Baltimore Orioles highlight Week 2 of minor league notes
Two Baltimore Orioles prospects are hitting well and could add even more pop to an already impressive lineup. Week 2 of the minor league notes column.
Our feature of this week’s minor league notes column is a pair of hitters who could’ve saved the Baltimore Orioles almost $6 million.
The Orioles had a rough offseason: they missed out on Yoenis Cespedes; thought they had Dexter Fowler before the Chicago Cubs swept him away at the 11th hour; starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen bolted for Miami; and Yovani Gallardo had to have his contract restructured due to health concerns.
The O’s did sign former Pirates first baseman Pedro Alvarez for $5.75 million and Seattle Mariners outfielder/first baseman Mark Trumbo for $9.15 million. The Orioles needed bats, and while two high strikeout hitters weren’t ideal, the results have generally been positive.
Except for Alvarez. He’s hitting .186 and slugging just .256 in 51 plate appearances and has yet to hit a home run. It’s too early to panic on Alvarez, but it definitely hasn’t been good so far.
The Orioles could’ve been aggressive by filling Alvarez’s role internally. Two Orioles prospects are crushing early on this season, and soon could be ready to contribute some pop to an already potent lineup.
One is outfielder Christian Walker. Walker has had cups of tea in the majors in each of the past two seasons but never made a significant contribution. After hitting .257.324/.423 in Triple-A last season, Walker seems to be putting it all together in 2016 with a .284/.338/.527 line with four home runs. His strikeout rate has gone up and his walk rate has gone down, which is cause for some concern, but the uptick in power mitigates that concern.
The other is first baseman Trey Mancini. He bashed Double-A pitching to the tune of a .302/.413/.698 slash line seven home runs, so the Orioles promoted him to Triple-A on Monday. In addition to those impressive numbers, Mancini was drawing a walk in 13.3 percent of his plate appearances, which is more than double his career pace.
While they would’ve been cheaper options than Alvarez, the Orioles did need a left-handed bat and both Walker and Mancini are right-handed. They also weren’t 100 percent ready for the majors, so at the time the Alvarez signing made some sense.
Entering play Wednesday, the Orioles had the third highest OPS+ (118) in the majors, according to Baseball-Reference. A very mediocre starting rotation has been just good enough to support one of the game’s best bullpens. That three-part combo has allowed the Orioles to jump to a 12-8 record out of the gate. Walker and/or Mancini could be contributing to that effort soon.
Let’s head to the rest of the minors. This week, I’ll start in Double-A.
Next: Double-A
The Oakland Athletics are learning good things about a recent draft pick.
The Oakland Athletics had a bit of an enigma lurking in the minors. It wasn’t Sean Manaea, who is reportedly being called up to the majors to start Friday, but rather third baseman Matt Chapman.
After being drafted as a first round pick in the 2014 draft, Chapman had an unimpressive 54-game debut with a combined .246/.291/.401 line. In 2015 he only played in 80 games, all of which were in the number inflating California League. He slugged .566 with 23 home runs and had a K-rate (22.4%) and walk rate (11.1%) that suggested he was going to be a high strikeout hitter with pop and solid defense.
But since it was the California League and his sample size was so small, it was hard to tell. So far the Athletics are finding out that Chapman may be a better hitter than the numbers suggested.
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Chapman hit his fifth home run Tuesday and currently is slashing .250/.386/.529 in the Texas League. More importantly, Chapman is commanding the strike zone. Entering play Wednesday, his walk rate had gone up (from 11.1% in 2015 to 16.5% in 2016) and his strikeout rate had inched down to 21.5% from 22.4% last season.
Over in the Eastern League, Rockies outfielder David Dahl is proving he has some bash in his bat, too. Dahl is tied for the league lead in home runs (seven), including one Tuesday. He’s striking out (29.1% entering Wednesday) much more than Chapman is but the power is eye-catching.
Other players of note:
Kyle Freeland, a Rockies pitching prospect, has thrown two scoreless starts in a row and boasts a 1.13 earned run average in four starts. Saturday he went six innings and allowed no runs on six hits and no walks.
Atlanta’s Brandon Barker allowed just two hits Tuesday in six scoreless innings to drop his ERA to 0.78, fourth in the Southern League.
Next: Class-A Advanced
The Texas Rangers have a Cuban prospect who is enjoying incredible luck this season.
There is a great tutorial on batting average on balls in play (BABIP) over at FanGraphs, but here’s the short version: It will take a Herculean effort for someone to maintain a .483 BABIP for an entire season.
That’s what Texas Rangers prospect Andy Ibanez’s BABIP was entering play Wednesday. This is his first stint of professional baseball in the United States, and it’s been a pretty productive start to the season. He’s hitting .408/.459/.671 with 12 doubles in 18 games.
(Ibanez is 23 years old and has three years of pro experience in the Cuban National Series, where he hit .283/.348/.419.)
As I mentioned, however, Ibanez will see his luck start to level out and his numbers should go down. Even a 150-point drop in BABIP would allow Ibanez to have a very impressive season. He’s also shown an impressive ability to manage the strike zone, drawing eight walks with only 14 strikeouts.
Pitcher Anderson Espinoza of the Boston Red Sox is living up to his scouting reports. The Red Sox’s No. 2 prospect according to Baseball Prospectus has a 2.45 ERA in four starts. He’s struck out 20 hitters and walked just five in 18 1/3 innings and is holding hitters to a .212 average.
In the Midwest League, the San Diego Padres are getting huge offensive production from catcher Austin Allen. He’s hitting .509/.567/.667 … .509! …and has a struck out just eight times. Look for his numbers to drop a lot, but the 2015 fourth-rounder is off to a great start.
Next: Triple-A