June Minor League System Update!

Here is the update for the minor league system for June.
One of these players is now in the big leagues and is hitting extremely well and I have brought him up to my big club.
I'll still be noting the numbers of Juan Soto for the next three updates, but now that he's on the big club, he's not really part of the system.

2018 # 1
Luis Robert OF Chicago White Sox .237 0 HR 4 RBI-Low A Kannapolis
Robert's season finally started after a spring training wrist injury and was surprisingly assigned to low A Kannapolis after spending time with High A Winston-Salem as he healed.
The numbers aren't great, but they are in only 38 at-bats.
Next month, I'll have a better idea.

2018 # 2
Heliot Ramos OF San Francisco .231 5 HR 20 RBI.-Low A-Augusta.
Ramos raised his average a bit this month, but his other numbers in May were similar to those in April.
Still extremely young at 18 to be in the South Atlantic League with low A Augusta.

2018 # 3
Jesus Luzardo P Oakland 2-1 in 3 starts 1.23 ERA 25 K's in 14.2 innings at Low A Stockton
3-3 in 9 starts 3.80 ERA 54 K's in 42.2 innings at AA Midland.
Aggressively moved to AA after just three starts above short season, Luzardo is holding his own, if not dazzling in the Texas League.
Have to like Luzardo's strikeout numbers in Midland.

2018 # 4
Adrian Morejon 4-4 in 11 starts 3,59 ERA 66 K's in 57.2 innings at High A Lake Elsinore
The 19-year-old Morejon is very young for the High A California League and picked up his strikeout numbers in the last month.

2018 # 5
Jhalyn Ortiz OF Philadelphia  .263 4 HR 16 RBI- Low A Lakewood
Ortiz returned from injury and has hit .322 since his return for Low A Lakewood.
Ortiz smashed a long homer in Hagerstown off 2017 Nationals number one draft pick Seth Romero that I think is still moving.
If Ortiz continues to combine a high average with his natural power, he might be at the top of prospect lists by 2020, if not before.

2018 # 5A
William Contreras.283 5 HR 14 RBI Low A Rome
Contreras continues to hit well after missing time at the beginning of the season for Low A Rome.
Really like the power being shown for a catcher and considering that many thought the bat was going to be a question for Contreras, he might be on his way to solid prospect status.

The rest of my system as follows- If a draft pick number appears to be out of order, I either released that player, traded him or lost him in the expansion draft

2017 # 1
Eloy Jimenez Chicago White Sox .320 10 HR 41 RBI AA Birmingham
The slugging Jimenez continues to crush the ball at AA Birmingham and appears to have a promotion to AAA Charlotte ready whenever the White Sox want to pull the string.
One of the top prospects in the game

2017 # 2
Juan Soto Washington
.373 5 HR 24 RBI in 59 at bats at Low A Hagerstown
.371 7 HR 18 RBI in 62 at bats at High A Potomac
.323 2 RBI 10 RBI in 31 at bats ar AA Harrisburg
.338 5 HR 12 RBI in 68 at bats at Washington
The last we heard from the 19-year-old Soto, we were wondering about the Nationals challenging him with a strong move to AA Harrisburg,
In the interim, the Nationals shocked me and others by bringing him to the bigs for what was thought to be a brief stop while the team recovered from injuries in the outfield.
Instead, Soto smashed the ball just as well in the majors as he did in the minors and might have put himself in the lineup for a while.
I'm sure he'll hit a point where he struggles and the Nationals might send him down when that happens to try to avoid his eligibility as a "Super Two" in arbitration, but there has been no indication of that slowdown happening any time soon.
Washington just may have a replacement ready for Bryce Harper and with some hyperbole, a chance to exceed him.

2017 # 4
Triston McKenzie P Cleveland 1-1 in 2 starts 2.89 ERA 9 K's in 9 innings at AA Akron.
McKenzie made his 2018 debut and hitters have hit just .094 in those two starts.
McKenzie just continues to dominate no matter his level and if he pitches to his career thus far over the final three months, might have a shot of joining the Cleveland rotation for 2019.

2016 # 3
Brady Aiken P Cleveland
Aiken is still in Arizona, but after a bad 2018 might be running out of chances.
Haven't heard anything about an assignment soon

2016 # 4

Vladimir Guerrero Jr, 3B Toronto .407 11 HR 55 RBI- AA New Hampshire

Guerrero might have been on his way to joining Juan Soto as 19-year-old big leaguers before straining a patella tendon sliding into second base,

Guerrero has struck out just 21 times in over 200 at-bats and with an OPS over 1,100, he might go straight to AAA Buffalo after his return from injury, from which he is expected to miss one month.

2016 # 5

Phil Bickford P Milwaukee 0-0 3.60 ERA 8 K's in 4 appearances/ 5 innings as a reliever for High A Carolina.

Bickford finally arrived at High A for the Brewers after a collection of suspensions and injuries.

I'm not sure if Milwaukee looks at him as a reliever now or is merely taking it slow with the right-hander after he has basically missed close to a year and a half.

It's hard to believe, but Bickford is still just 22 and a strong second half might make me decide to keep him around.

2016 # 6

Justus Sheffield P New York Yankees

1-2 in 5 starts 2.25 ERA 39 K's in 28 innings at AA Trenton

1-2 in 7 starts 3.03 ERA  33 K's in 32.2 innings at AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre

Hitters are hitting just .203 against the righthanded Sheffield since his promotion to AAA.

Sheffield seems to be progressing well against the AAA hitters and his slider might be big league ready now.

The Yankees might have to decide on bringing him up before the end of the season or Sheffield along with Clint Frazier will likely be the most attractive trade chips that the Bombers have at the trade deadline.

Pre-2016 Draftees

Christian Arroyo 3B Tampa Bay

.200 1 HR 8 RBI in 68 at-bats at AAA Durham

.280 1 HR 6 RBI in 56 at-bats with Tampa Bay.

Arroyo is currently the utility man and has played second and third for the Rays.

Unless Arroyo picks up the pace in the second half, I'll be likely to release him as a final decision looms when he reaches 500 career at-bats.

Austin Meadows OF Pittsburgh

.294 1 HR 15 RBI in 136 at-bats at AAA Indianapolis

.329 5 HR 10 RBI in 87 at-bats with Pittsburgh.

Meadows joined the Pirates with questions about his power and that has not been a problem early in his Pirates career.

Meadows has cooled of late though (.231 in June) and with the return of Starling Marte to join Gregory Polanco and Corey Dickerson in the outfield, Pittsburgh may soon return Meadows to Indianapolis to avoid him becoming the fourth outfielder and get regular at-bats.

Pittsburgh might consider moving Dickerson at the deadline for both the return and to give Meadows a shot at a regular spot in the outfield.

Tyler Beede P San Francisco

3-7 in 10 starts 6.71 ERA 49 K's in 51 innings at AAA Sacramento

0-1 in 2 starts 8.22 ERA in 7.2 innings for San Francisco

Beede's numbers keep getting worse and he looks to be finished as a serious prospect at 25.

Beede isn't missing bats and he should be dominating AAA, not posting ugly stats.

He'll likely be released by me at this rate.

Grant Holmes P Oakland
Holmes suffered a rotator cuff injury in spring training and may miss the season.
Holmes will likely be released by me before the next draft.