MiLB News: More Top Prospects Reassigned to Minors

As Major League Baseball’s Opening Day creeps closer, more and more top prospects are learning their fate. Two more of Minor League Baseball’s Top 100 prospects were assigned to Minor League camps, while several more organizational top prospects are learning the same.

New York Mets’ budding centerfield prospect Brandon Nimmo is heading to Minor League spring training. He earned a non-roster invite to the Mets’ Spring Training, but at just 21-years old and zero experience above Double-A, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. It doesn’t mean that Nimmo is that far away, however.

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The Mets’ 2011 first round pick had a solid start to 2014 in High-A Port St. Lucie of the Florida State League, but struggled once he was promoted to Double-A Binghamton. Overall, he slashed .278/.394/.426 with 10 home runs and 14 stolen bases showing a very good overall skill set. He combines a skilled eye and advanced plate discipline (.387 career on base percentage) with the agility to play all three outfield positions. Nimmo is not far away from being in the Mets’ roster.

The Kansas City Royals re-assigned the No. 57 overall prospect, Sean Manaea to the Minor Leagues as well. The Royals’ 23-year old left handed pitching prospect already had a mountain of competition in front of him. The Royals’ starting rotation is close to set and even with Tim Collins’ season ending, if any prospect were in line for his spot it is last year’s late season breakout Brandon Finnegan. He only has one year of professional experience, and combined with the fact that he really only has one major league ready pitch, this too should not be a surprise.

Manaea was drafted 34th overall at the end of the first round by the Royals in 2013. His debut season in 2014 with the Wilmington Blue Rocks went very well. He started 25 games, going 7-8 with a 3.11 ERA and 146 strikeouts over 121.2 innings pitched. He finished the season on a tear, allowing just 6 earned runs over his last 8 starts with one complete game shutout. He closed the season with a seven shutout inning performance earning him High-A Carolina League Player of the Week and Royals’ Organizational All Star honors.

Manaea needs to improve his arsenal before making the big league jump. He has a mid-90s fastball that he can blow past batters, but leaves little to be desired in secondary pitches. If he can improve his slider, he could make a push for the bullpen by next season.

The Nationals re-assigned Pedro Severino and Spencer Kieboom to their Minor League camps. Severino made a huge jump last season, slashing a career best .247/.306/.399 with 9 home runs (6 more than his entire previous three seasons). At just 21 years of age and no experience above High-A, the Nationals have time to hone their catcher of the future.

Lastly, the Houston Astros sent Domingo Santana officially back to Minor League spring training. Santana was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies back in 2009 out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 16. The No. 3 prospect in the Astros system, the future outfielder earned Astros’ Organizational All Star honors for the third consecutive season.

Now 22-years old and having an impressive 2014 Triple-A debut with a quick taste of the Major Leagues in September, Santana will have a chance to hone his skills for a few months. Astros’s fans should expect to see Santana quite a bit this season at the big league level.

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