Minor League Baseball League Top 10 Prospects: Florida State League
8. Will Craig, 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates
After winning the triple crown in the ACC for Wake Forest in 2016 and throwing well as the Demon Deacons closer, Craig started to slip in the 2016 first round after teams got their private workouts with him.
The Pirates took him with the 22nd overall selection, and he showed some of the reasoning that teams worried about him a bit when he exhibited excellent plate discipline but nearly no power in the New York-Penn League in 2016. This season did not bring much different, beyond a bit more swing and miss.
Craig moved to first base this season, and that makes sense as he is a below-average fielder at third baseman. He does have an impressive arm (hailing back to his pitching experience), but really not the athleticism to utilize it anywhere on the field.
Craig put up a slash line of .271/.373/.371 this season with 26 doubles and 6 home runs. While his patience at the plate is impressive, Craig will need a significant infusion of power in order to succeed as a right-right first baseman. There has been some rumbling among scouts about having Craig return to the mound if he doesn’t see strides in power soon.
Craig will likely move to AA in 2018, and if he struggles again to generate power, it will be interesting to see if the Pirates begin to consider the idea of moving Craig back to the mound.
7. Jhoan Urena, 3B, New York Mets
The switch-hitting Urena had not really pushed forward offensively his first two full seasons after hitting .299 and .300 in his GCL and NYPL seasons coming into 2015. Playing primarily at age 22 this season, Urena hit .282/.364/.437 with 34 doubles, 2 triples, 11 home runs, and 17 stolen bases over 122 games with St. Lucie before a 13-game audition with Las Vegas, where he showed solid power but did struggle in his contact.
Urena is a plus defender with a plus to double-plus arm at third base. He’s made huge strides in his actions at third base, and having those same strides show up offensively would allow Urena to move quickly through the upper minors of the Mets system.
Urena has some consistency issues with his swing from both sides, but there is above-average raw power from both sides of the plate. He’s a better contact hitter from the left side.
Another bugaboo to watch with Urena is his size. He’s 6’1″ and his frame can add weight quickly in season. While he’s worked hard on his actions at third, being able to charge the ball and range for balls hit side-to-side would be hampered if he’s struggling with that, and he seemed to add weight that was notable in his time in the PCL this season.
With little ahead of him in the Mets system, the Mets future at third base is Urena’s to grab hold of right now. If he can build on or even just repeat his success of 2017, he could see AAA again in 2018 and be knocking on the door of the major leagues by the end of the season.