Welcome to the July 30th installment of The Daily Farm Report! We rake the news for each organization’s top prospects and give you a digest with some commentary for you greedy prospectors to enjoy. Here’s some recent news and highlights:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
STATS and RANKINGS
Blue Jays #1 by MLB Pipeline
Baseball Farm Roto #3 Overall
🚨🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨🚨
The @BlueJays announce that 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is scheduled to be promoted to the #Bisons on Tuesday. Herd hosts @IronPigs at 7:05 p.m., at Coca-Cola Field.
🎟️& Details: https://t.co/7hVe7eItGc pic.twitter.com/KLUmhEAXef
— Buffalo Bisons (@BuffaloBisons) July 28, 2018
The club said that Vladdy wasn’t going to skip AAA, so we aren’t surprised by this news. However, we are glad that the promotion to AA came so soon after Vladdy returned from injury. If he continues raking at AAA (highly likely), then it will be interesting to see what Toronto does next. I think that the likely course of action is that he finishes out this season in AAA, plays very well in spring training next year, gets the Acuña treatment, and sits in AAA until the team gains another year of cost control over his contract.
Josh Breaux
STATS and RANKINGS
Yankees #15 by MLB Pipeline
Here’s Staten Island Yankees catcher Josh Breaux, this year’s second-round pick, testing his injured hamstring before today’s doubleheader. It went well. He’ll DH in today’s second game, his first action since getting hurt July 11: pic.twitter.com/DRkoKs5cU5
— Mark Singelais (@MarkSingelais) July 29, 2018
The Yankees second-round pick looks like he’s ready to return to action. Breaux is a catching prospect out of McLennan CC in Texas. Breaux was previously drafted by the Astros in the 2017 draft as a dual-threat hitting/pitching prospect. His arm is legit, and he’s hit 100 mph on the radar gun, but the Yankees are putting Breaux’s big arm behind the plate for now. Breaux also has big-time bat speed and should hit for power. His game lacks polish, but he’s only 20, so there’s time to see what this intriguing prospect can do.
Bobby Dalbec
STATS and RANKINGS
RedSox #6 by MLB Pipeline
Man, hadn't noticed the year Bobby Dalbec is having in the Carolina Lg.
25 HR, .307 ISO, 16% bb%, 44% fly balls, .963 OPS vR
Dingers to all fields. #RedSox pic.twitter.com/bKdBlvwTGN
— Alec Dopp (@AlecJDopp) July 29, 2018
Dalbec, 23, has had no issue with the pitching in the A+ Carolina League this year, posting a .929 OPS, .412 wOBA, and .155 wRC+ at the plate in 2018. The Red Sox are pretty jammed up with young 3Bs, and Dalbec probably sits behind Michael Chavis and Rafael Devers at this point in his career. However, we can see him leapfrogging Chavis sometime in the near future, as Dalbec is actually older than Chavis and Chavis is currently batting .154 with a 31.8% K-rate in AA.
Brendan Rodgers
STATS and RANKINGS
Rockies #1 by MLB Pipeline
Baseball Farm Roto #157 Overall
Brendan Rodgers promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque #ColoradoRockies https://t.co/OX3Oc8ASoT pic.twitter.com/HjaGwiwXB0
— Rockies Report (@rockies_fanly) July 30, 2018
Vladdy Jr. isn’t the only top prospect getting promoted to AAA. Rodgers, 21, is also well deserving of his promotion, posting a .370 wOBA with 17 HR and 12 SB in the AA Eastern League this season. Rodgers was the Rockies 1st round pick out of high school in 2015, and is probably the organization’s top prospect. If everything goes according to plan at AAA, we would expect Rodgers to make his MLB debut in early 2019.
Brock Deatherage
STATS and RANKINGS
Unranked by MLB Pipeline
Baseball Farm Roto #17 Overall
In case you haven’t seen it yet:
A look at the swing of #Tigers Brock Deatherage facing Class A South Bend this afternoon. #pack9 pic.twitter.com/Un5hJhmyv7— Emily Waldon (@EmilyCWaldon) July 29, 2018
We are hoping that his game lives up to his name. Deatherage, the Tigers 10th round pick in the 2018 draft out of North Carolina State, has hit the ground running in the Tigers organization. He’s got an open, athletic left-handed swing and it looks like he should continue to hit for some pop as he works his way up the ladder. He’s currently posted with the West Michigan Whitecaps of the A-Full Season Midwest League.
