Hundreds of baseball players make their debut over the course of a season. However, for every Ronald Acuña and Scott Kingery, there are dozens of lesser-known prospects making their debuts who aren’t as frequently discussed. To remedy that, Alex Fast, Adam Garland, Ben Palmer and I will be doing a write-up on every single player making their MLB Debut. Inspired by the Effectively Wild podcast and Andrew Perpetua, we’ll discuss each debut’s skill set, how long they will likely remain in the majors and any other pertinent information you need to know. Each player will also be stored in a spreadsheet featuring further information (bio, D.O.B, player ID’s, etc) that can be accessed at the bottom of the article.
Here is the lone debut from June 4th:
Sandy Baez (RP/SP, Detroit Tigers, 24 years old)
Call Up Date: June 3rd
Role: Doubleheader Fill-In
Organization Ranking: 19th
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: Fastball: 65 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45
Fantasy Relevance: None
Before we get too deep into Sandy Baez, it’s important for you as a fantasy owner to know that he has already been sent back down to AAA. It seems he was just called up to be an extra arm in the doubleheader against the Yankees yesterday. With that said, he still made his debut yesterday so we want to tell you all about him. First and foremost: his debut was a good one. He went 4.1 IP with 0 ER, 0 H, 3 BB and 4 K against a potent Yankees offense in game one. The no hits and no earned runs are certainly impressive but the three walks is par for the course for Baez who has struggled with his control in 2018. This is new for Baez who sported a mid 2 BB/9 in last years minor league campaign and does generally have a reputation for being a strike thrower. Baez is known for his fastball, which sits about 95 and can hit 97, and his changeup which is actually a sort of split-finger change that sits about 85. He can change his speeds nicely but won’t be much of an asset until he can get his control back to 2017 levels.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.