With 2B Jorge Mateo on the concussion list, Orioles 2B Connor Norby is the latest among Baltimore’s bevy of prospects to get his opportunity. It’s interesting to see him up instead of Jackson Holliday considering Norby is striking out 30.7 percent of the time in Triple-A, but he’s also slashing .286/.374/.510 through 238 plate appearances and struck out 21.6 percent of the time across 633 Triple-A plate appearances last year. Even with the increased strikeouts, his wRC+ has jumped from 109 last year to 127 this season.
Baltimore’s endgame here is unclear, but Norby’s name has been included in a few trade rumors over the years, and it’s tough to imagine him unseating any of the club’s core infielders and winning a full-time gig. It’s also tough to imagine Baltimore will run newly signed Julio Teheran out there for a whole slate of starts on a playoff-bound roster. They have LHP Cade Povich and RHP Chayce McDermott ready to roll in Triple-A, so they don’t exactly have to hit the market seeking a starting pitcher, but they have to get those guys up and start seeing them against big league lineups to get an idea of whether or not they’ll be useful in the playoffs. Marlins LHP Jesus Luzardo just dropped a dead lizard all over our fantasy ratios, but he’d be a good fit in that ballpark and well within Baltimore’s price range because everything on the trade market is well within their price range, talent-wise.
Guardians 2B Daniel Schneeman (27, MLB) is a left handed hitter who was playing well at Triple-A and might find some starts even on a hot team in Cleveland. He can play second and third base and could probably bounce all around the diamond the way this team has historically deployed its bench players. Pretty strong return on a 33rd round pick out of BYU in 2018.
Since the beginning of May, Guardians 1B Jhonkensy Noel (22, AAA) has been popping bottles like Santa Claus on December 26th, smashing ten home runs in 29 games while striking out just 19 percent of the time and slashing .310/.381/.628. Noel has 80-grade power, but the last time he hit like this, he was a 19-year-old in Low-A. At that time, Noel was a hot property in the dynasty game. Right now, he’s available in a lot of leagues, and if he’s not in free agency, he’s probably not hard to tack onto a trade. Kyle Manzardo complicates things, as does the hot start of David Fry, but here we have a 22-year-old with 80-grade power dominating Triple-A pitching. It’s a pretty rare player profile. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible this winter, and Cleveland is always crowded on the 40-man roster, so he’ll probably get a look at some point.
We saw a couple high-profile demotions this week: Twins 2B Edouard Julien and Tigers 1B Spencer Torkelson. Justyn-Henry Malloy (24) is the beneficiary in Detroit, while 3B Jose Miranda gets to keep the job he’d earned in Minnesota. Malloy has the skills to win and keep a lineup spot like Miranda has, but he’ll have to do it through plate discipline and power, whereas Miranda hangs around because of an easy plus hit tool. Malloy is a player type I tend to bet against because I prefer the preternatural bat-to-ball types like Miranda. If I had to place a bet on these scenarios, I’d say 3B Jace Jung takes Malloy’s spot in Motown by July, while the Twins roll with Miranda all season.
While we’re here discussing handsy Twins (eww) and plate-discipline type Twins, I’ll throw some hype over toward Twins SS Dameury Pena (18), who looks like a handsy dude with plate discipline, slashing .338/.457/.462 with two home runs and three steals across 18 games on the complex. He has drawn 14 walks (17.3%) and struck out four (4.9%) times.
I haven’t mentioned him much around here, but I like Yankees RHP Cody Poteet and have him on several rosters. He’s up against the Dodgers this week, so that’s not cool, but the pitching development team there in New York is banking win after win, and I think Poteet’s the next brick in that wall. The Marlins did a fair bit of the ground work here, but the Marlins are kind of Yankees East on the pitching dev side.
Red Sox SS Matthew Lugo (23, AAA) received a well-earned promotion this week and had a nice debut in Triple-A, swiping a base and scoring two runs. He’s a nice pick-up anywhere he’s available after slashing .315/.405/.664 with 11 home runs and nine stolen bases in 43 games at Double-A. He was repeating the level after an 84 wRC+ in 83 games there last season, but he’s right on time in the age-to-level math.
Atlanta SS EJ Exposito (23, A+) played like a future star in May, slashing .352/.398/.620 with seven home runs and 12 stolen bases in 26 games. He got caught stealing just once. A 16th round pick out of Long Island University in 2022, Exposito struck out 30.8 percent of the time in his first full season across 110 games at Low-A but has dropped that rate to 23.7 percent in High-A and 20.3 percent since May 1.
Phillies OF Jordan Viars (20, A) was a popular FYPD pick after the Phillies drafted him in the third round of the 2021 draft and played him for 22 games on the complex, during which Viars struck out 12 times (18.8%) and drew 11 walks, posting a .406 OBP as a 17-year-old lefty with power. His strikeout rate has gone the wrong direction since then. In 83 Low-A games last season, Viars slashed .214/.315/.343 with a 26.9 percent strikeout rate. Repeating the level this year, he’s a totally different hitter. Since May 1, he’s slashing .358/.450/.687 with five home runs and two steals, good for a 214 wRC+, which, again, was his batting average at the level last season. He’ll turn 21 on July 18 and should be in High-A by then, where he’ll be fairly young for the level even after spending parts of three seasons in Low-A.
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