Farmhands of the Week: June 10 thru June 16

There’s a bunch of “MLB Adjacent” guys on the list this week which are good to keep an eye on for your dynasty leagues, and even in redraft leagues in some cases. Ty France is smashing the ball again after being demoted to AAA. Bobby Bradley appears to be earning a shot at the MLB level this season. Who knows what the Astros will do with Kyle Tucker, but he might be trade bait or take the spot of a traded player sometime this season. He’s hit too well over the past year to not get an MLB shot. Lewis Brinson feels like a bust at this point, but maybe there is hope that he bounces back? Neuse and Dubon probably a significant injury away from some MLB relevance but worth monitoring.

It’s no secret that Waters and Pache are two excellent young OFs. This week might serve as a little preview of the future for Braves fans, who already boast one of the games most dynamic young OFs in Ronald Acuña Jr. at the MLB level. At this point, it’s fair for Braves fans to dream on a dynamic young 15-WAR outfield of Pache, Waters, and Acuña Jr. roaming the OF in Atlanta for some time to come.

While Steele Walker hit for the cycle this week, it was Rockies’ farmhand Luis Castro that took home FOTW honors while also putting up one of the top weeks of any minor league hitter this week. Castro’s 4 HR this week brought his season total up to 17, with 54 RBI, 61 runs scored, and a 1.047 OPS.

He’s a corner bat that’s only seen time at 1B this season, and unfortunately for Castro the Rockies system is just jammed up with corner bats at this point. There’s some discounting for the fact that he’s a little old for his level (23) and he’s getting a bump playing in the hitter-friendly California League’s most hitter-friendly ballpark (Lancaster). He really could use a AA test to see how much of these hitting gains we can expect him to hold on to going forward.

Zangari’s injury luck in his career has just been brutal so far. He underwent TJS in 2017, came back in 2018 and smashed every baseball in site for a couple weeks, then got beaned on the wrist and missed the remainder of the season. Well Zangari is back in action, feeling healthy, and he launched 3 HR for the Kannapolis Intimidators of the A-Full Sally League this week. If healthy, Zangari boasts a 70 future raw power grade with a relatively selective plate approach. He’ll need that approach, as the K-rates have been sky high at points in the past. I’m just happy to see Corey back on the field and smashing baseballs. As he was a prep choice in the 2015 draft, he’s still only 22 years old and there’s plenty of time for him to continue to develop.

It’s been a tough year for 2017’s 1st round selection, who came into the year as one of baseball’s top starting pitching prospects. In 3 MLB starts for the Braves this year, he’s posted an ugly 7.07 ERA, directly linked to giving up 4 HR in just 14 innings of work. He’s suffered from the gopher ball a bit in AAA as well (7 HRA in 46.1 IP), and a 58% strand rate is just killing the ERA as well.

This week, Wright looked great squaring off against a Syracuse Mets lineup that featured MLBers Rajai Davis, Robinson Cano, Ruben Tejeda, Luis Guillorme, and Aaron Altherr. He cruised through 7.2 innings, scattering 2 hits and 2 BB while punching out 10 batters. The Braves have signed Dallas Keuchel and Wright’s name is popping up in trade rumors for more SP help. But if Wright can get back to the form that he showed this week, the best answer to their SP needs might be in-house.

A 22:3 K:BB ratio over 2 starts is going to get you the FOTW nod every time. Francis was scorching in 2 starts this week for the Biloxi Shuckers. He went 6 and 7 innings in his 2 starts, picking up 2 wins, and striking out double-digit batters in each outing.

Francis was a 7th round pick out of Chipola JC in Florida and is listed at 6’5″, 225. This season has been up and down for him, but there’s no denying the excellent week he just had. Bowden has his 2019 ERA down to 4.58 after being at 9.39 on May 4. He’ll look to keep this positive momentum rolling into the second half of the season.

Sure, he’s 25 years old. Let’s call him a “Bull Durham” prospect. But even by “25-year-old pitching in A+” standards, his start this week was electric. Ashbeck went 7 innings and struck out FIFTEEN batters while walking no one. He’s only started 3 of the 19 games he’s appeared in this season, but he boasts a 2.12 ERA this year and a 2.56 ERA throughout his minors career.

Ashbeck missed all but 1 start in 2016 and most of 2017 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He features a starter’s arsenal of a four-pitch mix, and has been used primarily as a swingman in the Padres org thus far. There’s a chance he still gets stretched out as a starter moving forward, so keep your eyes on this guy.

There were plenty of grumblings regarding his ability in 2018, but dear god has this kid’s prospect stock taken off in 2019. Gil was traded to the Yankees by Minnesota for OF Jake Cave, who is in the minors last time I checked on him in my dynasty league. After his dominant week, he now leads A-Ball starters in both ERA (1.81) and K% (32.5%). Control has been an issue of his that he’s refining, and thus far in 2019 he’s got the BB% down to 10.8% from 15.4% last season. FanGraphs has the FB rated as a future 70 offering, and the curveball is a nasty breaker. The competition in the Sally League cannot catch up to the fastball and following it up with a bender like he throws is a great recipe for dominance:

RHP Luis Gil pitched to a 13.3 SO/9 rate in 2018 with @PulaskiYanks. He’s doing more of the same in 2019 with @ChasRiverDogs, striking out 9 in his start on Friday (5.0 IP // 1 H // 2 BB // 0 R // 9 K). pic.twitter.com/AhkBJXskOO

— NYYPlayerDev (@NYYPlayerDev) April 22, 2019

Time for the Florida State League.