The divisional reports are a new series put out by the PitcherList dynasty team. These reports provide a list of the top ten prospects on each team in the division and highlight two players from each organization. Each division will be updated once per month by our divisional experts.
As far as farm systems go, the American League West is a very unique division. The Houston Astros are well known for getting the most out of their prospects, but it feels like it has been a decade since they had a farm system that was considered to be one of the best in the sport. The defending World Series champion Texas Rangers were picking toward the top of drafts as recently as last summer, and have arguably the best prospect in baseball. There aren’t many teams that have drafted as well as the Seattle Mariners in recent years and the Los Angeles Angels have been more aggressive than just about any other organization when it comes to promoting their young players to the bigs. Then, of course, we have Oakland, who despite not having a strong farm system has produced some exciting young talent.
We are only a few weeks into the minor league season, so there isn’t a ton of movement here, but some players are performing out of the gates while others are still finding their footing.
AL West
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Performances
- Luis Baez, OF, HOU – Baez is a hulky right-handed bat who played in the Complex League and Single-A in 2023. The 20-year-old received a somehow aggressive assignment by kicking off 2024 at High-A, and he immediately looked comfortable, swatting two home runs in his first three games. He’s slowed down a little bit since then, but the right-handed outfielder still has a .266/.310/.436 triple slash. It still feels like that power breakout is lurking here.
- Jacob Melton, OF, HOU – It’s been a strong start to the season for Melton, who is triple-slashing .276/.374/.494 with three home runs and five steals. It’s only 19 games at Double-A, but he spent most of 2023 at High-A so it is encouraging to see that he is handling upper-level arms. He has intriguing power/speed potential.
Notable Promotions and News
- Joey Loperfido, OF, HOU – It happened!!! Dynasty managers that roster Loperfido have been waiting patiently for a promotion to the big leagues after he hit bomb after bomb in Triple-A. For those that lost track, the 24-year-old hit 13 long balls in just 25 games before receiving the call. This resulted in a .287/.393/.719 triple slash and fantasy managers across the world clamoring for his promotion. With the Astros, and specifically Jose Abreu, struggling out of the gate, a door opened for Loperfido and now he has the opportunity to make an impact at the big-league level. The big question will be whether or not he strikes out too much against MLB pitching. He was striking out 30.3% of the time in Triple-A, so it’s likely that ticks up against better arms. Time will tell, and for now, Loperfido should see time in the outfield and potentially first base. If you’re one of the lucky ones, he may have second base eligibility.
- Spencer Arighetti, P, HOU – Arighetti made a couple of Triple-A starts back at the start of the season and performed well, allowing just two runs across eight innings while striking out 10. There was a major red flag though as he had issued seven free passes, with five coming in his first start alone. Still, given some lack of starting pitching depth at the big league level, the 24-year-old got the call to Houston. He hasn’t been good across his first three starts, and while he may be able to post a decent strikeout percentage, he also doesn’t pitch deep enough into games to be worthy of fantasy consideration. Maybe he figures it out as the season goes on, but he’s a stay-away for the time being.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Performances
- Lazaro Montes, OF, SEA – Montes is a popular name in the prospect community due to his enormous power. The lefty slugger hit 13 long balls in 70 games across Complex League and Single-A last year and entered 2024 with a healthy amount of buzz. Seattle has kept him in Single-A to start the year and the outfielder has triple-slashed .313/.415/.566 with six home runs in 24 games. He’s been on fire the last few games and it’s most notable that he has significantly cut down his strikeout rate. If Montes has truly made an adjustment here and his strikeouts can remain in check, even those who were lower on him to start the year will be more optimistic about his floor moving forward.
- Tyler Locklear, INF, SEA – There aren’t many bats in the minor leagues that are hotter right now than Locklear. The 23-year-old has posted a .946 OPS through his first 22 Double-A games while raising his walk rate (16.7%) and cutting down on his strikeout rate (17.6%). He’s added three home runs and three steals, and while the stolen bases are nice, it’s not something we should count on as he moves through the minor leagues. He’s a right-handed first base prospect so he will have to really hit to continue to be a top prospect, but as of now, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Notable Promotions and News
- Jonatan Clase, OF, SEA – Clase played a handful of games at Triple-A and quickly earned the call to the MLB level. Despite having game-changing speed, it certainly felt like an overly aggressive promotion for someone who hit .222 as a 21-year-old in Double-A in 2023. Understandably, Clase was overmatched by big-league arms, triple-slashing .222/.250/.259 in 28 plate appearances. Obviously, that is an incredibly small sample, but Clase also struck out nine times while walking just once, so he clearly still needs some seasoning. He’s back in Triple-A now and given that he had question marks about his contact ability coming into 2024, it’s reasonable to say that he’s not likely to be much of a fantasy contributor this season even if he does get the call again.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Performances
- Wyatt Langford, OF, TEX – After tearing the cover off of baseballs in spring training, Langford has struggled in his first month+ at the MLB level. Through 29 games he has triple slashed .239/.311/.312 with just one home run and one steal. It’s not surprising that a 22-year-old needs time to adjust to big league pitching and Langford will likely turn things around with time, but this serves as the latest reminder that rookies often don’t perform at their ceiling right out of the gate. The talented outfielder is now slated to miss about a month due to a hamstring injury.
Notable Promotions and News
- Justin Foscue, 2B, TEX – Foscue earned a promotion to the bigs very early into the season but unfortunately suffered an oblique injury not long after. The Rangers transferred him to the 60-day IL, so we won’t be seeing him again until midseason at the earliest. He’s a high-contact bat when healthy.
- Jack Leiter, P, TEX- By now you’re probably well aware of Leiter’s story thus far this year. he started the year in Triple-A and put together three really solid starts, racking up 25 strikeouts and a 3.77 ERA in 14.1 innings. The Leiter that many of us had hoped to see when he was drafted second overall back in 2021 appeared to be on full display. That earned him a promotion to the majors where he finished with an ugly line — seven earned runs in 3.2 innings. Leiter didn’t pitch as poorly as the result might indicate but Leiter was sent back to Triple-A. In his first start back in the minors he fired off six scoreless frames while striking out eight, and backed that up with two runs over five innings in his second outing. It’s still doubtful Leiter is ever a true ace, but the pitcher we’ve seen in 2024 is much improved from years past and he looks more like a mid-rotation starter than a potential bullpen arm.
Oakland A’s
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Performances
- Royber Salinas, P, OAK – Salinas came over from Atlanta and, despite an inflated ERA (5.48) in 67.1 innings at Double-A in 2023, looked like one of the better prospects in Oakland’s system. He’s made five Double-A starts to kick off 2024 and has notched a 31.4% strikeout rate and 2.59 ERA. It has come with an elevated walk rate (13.3%) and there is certainly some relief risk here, but Salinas is one of the higher ceiling prospects in this system.
- Jacob Wilson, SS, OAK – Of all the names discussed in this article, Wilson might be one that is the biggest riser. Through his first 18 games at Double-A, Wilson has put together a ridiculous .414/.432/.671 triple slash with three home runs and two steals. The power is what we need to monitor here – is it legitimate? Coming into the season Wilson had been pegged as a high-contact, low-power bat. It’s almost a certainty that he is not going to maintain the .257 ISO that he’s sporting now, but if Wilson is developing into even an average-ish power bat then he could be a fantasy star that many of us overlooked.
Notable Promotions and News
- Darell Hernaiz, SS, OAK – Hernaiz opened the season with the MLB team. He struggled and was sent to Triple-A in mid-April. He’d likely still be there if Zack Gelof didn’t get injured, but alas, Hernaiz has been back with the big leaguers since. He’s really struggled against MLB pitching, hitting just .160 through his first 24 games, so he will probably be back in the minors once Gelof is healthy.
- Luis Morales, P, OAK – Morales missed much of the first month of the season, but he’s back on the rubber now. He tossed 4.1 innings in his first start of the season, allowing three earned runs while striking out four.
- Brett Harris, 3B, OAK- Harris was promoted to the Major Leagues and hit two home runs for his first two hits. Harris has flashed power but has not hit the ball in the air consistently enough to post solid home run numbers.
Top 10 Prospects
Notable Prospect Performances
- Caden Dana, P, LAA – Dana was a name we highlighted coming into the year as one to keep an eye on. So far, so good for the 20-year-old right-hander. He’s made four starts in Double-A, posting a 1.48 ERA and 18.2% K-BB rate. Perhaps most impressively, Dana has tossed at least six innings in three of his four outings. He’s looking like the real deal and if this was a season where the Angels were contending I would not rule out a mid-summer promotion to the majors. That’s unlikely given the team’s outlook, but Dana is an arm that dynasty managers should be scooping up.
- Kyren Paris, SS, LAA – It stinks, but sometimes we also need to point out prospects that are struggling so that dynasty managers can make proper adjustments. The Angels gave Paris a brief cup of coffee a season ago but he started off 2024 in Double-A and it has been ugly, to say the least. Through 76 plate appearances, the 22-year-old is hitting .076 with a 43.4% strikeout rate. He performed well at Double-A a season ago, so he should turn it around to some degree, but this start is bad enough that it’s worth taking note of. That being said, almost everyone in this system is off to a poor start, so his rankings on this list reflect that.
Notable Promotions and News
- Nolan Schanuel, 1B, LAA – The news here is that Schanuel has officially graduated from prospect status. That’s not surprising given how close he was to exhausting his eligibility coming into the season. Unfortunately, 2024 has been a struggle for the first baseman as he’s posted a .624 OPS through 26 games and has a higher OBP than SLG. He still appears to be locked into an everyday role.
Feature Image Adapted by Aaron Polcare (@bearydoesgfx on X)
FWIW, Arrighetti was more promising in his fourth start last week.