MLB: Minor League Opening Day, Best Rosters to Watch

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With MLB opening day behind us, we now have minor league opening day today. Which minor league teams did MLB clubs “stack” with talent?

Today begins the journey of MLB’s minor league season for all full-season teams (low-A, high-A, AA, and AAA levels).

MLB clubs frequently like to put a number of their best prospects at one level if they are at a similar development path in order to allow the players to get the feel of playing with other high-level players, a feeling they won’t get to experience until they get to the major leagues and have elite players surrounding them everywhere.

The most fun part of watching a minor league game for many is spotting the great players on the field and scouting them. For me, the more fun part is seeing the pure enjoyment of the players on the field.

Minor league players don’t have the same salary or perks of MLB players, so they frequently are playing for the absolute love of the game or for the pursuit of a dream, which adds a great level of heart to every game.

When looking at the minor league assignments, I found many that were intriguing as far as how it shaped a team. I utilized MLB.com’s top 30 list for every prospect, which is linked from this article.

Enjoy the season!

Next: Dodger Power Lineup

AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers

The Dodgers have a very well-balanced system with a load of elite talent both in hitting and pitching.

The majority of the top hitting prospects in the Dodgers system are going to be at one level, as their #1, #3, and #4 prospects will all be in the Oklahoma City lineup.

Cody Bellinger, Alex Verdugo, and Willie Calhoun will all be in Oklahoma City, and each will be incredibly potent in the Pacific Coast League’s offensive environment, right on the doorstep of the major leagues. The numbers each could put up should be very impressive on the stat sheet.

As far as balance, the team in the Dodgers system that draws incredible intrigue is high-A Rancho Cucamonga in the California League. To open the season, #5 Walker Buehler will key the pitching while #6 Yusniel Diaz will lead the lineup.

However, the depth at the level will be very intriguing, especially with the expectation that top prospect Yadier Alvarez will move to the Quakes from extended spring as the Dodgers manage his innings.

The Quakes lineup will also include 2016 draftees Will Smith and DJ Peters along with offseason trade acquisition shortstop Drew Jackson.

Next: Loaded Charlotte Roster

AAA Charlotte Knights

The White Sox have built a system that is shallow, but has every elite players, and they have sent many of those elite players to AAA Charlotte.

The Knights rotation will be keyed by Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Carson Fulmer with 2016 pick Zack Burdi in the bullpen.

Their lineup will feature top prospect Yoan Moncada along with outfielder Adam Engel, one of the few holdover prospects from the system prior to the offseason trades.

What will be very interesting is that the White Sox squad in Birmingham will also see many of their top prospects as well, with Michael Kopech, Spencer Adams, Jordan Stephens, and Trey Michalczewski there to open the season.

Guys like Zack Collins and Alex Call will open in high-A, but they have a chance to find their way to AA by the end of the season. A guy like Luis Alexander Basabe will likely spend the whole season at high-A.

Next: Loaded Mississippi Rotation

AA Mississippi Braves

The Atlanta Braves have a loaded rotation at every full-season level, it seems, and that’s part of the result of the pitching-focused rebuild that the Braves are going through right now.

The rotation in the system with the most intrigue is certainly in Mississippi, where four pitchers who spent the majority of their season last year in low-A will open in the rotation for Mississippi.

Max Fried, Mike Soroka, and Kolby Allard are all three ranked in top 100 lists around the industry, while Patrick Weigel has been getting a lot of note. The fifth starter, Matt Withrow, isn’t in MLB.com’s top 30, but he’s still a very intriguing prospect.

Also on the Mississippi roster will be reliever Akeel Morris, heading what should be a very talented bullpen.

Travis Demeritte is the lead hitter for the roster, but the offense will be very “hit and miss”, meaning out of 10 games, they’ll likely score 0-2 runs in six of them, 3-7 runs in one of them, and 8+ runs in three of them, which will lead to an above average overall offense, but most likely a number of games that pitchers aren’t getting good support, so how those teens handle that will be interesting to watch.

Next: Low-level Padres

High-A Lake Elsinore Storm

The Padres have two of their best prospects in the majors to open the season, but the majority of their best guys are in A-ball or lower as their rebuild is in the early infancy.

The California League squad in Lake Elsinore looks to be a very potent one, with Anderson Espinoza, Cal Quantrill, and Eric Lauer leading the Storm rotation.

The lineup will also be solid with first baseman Josh Naylor, infielders Javier Guerra and Rudy Giron, and catcher Austin Allen.

What will be impressive is that these players will be among a number of other guys who are also high upside players that could all break through, which is the story of every lower-level team in the Padres system.

The low-A team for the Padres will also have a very intriguing group with Fernando Tatis, Jr. and Jorge Ona on that team that are incredibly intriguing and could both make noise in top 100 lists by the end of the season.

Next: Lehigh Lineup

AAA Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs

J.P. Crawford, Jorge Alfaro, Nick Williams, Roman Quinn, Dylan Cozens, and Rhys Hoskins are all MLB.com top 30 prospects headed to Lehigh, and the Phillies will be watching this squad closely to see who is ready for a big league audition.

Quinn is one guy I’m watching closely as he’s really struggled to stay healthy as he’s climbed the minor league levels, and if he can just be healthy, the elite defense and speed he has could allow him to be an impact player in real life and fantasy baseball.

Crawford has lost a bit of his prospect luster, but if he can be OBP-wise what Andrelton Simmons offers for contact along with defense, he’ll be a very high-value player at the major league level, just perhaps not the biggest fantasy value.

Alfaro and Williams are former Texas farmhands who have intense raw tools that are still needing polish, and if they can show that polish, both could push out placeholder types at the big league level.

The two big power guys from their AA club in 2016, Cozens and Hoskins, may not be guys who are elite prospects in true scouting tools, but they put up offensive numbers, and if they can show that again in AAA in 2017, they’ll certainly earn their way to the big league club with a park in Philadelphia that would work well with their big power.

Next: Bullish Durham Roster

AAA Durham Bulls

While Tampa Bay’s system is a middle-of-the-pack system overall, they have gotten back to the development that made them so successful at the end of the 2000s. They have targeted huge upside players and developed them slowly, allowing their upside to fully mature.

While many of their best players were acquired through trades, and there are issues still to iron out in their drafting, they have one of the most talented rosters in AAA in 2017.

Their roster is headlined by top 25 prospect Willy Adames at the plate and offseason trade acquisition Jose De Leon on the mound. However, what’s most impressive is the depth of the team.

Outfielder Jake Bauers had one of the best spring trainings in baseball, while first baseman Casey Gillaspie took a big step forward in his production in 2016 toward being the first baseman of the future in Tampa.

The pitching depth is what will make this roster especially impressive, as behind De Leon, the Bulls will have Chih-Wei Hu, Jacob Faria, Jaime Schultz, Ryne Stanek, Taylor Guerrieri, and Ryan Yarbrough also on the roster from MLB.com’s top 30 prospect list.

Next: Blue Jays AA Depth

AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Many people have put the Blue Jays out of their mind after they traded away a number of high-level prospects like Franklin Barreto and Daniel Norris in pursuit of the playoffs recently.

However, the Blue Jays have done an excellent job of developing and really of drafting in recent years. That’s evidenced by the depth of talent they have at their AA team this season.

Based on their MLB.com top 30 ranking, the New Hampshire roster has the #2 (Sean Reid-Foley), #3 (Anthony Alford), #4 (Richard Urena), #6 (Connor Greene), #8 (Jon Harris), #11 (Reese McGuire), #14 (Harold Ramirez), #18 (Francisco Rios), #29 (Jonathan Davis), and #30 (Ryan McBroom) players to open the season.

What’s impressive is that there are a mix of pitchers and hitters in that grouping. There are also a number of players in high-A that should make a strong argument for the AA roster in a season.

Another roster within the Blue Jays system to watch this year will be the low-A Lansing roster with Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Bo Bichette, Justin Maese, and J.B. Woodman, who are all top 15 guys.

Next: High-A Reds

High-A Daytona Tortugas

The Reds were aggressive with a number of prospects, and they have guys like Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, and Rookie Davis at the major league level.

That would usually deplete a top-30 list enough to make one level tough to rank here, but the Reds seemed to want to start most of their high-interest players at one level.

The top prospect, #3 overall selection Nick Senzel will headline this team. The two that really caught my attention in reviewing the roster were two Cuban signees from 2016 that will make their state side debut for the Reds in high-A, Alfredo Rodriguez and Vladimir Gutierrez.

Fellow 2016 draft pick Chris Okey will join Senzel in high-A, and I’m very intrigued with Okey’s potential behind the plate, especially in a Reds system with a need at the major league level and a willingness to move a guy aggressively if he shows the ability to handle it.

Senzel and Okey could both be quick to move off of this level, so it would be wise to catch this team early if you wanted to see the full roster, though there are some intriguing players in low-A that could find their way to high-A, so Daytona could be a team to watch all year.

Next: Chattanooga Stepping Stone

AA Chattanooga Lookouts

The Twins system is solid, albeit not with an elite prospect that’s a top 25 type of player. However, it seems they’ve found a lot of their best guys all at one level in 2017 open the season.

The Chattanooga team has the #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #9, #13, #16, and #29 prospects on the top 30 list on their squad this year.

The offense will be led by top prospect infielder Nick Gordon. The rest of the offense will be a bit lacking, but the pitching will be absolutely dominant.

Stephen Gonsalves is the Twins’ second-rated prospect and made a huge impression last season, but he’s joined with Fernando Romero, who showed elite stuff in his first year back from injury.

The rest of the staff will be rounded out by Tyler Jay, Kohl Stewart, Felix Jorge, LaMonte Wade, and Nick Burdi.

Next: Two Brewers Squads

AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox and High-A Carolina Mudcats

The Brewers have a very loaded top 30 list on MLB.com, such that I could see as many as 10 more guys who I could argue for a place on the top 30, which is pretty impressive depth, and the reason the Brewers are considered a top-five system.

More from Call to the Pen

Interestingly, it feels as if the Brewers stacked two of their minor league rosters with their best guys.

The AAA roster in Colorado Springs will have the best pitching prospect in the system throwing for them tonight on opening day in Josh Hader along with the top overall prospect in Lewis Brinson.

Joining those two in AAA will be pitcher Brandon Woodruff, outfielder Brett Phillips, and outfielder Ryan Cordell, who is one of the more underrated guys in the Brewers system with his big-time power.

The new high-A affiliate for the Brewers in Carolina is also quite loaded with the #5 (Isan Diaz), #6 (Trent Clark), #7 (Lucas Erceg), #11 (Marcos Diplan), #15 (Cody Ponce), #18 (Kodi Medeiros), #19 (Freddy Peralta), #20 (Corbin Burnes), and #25 (Jake Gatewood).

I’m a huge fan of Diaz and Erceg, and that will have my eyes on Carolina plenty this season when I have a chance, but the volatile-but-promising arms like Diplan and Medeiros at that level should also add a lot of intrigue!

Next: The Visual Beauty of Baseball

For your minor league viewing, I’d highly suggest taking in MiLB.tv, the minor league streaming service. You have access to every AA and AAA game along with select games at the levels below that.

It’s a tremendous way to see prospects that you can’t see in person!

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