2021 MiLB Prospect Notes 6-10-21

Welcome back to our 6-10-21 edition of the 2021 MiLB Prospect Notes. Each week, I will be highlighting transactions involving prospects.

2021 MiLB Prospect Notes 6-10-21

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Coming and Going

Here are the prospects that were promoted or demoted.

Date	Org	Player	From	To
6/1/2021	Orioles	Jordan Westburg	Low A	High A
6/1/2021	Orioles	Blaine Knight	High A	AA
6/1/2021	Orioles	Grayson Rodriguez	High A	AA
6/1/2021	Mariners	Taylor Trammell	AAA	MLB
6/1/2021	Cubs	Chase Strumpf	High A	AA
6/1/2021	Braves	Spencer Strider	Low A	High A
6/1/2021	Rockies	Eddy Diaz	High A	Low A
6/1/2021	Cubs	Brennen Davis	High A	AA
6/1/2021	White Sox	Benyamin Bailey	Low A	AZL
6/1/2021	Phillies	Bryson Stott	High A	AA
6/2/2021	Braves	Cristian Pache	MLB	AAA
6/2/2021	Twins	Gilberto Celestino	AAA	MLB
6/2/2021	Red Sox	Johan Mieses	AA	AAA
6/3/2021	Royals	Edward Olivares	MLB	AAA
6/3/2021	White Sox	Gavin Sheets	AAA	MLB
6/3/2021	Braves	Tucker Davidson	AAA	MLB
6/3/2021	Giants	Matt Frisbee	AA	AAA
6/3/2021	Indians	Xzavion Curry	Low A	High A
6/3/2021	Phillies	Kendall Simmons	Extended	Low A
6/4/2021	Rays	Osleivis Basabe	Extended	Low A
6/4/2021	Astros	Angel Macuare	Low A	High A
6/5/2021	Indians	Bobby Bradley	AAA	MLB
6/5/2021	Marlins	Jordan Holloway	MLB	AAA (rehab)
6/5/2021	White Sox	Gavin Sheets	MLB	AAA
6/5/2021	Cubs	Cory Abbott	AAA	MLB
6/6/2021	Royals	Edward Olivares	AAA	MLB
6/6/2021	Twins	Bailey Ober	AAA	MLB
6/6/2021	Dodgers	Landon Knack	Extended	High A
6/7/2021	Mariners	Jarred Kelenic	MLB	AAA
6/7/2021	Padres	Tucupita Marcano	MLB	AAA

Next up are prospects that went on in the injured list.

Date	Org	Player	Level
6/1/2021	Rangers	Justin Foscue	High A
6/2/2021	Athletics	Austin Beck	High A
6/2/2021	Nationals	Jackson Rutledge	High A
6/3/2021	Reds	Austin Hendrick	Low A
6/3/2021	Pirates	Maikol Escotto	Low A
6/3/2021	Brewers	TJ Shook	High A
6/3/2021	Dodgers	Josiah Gray	AAA
6/4/2021	Reds	Tyler Callihan	Low A
6/6/2021	Twins	Matt Canterino	High A

This last list consists of prospects recently activated from the IL.

Date	Org	Player	Level
6/1/2021	Mets	JT Ginn	Low A
6/2/2021	Yankees	Yoendrys Gomez	Low A
6/2/2021	Braves	Cristian Pache	AAA
6/6/2021	Rays	Graeme Stinson	Low A
6/5/2021	Twins	Jordan Balazovic	AA
6/3/2021	Angels	Chris Rodriguez	MLB

AA Call Up

There has been some uncertainty regarding how calling up a prospect from AA would work in 2021 with COVID protocols. There are the same COVID protocols in AAA as there are in the major leagues, so players can move between AAA and majors like they normally would. The Twins outfielder Gilbert Celestino was essentially the first player in 2021 to be called up from AA to the majors. However, in order for the Twins to bring Celestino to the majors, they promoted him to AAA on May 31^st. He never actually played for the AAA Saint Paul Saints. On June 2^nd, Celestino was promoted from AAA to the Twins. Presumably, he was sent to Saint Pauls in order to satisfy COVID protocols. Fortunately, the Twins now have their AAA affiliate right next door.

Rays Embarrassment of Riches

A lot has been made about the Rays having two of the best position prospects in baseball that appear to be very close to major league ready in Wander Franco and Vidal Brujan. Josh Lowe is also a nice prospect that should be in the majors soon. However, it is on the pitching side where I think they are loaded.

The Rays have three very highly rated pitching prospects.

Twenty one year old Luis Patino has been a consensus top twenty five prospect in baseball for a couple of years now. He was acquired by the Rays in the Blake Snell trade with the Padres. Patino made his MLB debut with the Padres in 2020 in relief and is still finding himself at the major league level. He has shown glimpses of his lively arm this year.

Twenty four year old Shane McClanahan was the thirty first pick in the 2018 draft out of South Florida. He was a compensation pick for losing Alex Cobb to free agency. McClanahan made his MLB debut on April 29^th and quickly established himself as one of the hardest throwers in baseball.

The Rays acquired twenty one year old Shane Baz in the same trade with the Pirates that brought Austin Meadow and Tyler Glasnow to the Rays for Chris Archer. There has never been any question that Baz has elite stuff but previously his walk rate was in the doubles figures. In 2021 in 27.2 innings, Baz has a 1.9 percent walk rate that is among the best in the minor leagues.

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Josh Fleming who debuted in the majors in 2020 has a 1.09 WHIP in 84.2 innings and is taken for granted.

What really sets the Rays apart from other organizations is the volume of quality arms in the next tier. Playing the percentages some of the pitchers on the list below are going to work out and some are not, but with the number of talented pitching prospects the Rays are set up nicely to have a high quality, inexpensive pitching staff for years to come.

AgeAcquiredK-W%

Prospect	Level
Brent Honeywell	AAA	26	CBB 2014	25.80%
Cole Wilcox	Low A	21	Trade with Padres on 12-29-20.	19.40%
Drew Rasmussen	AAA	25	Trade with Brewers on 5-21-21	44.40%
Drew Strotman	AAA	24	4^th 2017	12%
Evan McKendry	High A	23	9th 2019	25.30%
Jacob Lopez	High A	23	Trade with Giants on 7-31-19	34.50%
Joe Ryan	AAA	25	7^th 2018	30.20%
John Doxakis	Low A	22	2^nd 2019	34.70%
Michael Plassmeyer	AA	24	4^th 2018	22.60%
Peyton Bettenfield	High A	23	Trade with the Astros on 1-9-20	39%
Seth Johnson	Low A	22	CBA 2019	12.50%
Taj Bradley	Low A	20	5^th 2018	28.40%
Tobias Myers	AA	22	Trade with Orioles on 7-31-17	23.50%
Tommy Romero	AA	23	Trade with Mariners on 5-25-18	31.10%

This does not include Nick Bitsko, JJ Goss, Ian Seymour, Sandy Gaston and Graeme Stinson who are injured or not currently pitching regularly.

Stuck in Neutral

Yusiniel Diaz defected from Cuba in August of 2015 and under the old international free agent rules signed with the Dodgers for $15.5 million in November 2015. Diaz had just turned nineteen. He was advanced enough that the Dodgers assigned Diaz to High A Ranch Cucamonga for the 2016 season. Diaz missed over a month of the season was an injury but had a respectable 102 wRC+ as a teenager in High A making his pro debut. Baseball Prospectus ranked Diaz as the 90^th best prospect heading into the 2017 season.

In 2017, Diaz spent most of the year repeating High A and had roughly the same results (104 wRC+). However, when Diaz was promoted to AA Oklahoma City on August 1^st, he finished the season strong. Diaz hit .333/.390/.881 in 31 games in AA as a twenty-year-old.

Diaz began 2018 in Oklahoma City and was just as good as he was at the end of 2017. In fifty-nine games, Diaz had a .407 wOBA. The highlight of the season for Diaz was the Futures Game on July 15^th when he hit two homers. Three days later Diaz was the centerpiece of the Dodgers trade with the Orioles for Manny Machado. The Orioles were in the midst of losing 115 games and beginning a rebuilding process. The trade appeared to give Diaz a clear path to an everyday job sooner rather than later.

The Orioles assigned Diaz to their AA affiliate, Bowie. Diaz was not as good with Bowie as he had been with Oklahoma City but it was only thirty-eight games. Heading into 2019 Diaz was a consensus top hundred prospect (Baseball America 37, MLB Pipeline 64, and Baseball Prospectus 44).

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In 2019 Diaz played well in spring training but was reassigned to AA Bowie. Diaz had two trips to the IL which limited him to 76 games for Bowie. He did fine (11 homers, a 20.8 strikeout percentage and 135 wRC+) but nothing stood out.

Of course, the 2020 minor league season was lost due to the pandemic. Diaz spent the MLB season at the Orioles alternate training site but was never called up as Anthony Santander, Austin Hays, Ryan Mountcastle, Cedric Mullins, and DJ Stewart were young Orioles that were given playing time in the outfield in 2020.

Diaz was added to the Orioles forty-man roster prior to the 2021 season. He received 36 at-bats in spring training but was not a realistic candidate to make the team. Diaz spent April at the alternate training site and then was assigned to AAA Norfolk for the start of the minor league season. Diaz strained his quad six games into the season and is currently on the IL.

It is now June of 2021 almost four years since Diaz, then twenty, excelled at the end of the season in 2017 in AA. Since then, he played a grand total of six games above AA. While Diaz cannot be blamed for the lost 2020 minor league season, at the time of the trade to the Orioles it was certainly expected that Diaz would be in the majors by 2020. He has missed a lot of time with injuries, but it has been nagging injuries rather than anything major. He has not exactly failed in the last four years but has not mashed in that time either.

Diaz is still only twenty-four but his window is closing. Diaz is not a centerfielder and he has not shown a lot of power for a corner outfielder. The Orioles have some promising outfielders at the major league level and prospects like Heston Kjerstad, Hudson Haskins, Kyle Stowers, and Zack Watson plus potential 2021 draft picks behind Diaz. It is close to now or never time for Diaz.

Bobby Witt Jr. Loses A Homer

The Bobby Witt Jr. story from June 8^th was interesting where he lost a homer allegedly for not touching home plate. It was certainly not a typical call. I suspect that if Bobby Witt Jr. was a random twenty-six-year-old journeyman, that home run would have stood. There was likely an element of the umpire showing the hot shot twenty-year-old prospect that he is in charge.

Well...

Bobby Witt Jr. mashes one 430 feet to left field but the home plate umpire says he didn’t touch home plate after circling the bases...

🤔🤔🤔

So this goes down as a really, really long triple. pic.twitter.com/mrYKnRSnGh

— NW Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) June 9, 2021

Surprise Resurgence

Garrett Whitley was the thirteenth overall pick in the 2015 MLB draft by the Rays out of a cold weather high school. He is a great athlete but was quite raw. Garrett has showed some glimpses of a power and promise especially in 2017 in full season A. However, Whitley missed all of 2018 with a torn labrum in his shoulder and struggled in High A in 2019. In 2020 Whitley was hit by a foul ball while sitting in the dugout during spring training and suffered multiple facial fractures.

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Whitley was eligible for the Rule V draft but was not picked. He was assigned to AA Montgomery for 2021 and has gotten off to an impressive start with a .427 wOBA. He has cut his strikeout percentage from 37.8 in 2019 in High A to 26. percent in AA in 2021. Whitley turned twenty-four in March.

Check out the rest of our 2021 Fantasy Baseball content from our great team of writers.

2021 MiLB Prospect Notes 6-10-21