The Dynasty Digest: May 27, 2024

Chris Clegg breaks down everything you need to know from yesterday's MiLB action.

Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to all who serve and gave their lives so we can have great things like baseball. I hope you enjoy spending time with family and friends today. We are preparing for the arrival of baby number two any day now. I will try to keep you guys updated on everything going on, but I will keep the content until the time of arrival. Hopefully, I will just miss a day or two.

It is also rankings update week. A lot to look forward this week the Dynasty Dugout. So be sure to sub and don’t miss all the great stuff to help you win in dynasty.

Today’s report is fully free in honor of Memorial Day. But be sure to subscribe as rankings updates are happening this week!

MiLB Hitters

Jansel Luis, 2B, ARI, 19, A

Luis got off to a slow start to the season after returning to Single-A, where he finished last season. A young 19-year-old, Luis has made strides at the plate while also showing he is capable of handling the shortstop position. After posting a .250/.300/.310 slash in April while punching out over 26 percent of the time, Luis has really gotten things going in May.

A four-hit day, including a home run and triple on Sunday, was his sixth multi-hit game of the month and pushed his hit strike to his last 13 games started. In the month of May, Luis is slashing .321/.367/.524 with a home run, three triples, and eight doubles while striking out 22 percent of the time.

Luis is hyper-aggressive and does not walk often, but is consistently putting more balls in play. If he can tap into power like he has been, he becomes a very intriguing prospect.

Cam Collier, 3B, CIN, 19, A+

Collier seemed to be all the way back after one of the best starts to the season of any minor league hitter. Through May 5, Collier had a slash of .314/.360/.588 with seven home runs and doubles a piece. Prior to Sunday’s game, Collier’s last three weeks have been.. not so good. Just four total hits led to a .070/.100/123 slash with a 33.3 percent strikeout rate. Sunday may have been just the game Collier needed to get things going again. Four hits, including a double and a home run, saw him drive in three runs without a strikeout.

The underlying data is strong on the power side, especially with the exit velocities being above average to plus, but Collier often fails to materialize it due to the amount of ground balls he hits, and this year, while that rate is down ten percentage points, he is hitting too many pop-ups, resulting in easy outs.

Collier’s contact rates remain around average for his league at 72.5 percent, and the tools are there for him to be a potential power threat. Considering how young Collier is and the fact that he reclassified and was originally slated to be in last summer’s draft, he is holding his own just fine in High-A.

Hector Rodriguez, OF, CIN, 20, A+

Everyone’s favorite hitter, Hector Rodriguez, does what he does best and continues to hit. A four-hit day on Sunday gave him his fifth multi-hit game in his last six as he pushed his slash line to .305/.333/.460 with four home runs on the year.

Rodriguez is quite the enigma of a profile in that he swings at nearly everything, including pitches out of the zone, but maintains plus contact rates. Currently running a walk rate below four percent, Rodriguez is also striking out at a ten percent clip thanks to his 83 percent contact rate.

Rodriguez is capable of hitting the ball hard and set a new max exit velocity this year and overall the EVs are up as well.

My question around Rodriguez is how will the high swing and chase rates play against better pitching? Can he maintain the strong contact rates? I still want to see that answered in Double-A.

Angel Genao, SS, CLE, 20, A

Genao is breaking out before our eyes and is absolutely mashing in Single-A this year. He collected two hits on Sunday, his third straight multi-hit game, and now has hits in his last 12 games started. His home run on Sunday pushed his total to six on the year which matches his total between 2022 and 2023.

A strong contact hitter, Genao has made contact on over 82 percent of pitches he has seen while jumping on pitches in the zone aggressively. If the switch hitters can continue to tap into at least average power, it is an intriguing offensive profile with both power and speed. He is pushing his way into my top 150 prospects right now.

Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF, MIN, 21, AA

I have always been a bit critical of Emmanuel Rodriguez’s passiveness and the fact he has swung at just 31.5 percent of pitches he has seen this year. Credit where due, however. Rodriguez swung at the first pitch he saw on Sunday and mashed a home run. He also swung at the first pitch he in three other at-bats, a huge win and something I have been wanting to see for a long time.

The power potential is elite here as Rodriguez is running an average exit velocity and 90th percentile EV at the top of Minor League lists. The contact rates are well below average, but I think it is a product of being way too deep into counts consistently. The tools are there as he has both power and speed; being aggressive could be the materializing of those skills.

MiLB Pitchers

Carson Whisenhunt, LHP, SF, 23, AAA

The Whis made a much-needed bounce-back start on Sunday as he struck out seven batters across five innings of two-run ball while allowing one walk and five hits. He generated 13 whiffs, nine of them coming on his changeup, and finished the day with a 31 percent CSW.

While it looked like Whisenhunt was ready to make his MLB day at some point early this year for the Giants, he has been highly inconsistent and, even after Sunday’s start, has a 6.02 ERA on the season with a 12.4 percent walk rate.

His fastball sat its usual 94 mph on Sunday and the changeup in the upper 70s. He will need to further develop his slider in my opinion to be a successful MLB starter, but the fact he threw it 11 times in the start was progress.

Peter Heubeck, RHP, LAD, 21, A+

It was funny we were just talking about Heubeck in the Discord prior to the start and how he has made major progress this year. He proceeded to come out on Sunday and have his best professional start, striking out 11 batters over five innings of one-run ball. Heubeck allowed just two hits, but put batters on base via one walk and two hit batters.

Heubeck generated 19 whiffs in the start, and the former third-round pick flashed a four-pitch mix. The fastball was up to 96 mph, sitting in the 93-95 mph range most of the start. He dropped in a 12-6 curve in the upper 70s to low 80s, and threw a slider and changeup in a similar velocity band in the mid-80s.

There is some intrigue here with Heubeck given he has ticked up a bit this year and is missing more bats. He currently has a 3.00 ERA in 36 innings with a 37 percent strikeout rate. The bigger issue is the walks, as the rate sits at 15 percent on the year, and Heubeck has thrown strikes at a below-average 59 percent rate on the year. Even in Sunday’s dominant start, he threw strikes at just a 57 percent clip. It is something to monitor moving forward.

Michael Forret, RHP, BAL, 20, A

Foret has been a favorite here at the Dugout, dating back to his first start, just due to how much his stuff ticked up this offseason at Tread. A 14th-round selection in the 2023 draft out of the State College of Florida, Forret has looked very good in 2024. After spending the offseason at Tread Athletics, he saw his fastball tick up from 91-93 to averaging 95.5 mph and topping at 97. Forret really cleaned up his mechanics this offseason, refined the breaking balls, and is throwing a gyro slider, sweeper, and changeup. If the arsenal changes can stick and the velocity holds, Forret becomes a very intriguing arm.

On Sunday, Forret generated 17 whiffs, good for a 45 percent clip, in just 3.2 innings while striking out seven. Forret did issue two walks and four hits, allowing one earned run, but it was his dominance with his bat-missing ability that stood out again.

Forret landed 65 percent of his pitches for strikes, which is right in line with his season average and saw his CSW rise to 33 percent on the year to pair with a 19.5 percent swinging strike rate.

It might be time for a bump to High-A for Forret who has a 3.44 ERA and a 2.43 FIP in 34 innings this year. He just turned 20 years old in April, so he is not old for the level by any means.

Caden Dana, RHP, LAA, 20, AA

At this point, you know I am going to talk about Dana any chance I get. It was another solid start on Sunday, despite pitching just four innings. It seems like the Angels are managing his workload a bit after he averaged nearly seven innings per start for a five-start stretch to start the year. Yes, his efficiency has gone out of the window a bit as he threw 81 pitches on Sunday, but he still landed 67 percent of those pitches for strikes.

Dana struck out seven batters across the four innings and generated 17 whiffs following up an 18-whiff performance on Tuesday. The 20 year old has not missed a ton of bats this year which has concerned some, but considering he is young and in Double-A, I am not worried. His swinging strike rate is up from 10.6 percent in April to 15 percent in May.

His fastball was up to 96, generating whiffs. His slider sat in the mid-80s and was used against both lefties and righties, in a similar velo band as the changeup. His curveball showed nice depth in the upper 70s.

Edinson Batista, RHP, HOU, 22, A+

Batista has not received a ton of love this year, but for someone who just turned 22 years old and is pitching as well as he is, he deserves a spot here today. Tossing six scoreless innings on Sunday, Batista struck out six without issuing a walk and only allowed two hits.

The 6’2” righty located his fastball well and threw a long sweeping slider to keep hitters on their toes. He needed just 65 pitches to get through the seven-inning game, which was a complete game for him, and he landed 66 percent of those pitches for strikes.

For the year, Batista has a 3.24 ERA and a WHIP below one thanks to limiting hits. His .198 BABIP is likely to see some negative regression, but if he can continue to strike out hitters as he moves up to Double-A, he will begin to pop on a lot of radars.