MLB: Five Pitching Prospects Ready to Make an Impact
Who are five pitching prospects that are ready to come up and make an impact in MLB?
As we get closer and closer to the All-Star game, MLB teams are less concerned about service time and when players are arbitration eligible.
Lucas Giolito of the Washington Nationals is just the latest arm to come up and make their debut. We’ve seen the Pittsburgh Pirates bring up Jameson Taillon and most recently, Chad Kuhl. Julio Urias has made his debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
We’ve also seen pitchers like Jose Berrios come up and struggle and get sent back down. Sometimes players can come up to the big leagues, struggle, go back down to AAA, play well, then come back and never go back to the minors.
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Teams are also going to call up arms to see what they have. Should they go with the prospect, or should they acquire that veteran arm that may put them over the top?
Today we are going to look at five guys who can come up and make an impact this year. They may not impact the pennant race. They may have already been up for a time or two this season. They are five pitchers though that you may see make some starts for your team down the stretch.
So let’s take a look at who may be the next five pitching prospects to get the call to the show.
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We’ve already seen two of the three Pittsburgh Pirates top pitching prospects. Number three may be the best of all and he’s still in AAA. Glasnow was among the top 15 prospects on all the pre-season prospect ranking lists and nothing about his performance so far this year indicates that those rankings are wrong.
Glasnow so far this season is 7-2 with a 1.70 ERA in 16 starts. He’s struck out 105 in 90 innings. The thing that he needs to work on though is his control. Glasnow has walked 51 this season. In his past four starts, he’s walked 20 in 23.2 innings. That’s way too many. Even with all his walks, he’s allowed two runs or less in each of his last 10 starts.
Glasnow is second in the international league in ERA, first in strikeouts and tied for first in wins.
If Glasnow can cut down on those walks, then the Pirates can bring him in the not too distant future. With contention in doubt, when Glasnow comes up and Gerrit Cole returns from injury, Pirate fans can get a look at a rotation with young arms that the Pirates hope can help lead their team for years to come.
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Green doesn’t get a lot of fan fare, but the guy has just put up numbers down in AAA for the Yankees so far this season. If (and it’s probably a big IF with how the Yankees operate) they start selling pieces, Green could find himself on the big league roster again this season and maybe for more than a start like earlier this season.
Green was the other pitcher the Yankees got in the deal with the Detroit Tigers during the off-season for Justin Wilson. Green doesn’t have the big strikeout numbers like Glasnow, but he’s turned that up a notch lately with 11 and nine punchouts in two of his last three starts and is seventh in the International League in strikeouts.
Green has pitched in two games at the major league level with not much success, but you can’t judge a player on five innings.
He leads the International League in ERA with a 1.54 ERA. He’s allowed less hits and walks combined (80) than innings (81.2). Another impressive part to his season is that’s he allowed more than two earned runs in only one start. Green is a sinker/slider kind of pitcher which will play at Yankee Stadium.
Next: Control is Key
Jose Berrios
We’ve already seen this guy come up once and not have a ton of success, but he’s gone back to AAA and with the fact that the Twins are out of it anyway, it’s time to get an extended look at young right hander Jose Berrios.
Berrios has been a bit up and down since returning to AAA from the Twins, but his last three starts have been much better including his last one yesterday, where he went seven innings vs Pawtucket giving up just one hit and striking out six batters.
Berrios is someone who can hit the mid 90’s with his fastball and also has a curve and a change to go with it. He’s now 7-3 in AAA with a 2.62 ERA.
He went 14-5 between AA and AAA last season and was thought to be an option for the Twins in the rotation as they pushed for a playoff spot. He was not called up and unfortunately they missed the postseason.
While this season has been lost for the Twins, it can give them a chance to see what they have in some of their top prospects like Berrios if they are able to move players like Ervin Santana or Ricky Nolasco.
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When the Rockies made the Troy Tulowitzki for Jose Reyes deal last season, they did it with the intention of adding to some of the young power arms that they have in the system. They did just that by adding not only Miguel Castro, but also adding top prospect Jeff Hoffman, a young, right-hander who was a former number one pick for the Blue Jays.
Hoffman in just two seasons, finds himself in AAA and it’s entirely possible the Rockies decided to call up the promising right-hander at some point this season.
Hoffman threw 104 innings last year and is already at 87 this year, so its entirely possible they shut him down at some point this season, however, they could give him a start or two at the big league level.
The Rockies are in the PCL which is a hitters paradise and Hoffman has held his own, posting a 3.49 ERA and striking out 88 in 87.1 innings. He’s allowed 83 hits and 29 walks so far.
Hoffman and Kyle Freeland are in AAA and if they continue to develop like the Rockies think they will, combining with Jon Gray who’s already up in the majors, they can give the Rockies some power arms that can lead the staff for years to come.
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Alex Reyes
There has been a history of starters coming up to the big leagues and getting their feet wet out of the bullpen and becoming weapons out of there before joining the rotation. David Price did it for the Rays back in 2008 and it helped them win the AL Pennant. The St. Louis Cardinals have done this with Carlos Martinez and Shelby Miller.
The Cardinals just removed Trevor Rosenthal out of the closer role. If Seung Wan Oh or Jonathan Broxton can’t get the job done, then maybe down the stretch they turn to top prospect Alex Reyes to be the guy out of the bullpen?
This was supposed to be a big year for Reyes’ development, but a 50 game drug of abuse suspension put a big wrench into those plans. Reyes has come back and is 2-0 in his first seven AAA starts. He has a 4.35 ERA, but on the plus side, he has struck out 48 in 31 innings. The problem is that he has walked 17 guys in those 31 innings which is too many.
The Cardinals no doubt want Reyes to develop as a starter and calling him up and adding him to the 40 man will start his service time clock as well limit a bit of the innings.
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St. Louis no doubt loves the arm, but Reyes may be the bullpen weapon they are looking for instead of trading a prospect to get an arm outside the organization.