Last week I told you to add Bellinger sooner rather than later. I hope you listened because that two-homerun game last night was a thing of beauty. Rumors are he will be returned to the minors soon but the Dodgers are 4-1 with him in the lineup and he is batting north of a 1.000 OPS. Andrew Toles has had decent series vs the Phillies but hit .182 the previous four series. If Bellinger is sent down, hold tight for now.
Let us begin. Every weekend, I will be posting about the minor leaguers you should be stashing on your team. This list will be arranged by impact for this year only. Players that will be called up sooner will be ahead of players with more talent who might only be called up late in the year.
Anyway, let us get to the other prospects:
1) Yoan Moncada, Chicago White Sox AAA, ETA: July
Yoan continues to hit, and get on base. He is striking out quite a bit but he is also working the count and drawing walks. His BABIP is .449 so his average will come down but he is an impact guy. His call up date is probably sometime in July because of his service time, but he is the most impactful person on here that can contribute to four of the five categories.
STATS: .317, 16 R, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 6 SB
2) Rhys Hoskins, Philadelphia Phillies AAA, ETA: May
First base is still a struggle for the Phillies. Stassi did have a decent week but Hoskins should be the guy in the near future. He had two homeruns and had an OPS above 1.100 in the last week. He might be the first guy up from this list.
STATS: .342, 15 R, 6 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB
3) Franklin Barreto, Oakland Athletics AAA, ETA: June
Barreto continues to smash the ball hitting another homerun. He is also struggling with striking out and his numbers are inflated by his .510 BABIP but he has good power and should be a solid SS add for teams that need a guy to plug in. He will not be up before the Super 2 deadline.
STATS: .349, 13 R, 4 HR, 15 RBI, 1 SB
4) Amed Rosario, New York Mets AAA, ETA: June
I keep waiting for Amed Rosario to stop hitting and come back down to earth but then he goes 14 for 28 in the past week. He also collected his first homerun of the year. His great contact is unquestionable, but he needs to generate some more pop. Therefore, it is encouraging to see an ISO of .250 the last week. He is trending upward.
STATS: .407, 13 R, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 7 SB
5) Dominic Smith, New York Mets AAA, ETA: June
The Mets have another great bat in AAA, Dominic Smith continues to hit. The last week he went 12 for 29 with two doubles and a triple. He has good plate discipline and would be a good player for point’s league. Lucas Duda is on the last year of his contract and if the Mets fade in the standings, a trade could create a spot for Smith. Stay tuned.
STATS: .352, 15 R, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB
6) Ian Happ, Chicago Cubs AAA, ETA: June
Ian Happ is making his debut on the List. I struggle with figuring out how the Cubs would use him because their lineup is stacked. I do think Joe Maddon and Theo Epstein would find a way though. He is absolutely mashing the ball and I would not be surprised to see him up sometime in June.
STATS: .250, 16 R, 8 HR, 17 RBI, 1 SB
7) Ozzie Albies, Atlanta Braves AAA, ETA: June
Ozzie did not have a very good week going six for 27 with nine strikeouts. He did collect his eighth stolen base of the year and has yet to be caught. He is going to be a decent 2B in the future but he is struggling this year with his avg 50 points lower than his career average. I still believe in him and think his call up time is in June or July.
STATS: .255, 14 R, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 8 SB
8) Lewis Brinson, Milwuakee Brewers AAA, ETA: June
If the Brewers need someone, they have multiple options so do not expect that it will be Brinson as Ryan Cordell, and Brett Phillips would be in consideration. All are hitting pretty well. Cordell can play almost every position so that is why I have Brinson a little bit lower than you might have him. Brinson keeps hitting though and has a .362 AVG with three Homeruns and three stolen bases. He has been caught four times though so that is a knock on the speed.
STATS: .362, 13 R, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 3 SB
9) Austin Meadows, Pittsburgh AAA, ETA: June
I still believe he has one of the better swings in the minors. Last year in his first 16 games, he had a .170/.230/.220 Slash line. After that he went off and hit .290/.360/.610. I am not too worried yet about the slow start but we are getting closer to that. He needs to start hitting.
STATS: .195, 5 R, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB
10) Bradley Zimmer, Cleveland Indians AAA, ETA: June
Bradley Zimmer and Lewis Brinson are all of nothing people. They are similar comps to Keon Broxton but with a little more pop and a little less speed. They could go off for a month and then be MIA the next. Zimmer is not MIA right now though as he keeps hitting. He went 9 for 21 the last week with four doubles and a homerun.