Beck's Minor League Threecap: 6/25/2024
Beck breaks down three major things you need to know from yesterday's MiLB action.
Hey all! If you’re sensing a little bit of a different vibe from me today it’s because I’m writing to you at 5:00AM from the airport instead of 10:00PM with a west coast baseball game on. Tuesdays are a little weird – all of our performances are from CPX or DSL – and that always shakes up content. I think I’ve got a good one for you today. Let’s jump in!
In His Image.
All the chatter out of the DSL lately has been about Jesus Made (MIL). Surely some of it has to do with his name (eighty grade in my opinion, almost prophetic), but a large deal of it is warranted. He’s 17 in his first taste of professional ball and has strung together a .353/.468/.667 slash with more walks than strikeouts through 62 plate appearances. He’s already registered several batted balls over 100 mph including a 106 mph home run earlier this month. The frame looks like it can support additional body projection, and he’s already quite big for his age at 6-foot-1, 187-pounds. The switch-hitting shortstop received the second largest bonus in the Brewers’ 2024 international class, trailing only Jorge Quintana.
As far as I can tell Yoeilin Cespedes (BOS) is not related to Yoenis or Yoelkis Cespedes, which is either a fantastic coincidence or inaccurate and widely underreported. In any event, those close to the club and people in baseball have heaped praise on the 18-year-old after he tore up the DSL with six home runs and a .953 OPS in 46 games (209 plate appearances). He’s now made his way stateside and is playing his baseball in the Florida Complex league with even stronger results than last year. This blurb is devolving into total stream-of-consciousness as Cespedes was promoted to Single-A literally in the middle of writing about him, so the train is really leaving the station here. He’s a buy in leagues that roster 200 or more prospects.
Woah. I know I mentioned up top that I was writing to you at 5:00AM, but I wasn’t able to wrap the Yeremi Cabrera (TEX) blurb before boarding my flight and it’s now 17 hours later. Cabrera is in his third year as a professional and is still just 18 years old (by a few days, his birthday is on July 2nd), largely because he made his debut in the DSL at 16. That first foray went about as poorly as expected as he put together a .179/.328/.286 line over 172 plate appearances, but he got his vengeance as a 17-year-old. His second go around was pure dominance that included seven home runs, more walks than strikeouts, and a near four-digit OPS (.993) over 213 plate appearances. Repeating the DSL took him off a lot of radars – a lot of statline scouting excludes players who have more than one year at the level – but he’s still very young and playing well again in 2024. He had a scalding hot first month in the Arizona Complex by compiling a .341/.444/.750 slash and should be on watch lists everywhere despite cooling off a bit through three weeks in June.
Hot ‘N Ready.
I’m not writing about CPX and DSL pitching performances, largely because I have a hard time recommending that you roster them almost regardless of performance – and I’d bring them up here if there were a target with outstanding stuff or a fantastic ceiling – so instead here’s a list of players who have been excellent over the last 30 days and could find themselves in line for big league playing time soon.
Matt Wallner (MIN) has 13 home runs over the last 30 days but has a 34% K-rate
José Tena (CLE) is up to 14 home runs on the year with eight in the last 30 days
Jhonkensy Noel (CLE) has demonstrated far improved contact skills, 1.193 OPS in L30
Brett Baty (NYM) is playing really well since his demotion, sprinkling 2B appearances
Brooks Lee (MIN) has bounced back from injury with aplomb, could be up around ASB
Edgar Quero (CHW) is the best catcher for CHW, no reason to start his clock though
Curtis Mead (TBR) is OPSing .967 with six home runs in his last 30 days
Blake Dunn (CIN) has already been up, maybe a piece as CIN pushes for a WC berth
OOO.
No table for Tuesday as it takes a scheduled day off and will return to the lineup tomorrow. Here’s Wednesday’s viewing guide with my recommendations italicized as usual:
David Festa (3.77 ERA) for the St. Paul Saints (MIN) at 1:08 ET
Brandon Sproat (2.27 ERA) for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM) at 6:35 ET
Brock Selvidge (3.95 ERA) for the Somerset Patriots (NYY) at 6:35 ET
Travis Sykora (3.26 ERA) for the Fredericksburg Nationals (WSH) at 7:05 ET
Yordanny Monegro (4.50 ERA) for the Greenville Drive (BOS) at 7:05 ET
Jonah Tong (3.68 ERA) for the Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) at 7:05 ET
Cooper Hjerpe (5.87 ERA) for the Springfield Cardinals (STL) at 8:05 ET
Brandyn Garcia (2.02 ERA) for the Everett AquaSox (SEA) at 10:05 ET