New York, but they are in desperate need of a push and life in the lineup.
Expect to see Mauricio in Mets’ colors before the All-Star break.
The Rangers called up one of their top prospects Tuesday, as the 23-year-old will skip Triple-A and head right to Texas. It’s not known, however, how long he’ll be with the team.
I’m not really blown away by him, as he doesn’t miss nearly enough bats for me to really invest highly in him. He seems more to be a floor-type streamer than anyone who has real upside.
I’ll be OK adding him to my watchlist.
I wrote about Blanco in my 10 burning questions column this week. Here’s what I had to say:
“The Royals, historically, have been a team who will run and run and run. While Adalberto Mondesi and Whit Merrifield are no longer in town, perhaps they’ve found their latest speed demon to entice fantasy managers.
Enter Blanco, the 30-year-old outfielder who had a cup of coffee with the big-league team last season. Blanco was just called up by the Royals, and he offers some eye-popping speed.
He stole 47 bases in 49 games in Triple-A this season, being thrown out just six times. In his 2023 debut, he attempted a steal and was thrown out.
He’s going to have the green light each and every time he’s on base. He’s a — cover your ears for the overplayed term — rabbit, offering speed and little else, but when players are stealing more and more bases, that means you, too, need to steal more and more.
If he can maintain a .250 batting average, you’ll be thrilled to pair that with the 15-20 bags he’ll give you.”
The will-he-or-won’t-he is striking again, as the Twins called up Julien again, as he’s been ushered back and forth way too much for my liking.
I still love the long-term outlook for Julien, but until he can get the strikeout rate to a reasonable number (below 30 percent, please), it’s hard to really count on him to be a steady producer.
Move out of the way, Coco Crisp. There’s a new Coco in MLB. Montes was promoted by the Rockies, and it makes sense given his production in Triple-A.
He brings a .321/.401/.560 slash line with 12 home runs and an 11.7BB% to Colorado. The Rockies have been looking for steady production at second base all season after the Brendan Rodgers injury. Montes is the latest to get a shot, and when you have Coors as your home ballpark, you’re automatically interesting.
It’s been mixed so far with Dodgers pitching prospects this year, as Gavin Stone hasn’t done what we had hoped he’d do, but Bobby Miller has been fantastic.
Up next — I hope, at least — will be Sheehan.
Sheehan is in Double-A, but as we’ve seen many times this year, teams are more than happy to bring their prospects up to the big leagues and skip Triple-A. Sheehan has a 1.86 ERA (3.22 FIP) in 53.1 innings this year with an absurd 41.7 K%.
At 23, he’s above Double-A at this point. His career high in innings is 68, so if we give him an extra 27 and bring him to 95 innings, he’s over halfway to that point.
I’d like to see the Dodgers use up his bullets in Los Angeles, and with the latest Julio Urias setback, they have an opening for him. He’s right behind Encarnacion-Strand in my stash rankings.
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Michael Waterloo is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Michael, check out his archive and follow him @MichaelWaterloo.