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 are the debuts from June 7th:
Jalen Beeks (SP, Boston Red Sox, 24 years old)
Call Up Date: June 7th
Role: Spot Start
Organization Ranking: 15th
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: Fastball: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Curveball: 45 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45
Fantasy Relevance: None
There was a lot of talk on this past week’s episode of On The Corner whether Jalen Beeks was worth a stream for his much-discussed start against the Red Sox yesterday. Ultimately, it was decided that because it was the Tigers, he may be worth a shot. Turns out the Tigers mash lefties and Jalen Beeks was absolutely no exception. Beeks went 4 IP with 6 ER, 7 H, 3 BB and 4 K’s as he really struggled in the first frame. Due to his poor start and the likely return of Stephen Wright and Drew Pomeranz, I don’t really see Beeks have too much value in the foreseeable future. Before his call-up however, Beeks was sporting a 2.56 ERA in the minors with a whopping 5.71 K/BB ratio. The Red Sox 2017 minor league pitcher of the year has a reliable fastball with a high spin rate and some deception with an above average changeup that can often lack command. I personally think he projects to be a back-end starter with a ceiling of being a #4.
Jake Bauers (OF, Tampa Bay Rays, 22 years old)
Call Up Date: June 7th
Role: Bench Depth/Starter
Organization Ranking: 5th
Overall Ranking: 55th
Grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 45 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55
Fantasy Relevance: Worth a flier
Jake Bauers is perhaps one of the first notable callups post super 2 cutoff, and he profiles as a higher floor type of hitter due to above-average contact skills and the ability to contribute some to all fantasy scoring categories. Bauers returned to AAA this to start the season, and has hit .279/.357/.426 with 5 HRs and 10 SBs in 222 PAs. He’s supported that line with a 10.4% walk rate and 21.2% strikeout rate and overall has been worth a solid 126 wRC+ which ranks in a tie for 17th best in the International Leaugue. His swinging-strike rate is above average at 9.5% (MLB average is 10.6% this year) which highlights Bauers’ quality contact skills. The 10 SBs look intriguing, but with just a 45 speed grade and the greater difficulty of stealing in the majors, it’s safer to project more modest SB totals going forward. Playing time projections are somewhat unclear at this point, he seems to be getting a chance to prove himself with the Rays DFAing Brad Miller, but the Rays also haven’t committed to full-time at bats for Bauers either. He may not offer the highest upside, but there’s an attractive package of skills here for fantasy players and I think he’s worth a speculative pickup in 14 teams leagues and above.
Ben Meyer (SP, Miami Marlins, 25 years old)
Call Up Date: June 6th
Role: Long Reliever
Organization Ranking: N/A
Overall Ranking: N/A
Grades: N/A
Fantasy Relevance: None
To be honest, there isn’t too much out there about Ben Meyer. He isn’t a top 100 prospect and isn’t a top 30 prospect in the Miami Marlins organization. So far this year in AAA he’s put up a 4.09 ERA with a 2.78 K/BB ratio and a BAA of .250. His job as long relief is fairly secure considering he was called up to replace Odrisamer Despaigne. He was selected in the late rounds of the 2015 draft and had a pretty good campaign in low A last year putting up around a 2.70 ERA over A+ and A. Meyer seems to be getting rushed along by the organization seeing as he bypassed AA altogether instead starting the 2018 campaign in AAA. Considering the Marlins struggles they may be willing to give him a long leash in the bigs but I don’t see him having any value as fantasy player, even as a streamer.
Missed a player’s debut? Read detailed reports on all 2018 MLB debuts in this spreadsheet.