Astros 3B Zach Dezenzo (24) debuted last night after graduating Triple-A in just 11 games. He slashed .391/.472/.739 with four home runs and three stolen bases in those 11 games, so kudos to the ‘Stros for waving him onward to the majors. Dezenzo’s a large dude at 6’4” 220 lbs and brings easy power from the right side. Heads up in the Crawford boxes.
The Diamondbacks finally promoted C Adrian Del Castillo (24) with C Gabriel Moreno going on the injured list. Del Castillo has dominated Triple-A pitching all season and has 24 home runs along with a slash line of .319/.403/.608 and a 16.8 percent strikeout rate. There’s probably no room for him if Moreno is healthy, but you never know. If ADC hits enough, the club could find a way to keep him around.
Diamondbacks RHP Justin Martinez (23) was in my top 50 prospect update at one point when he was eligible and now has a chance at some saves in Arizona. He’s allowed just one home run in 49.1 innings this season. The command can be scattershot, but he’s a 23-year-old trying to manage some of the nastiest stuff in the world and throwing his splitter and slider each 22 percent of the time. His statcast page has him in the 100th percentile on fastball velocity and ground ball rate as well as the 99th percentile in barrel rate and 95th percentile in whiff rate. I’m not saying he’s the closer now just because he picked up a 10th-inning save one night, but the momentum here is pretty obvious.
Yankees RHP Will Warren (25) will make his second MLB start today in the late game of a double-header. His ERA at Triple-A is 6.11 through 95.2 innings, but his xFIP is 3.95, a gap that’s explained in part by his 60.8 percent left-on-base rate where 70 percent is where they typically settle. His stuff is good enough to remain in the rotation, but the command comes and goes. He’ll be a risky roto start for the foreseeable future.
Pirates 3B Malcom Nuñez (23, AAA) hasn’t been great this year (91 wRC+ in 94 games), but he’s been heating up with the weather, slashing .362/.416/.594 with a 9.1-to-15.6 percent walk-to-strikeout rate and three home runs over his last 18 games. He was downright bad in Triple-A last year (69 wRC+ in 67 games), so it’s encouraging to see him improving across time, even if he’s more of a post-hype fill-in type than a big-time prospect at this stage.
Nunez first burst on the scene by dominating in the Dominican Summer League, and Dodgers SS Emil Morales (17, DSL) is giving the same big-kid-on-the-playground energy that Nunez had. Morales was a higher-priced prospect with a better frame at 6’3” 191 lbs and at least a chance to stay at shortstop, so any comparisons probably end at the statlines and easy right-handed power. Mostly I just put them together for the sake of the segue. Slashing .333/.480/.674 with 12 home runs and ten stolen bases, Morales looks like a monster in the making. We’ll have to see him against stateside pitching to feel real good about it, but he’s going to be tough to rank this off-season given his outcomes and upside.
Yankees SS George Lombard Jr. (19, A+) hasn’t been amazing in 81 Low-A games this season, but he’s young for the level and still growing into his 6’2” 190 lb frame, so the Yankees had seen enough in his 104 wRC+ to send him along to the next level. A first-round pick in 2023, Lombard Jr. has swiped 30 bags in 34 attempts while slashing .232/.344/.348 with five home runs.
Stretching back to his time in the complex league, Red Sox RHP Juan Valera (18, A) has started seven games during which he allowed his opponents zero hits. In his three starts at Low-A covering 12 innings, he has allowed one hit. Now, he has allowed five walks in that time, but that’s still good for a 0.50 WHIP along with his 0.00 ERA after posting a 1.79 in 40.1 CPX innings. On the bump, Valera repeats his delivery impeccably well for a 6’3” 205 lb 18-year-old and pushes his fastball up into the high-90’s with apparent ease.
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