MLB Sleeper Prospects for the 2022 Season - NL Central

Rolling into a relatively week NL Central that's mostly regressed this offseason, front-runners St. Louis and Milwaukee will hope they can get that extra kick with their young talent, while the Cubs, Reds, and Pirates hope they can show signs for the future. Here's an X-factor for each club:

 

Milwaukee Brewers - Mark Mathias

Brought over from Cleveland ahead of the 2019 Rule Five Draft, Mathias mostly spent 2020 at Milwaukee's Alternate Site, but came up late in the season and held his own with the bat. Injury issues saw him miss all of 2021, but he's back now and could make a Brewers roster that needs extra offensive help and could have some bench spots up for grabs. Mathias's versatility will help him here, and a career year in 2019 in Cleveland's system in his last full season of professional work shows his continued growth as a player.

St. Louis Cardinals - Juan Yepez

I'm not exactly getting in on the ground floor here with Yepez, but this still is a bit of a no-brainer. A breakout star in the Minors last season at 23, Juan crushed his first full look at AA and his first taste of AAA to the tune of a .286/.383/.586 slash line, then made St. Louis's Wild Card roster and starred again for Glendale in the AFL. A breakout power threat who hit 34 HRs between the Minors and the Desert Dogs after entering the season with just 26 HRs in the Minors in total, Yepez has the tools and the vote of confidence to start the season on the Cards roster and push for serious playing time with the Central contenders this season.

Chicago Cubs - Alfonso Rivas and Esteban Quiroz

I had to go with two players here because I didn't know which to select. Rivas is a more established player in Chicago's utility mix, having played for them last season, but Quiroz's age and lower prospect hype makes him a better sleeper. The former is on the club's 40-man and should be the first man up if Chicago wants a longer bench or deals with injury issues. Quiroz is a pure-er middle infielder with a long track record in the basepaths dating back to his early days in the Mexican League. Both have a shot to surprise this season for a Cubs team that hopes to contend this season.

Pittsburgh Pirates - Bligh Madris

Methodically climbing to AAA since being made a 9th round pick by Pittsburgh in 2017, Madris now is in position to make the jump to the Majors. With an uninspiring OF mix as of now and fungible pieces on the 40-man, Bligh could see MLB time early in 2022. Strong gap power is Bligh's game, as he slacked 25 doubles in just 104 AAA contests last season.

Cincinnati Reds - Cristian Santana

One of the biggest 6-year MiLB free agents last offseason and an inspiration for this list, Santana lands in as a Reds prospect to watch. The longtime Dodgers 1B/3B prospect landed Cincinnati following a strong debut at AAA last season at 24. An impressive hitter since his breakout 2017 campaign, Santana should have a shot to make a retooling Reds roster this season, especially with the DH available to make his defense less of a concern.

MLB Sleeper Prospects for the 2022 Season - NL East

Every MLB season sees young talent come out of nowhere and deliver at the Major League level. Some of these players are known, but perhaps just underrated (a Jake Cronenworth perhaps), while others are almost completely unknown to most fans (Such as Ryan Schimpf). It's hard to find hidden gems in baseball with all the variables that go it, but hey, it doesn't hurt to try, so let's do so! I will be splitting this subject into six posts, one for each division, as I want to provide a solid write-up for each prospect.

Atlanta Braves - Bryce Elder

Elder didn't quite jump right to the Majors like Garrett Crochet did, but amongst 2020 draftees he's already been one of the biggest movers, making seven starts at AAA alone last season. A 2.75 ERA and a 10.1 K/9 highlighted his season, and in spite of decent numbers he's not quite getting top-100 love yet. If he hasn't exceeded rookie limits by mid-season though, this may change. 

Miami Marlins - Lorenzo Quintana

Yes, I named a 33 year-old prospect here, but feel quite confident in this ranking, even with a decent number of contenders I looked at for Miami given just this. Quintana is an ex-Serie Nacional star backstop who made his stateside debut in 2018 at 29. Over three years of Minors action, Quintana has a .286/.341/.497 slash line, and he posted a .294/.354/.525 with AAA Jacksonville after coming over from Houston during the 2021 season. Sure, time is not on Quintana's side, but neither was it for Yadiel Hernández, a player with a similar career progression who mashed as a 33 year-old rookie last year. With the DH in the NL and Quintana's recent experience playing C, 1B, and 3B, he could certainly force his way onto Miami's roster this season.

New York Mets - Kevin Gadea

A less-than-stellar Mets system has a few candidates for this spot, but let's go for the deepest of sleepers. Gadea is a name familiar to Rays fans, as he was a 2016 Rule Five pick of theirs. However, injuries kept him off the field following the 2016-17 Venezuelan Winter League season through the end of his Rays tenure. Released in 2019 by Tampa, he caught on with the Yankees, then finally began to play again for Somerset in 2021, and it looked like he didn't miss a beat. He charted a 2.97 ERA and a 13.1 K/9 over 36.1 innings out of the bullpen for the new affiliate. Most impressive? This was his first action above the A level - not A+, A. Finishing the year with five ER-free innings over two outings for AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Gadea topped off a strong comeback season. Now a Mets prospect, he has a chance to deliver where the club most needs help - in the bullpen.

Washington Nationals - Joey Meneses

Finding a viable option here was frustrating after I realized that Andres Machado and Riley Adams were no longer rookie-eligible. Well, here's Joey Meneses, who has played all over the place and turns 30 in May. I know of Meneses from his days in Lehigh Valley, where he shocked the International League as it's MVP in 2018. Thereafter he went to Japan, got suspended, went to Mexico, produced mixed results, then returned to affiliated ball last year in the Boston chain. He excelled at AA, unshockingly, then did well again in his AAA return later in the season. With the Nationals still reworking their roster, mostly with younger players, Meneses could work his way into the 1B, OF, or DH mixes. While far from a perfect comp, he wouldn't be the first Nationals rookie success at 30+.

Philadelphia Phillies - Simon Muzziotti

I'm tempted to name a RP like Brian Marconi or Braden Zarbnisky under the personal belief that the club has some decent AAA RP depth, but with Marconi's lack of AAA experience and Zarbnisky being a question-mark injury-wise, we'll tab Simon here. While certainly not unknown amongst Phillies fans, Muzziotti's lost 2020 and mostly-lost 2021 have seen him fly under the radar as far as overall prospects go. He perhaps became the only player to appear at every stateside level of the revamped Minors in 2021, largely in rehab, but showed solid promise along the way. He managed a .313/.353/.438 slash in four AA games - his first action there, then jumped to AAA and posted a .563 OBP over his final four games there. A similar late-schedule jump popped up in the AFL, showing an impressive adaptability. Following a stint with Zulia in the Venezuelan Winter League, Muzziotti had played 45 games for a remarkable seven separate teams, but his adaptability allowed him to maintain decent production. With The Phillies CF situation unsettled, he could force his way in my mid-season.

A Tribute to the Captain

I would say it's fair to suggest that it's been quite certain for a bit now what direction the Philadelphia Flyers have needed to take, at least in the short term. Some have been calling for it for years and some just for months, but the reality is the Flyers needed a change. It started with the ouster of Alain Vigneault several months ago, and eventually progressed to the point of a deadline selloff. The team's biggest rentals were dealt, but one name stood out amongst the group:

Claude Giroux.

I was five when Giroux made his debut in February of 2008. Admittedly, I do not remember much of the Flyers from that time. I did not grow up a sports fan, and honestly don't remember much from that time sports of otherwise. To me, I really became a Flyers fan during the 2010 Cup run. Perhaps one of the most upstart and pleasantly surprising teams since the 1993 Phillies, the Flyers made it all the way to the Finals. Of course, in the end, they did not win, but the energy around that team was amazing, and it was such a great time to be a fan. I still was not paying enough attention to individual players at that time.

I do not remember when I went to my first Flyers game, but I think it was somewhere in the 2011-2014 range. This was the post-Pronger era, whether it was known that it was over or not. As a kid who had never seen much of the legendary defenseman in the past, Pronger almost seemed like a myth. Everyone talked about him, but I never quite saw him. In looking back, 2011-12, Pronger's last year, was G's true breakout. He had 93 points in just 77 games that year, easily smashing the PPG mark.

So, what am I getting at here? Well, while Giroux wasn't named the Flyers captain until the next year, the "Giroux Era" has always felt like the first one I truely grew up with. To me, Giroux was the Flyers over this span. This persisted too through some poor times. In fact, I found myself, perhaps as recently as just over a year ago, believing that he was overrated, that he really wasn't living up to his billing. Since then though, I've truly grasped the value he brings to the team, both as a player and a leader, truly realized why he was the face of the franchise - why he wore the "C".

And so, Claude, here's to you, and here's to hoping we see you in orange and black even just one more time.

2022 Phillies Prospect Rankings - FCL

With the MLB lockout finally over, players are on the move again and baseball is set to be played again. The season is set to start in due order, but so are most Minors seasons. As I find myself excited to see what the Phillies will do, so am I about their prospects. With that in mind, why not go and rank them? That's what everyone seems to be doing these days. I, however, will do so by level. Why? Well, it's easier to do so this way for me given I have a large bias towards more advanced players, so this stratification allows us to better compare players. I will also say I'm a big believer that good prospects get results, so this will be very production-based. Given that there is much shifting amongst players with AAA and MLB experience who are prospects this time of year, we will start at the lowest level of the system and discuss players who topped out with the FCL Phillies last year.

First, lets discuss players who did not reach this level. This includes players like Rickardo Perez (DSL Phillies Red), Yemal Flores, Jean Cabrera (DSL Phillies White), and William Bergolla Jr. (just signed). I will not be ranking these players, simply because I do not know enough about these players as a whole to do so, and players this far down the system and so young are hard to project. Naturally though, those four remain names to watch.

In moving to the stateside rookie level, here is the list that I have constructed.

Andrew Painter
Hao Yu Lee
Jordan Viars
Alexeis Azuaje
Micah Ottenbreit
Corey Phelan
Jordan Fowler
Gavin Tonkel
Andrick Nava
Edward Barboza
Jake McKenna
Jose Pena Jr.
Jose Valadez-Acuna*
Anthony Quirion
Matt Goodheart
Cash Case

Naturally this comes with a bit of explaining. Painter's name is already quite well known by Phillies fans. His polish was lauded at the time of the draft, and while he managed just six innings in 2021 with the FCL outfit, he was impressive allowing just four hits, no walks, and striking out twelve batters. Is he already ready for Clearwater?

Following Painter are some less lauded but quite interesting prospects. In the #2 spot is Lee, a prospect who starred for Taiwan's youth baseball outfits. He did not miss a beat after debuting late in the FCL season, slashing .364/.440/.773 in nine contests. Viars was the club's 3rd rounder last season and showed well as one of the FCL's youngest players with a 1.048 OPS in September. Azuaje slashed .400/.509/.867 in a limited showing at the age of 19 in the FCL last year. I'm not much familiar with him, but it will be curious to see what he can do in a larger showing this season. Ottenbreit rounds out the top five. He was the club's 4th rounder last year. He does not turn 19 until May.

The rest of the names on this list are either real young guys who haven't shown much yet or older players that preformed decently. Phelan in particular is interesting, but I've been able to dig up little on him he was a HS UDFA in 2020 who allowed just one run in 9.2 IP at the FCL outfit last year. Also, this list ends with Cash Case. Case is almost 23 and has shown very little in the minors since debuting as a pro in 2017, but his signing after not playing since 2019 is curious to me. A Clearwater guy, perhaps he showed well at a club workout. He's perhaps just an org. filler, but it's curious they signed him of all the options they would have had. I placed Case in the FCL bracket because his last professional action came at the rookie level.

This concludes my FCL Phillies prospects roundup. My aim is to move on to Low-A Clearwater next.