Fantasy Baseball Prospects Report: Marcelo Mayer could arrive before Roman Anthony; Jac Caglianone to Triple-A

They were done dirty, Moises Ballesteros and Mick Abel, both having been returned the minors where there’s nothing for them to do but wait for their next opportunity.

You can sort of understand in Ballesteros’ case. Carson Kelly’s unlikely stud turn has left the Cubs with too few catcher at-bats to go around, and while DH was a possibility while Ian Happ was sidelined by an oblique issue, it certainly isn’t now that he’s back. The Cubs aren’t going to sit any of Happ, Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, or Seiya Suzuki. They simply had no place to put Ballesteros anymore.

Still, it’s telling that they started him at DH for five of his six games in the majors. It’s not like their hand was forced. Miguel Amaya had been hurting for at-bats amid Kelly’s emergence. Freeing up DH would have allowed them to play both catchers. Or they could have had someone else fill in for Happ in left field, keeping Suzuki nice and comfortable at DH. Clearly, they gave those at-bats to Ballesteros because they thought their lineup was better with him in it, even with him going just 3 for 16. First time in the majors, and he struck out just once, for goodness’ sake. Now, he’s back at a level where he’s batting .368. Good luck improving on that.

Abel is the harder pill to swallow. After watching him do this to the Pirates on Sunday, you’d think the Phillies would want him to continue filling in for Aaron Nola, who’s on the IL with a sprained ankle:

In all, Abel threw six shutout innings, striking out nine and walking none, and when it was over, I expected the Phillies to come out and say he had earned the right to stick around. But instead, manager Rob Thomson said this: “If he keeps throwing the ball like that, I guarantee he’s going to be back.”

Um … what?

If it reminds you of what happened with Logan Henderson, yeah, spot on. Henderson immediately joined my Five on the Verge thereafter, and that’s obviously worked out nicely for those who stashed him. So why isn’t Abel in my Five on the Verge now? The same reason Ballesteros isn’t: I don’t see a path at the moment. I’ve already laid out the difficulty with rostering Ballesteros, and while Abel has been usurped by Taijuan Walker, who shouldn’t be too difficult to overcome, Nola figures to miss only a couple more turns. Walker can keep it together for that long, at least.

But so what if the path isn’t clear, right? The path often isn’t clear until an injury makes it clear, so maybe that’s not the best explanation for leaving Abel and Ballesteros out of my Five on the Verge. I’d like to have them in it just like I’d like to have Andrew Painter and Joe Boyle in it. But the fact is there’s a bottleneck of major league-ready talent in the upper minors right now, including this guy …

FIVE ON THE VERGE

(Here are the prospects most worth stashing in redraft leagues.)

2024 minors: 10-7, 3.08 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 119 2/3 IP, 41 BB, 148 K
2025 minors: 2-1, 2.17 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 37 1/3 IP, 16 BB, 56 K

Another week has gone by without Chandler being promoted, and now I feel kind of stuck. Particularly in light of the Pirates calling up Mike Burrows instead of Chandler, I wonder if they think Chandler is as close as the rest of us do. Or if they even care. Granted, Burrows had good numbers in his own right — a 2.51 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 11.4 K/9 — but the Pirates knew exactly what they were doing when they sent down Carmen Mlodzinski only to call up someone other than Chandler. It may be true that Burrows is already on the 40-man roster and that his turn lined up better with the opening, but if they’re willing to thumb their nose at us so brazenly, I can’t help but wonder if they’ll just hold out until midseason, delaying Chandler’s arbitration by a year. Not like they’re going anywhere this year.

At the same time, each passing week is another week closer to his promotion, whenever it happens, and we’ve put in so many weeks already. I just think we have to see it through at this point, going wherever the Pirates take us. Chandler’s promotion could still be imminent, for all I know. He did equal a season-high with 86 pitches in his latest outing Sunday. It could be that the Pirates are looking to see better efficiency from him. For as good as he’s been at Triple-A, he hasn’t exceeded five innings in any of his nine starts.

2024 minors: .291 BA (454 AB), 18 HR, 21 SB, .894 OPS, 79 BB, 127 K
2025 minors: .316 BA (155 AB), 6 HR, 3 SB, .959 OPS, 39 BB, 39 K

It’s been all outfield, all the time for Anthony even though the Red Sox have an obvious opening at first base. If they could have convinced Rafael Devers to move there, that would have cleared a path for Anthony, but that ship appears to have sailed. The 21-year-old isn’t taking his foot off the gas, batting .364 (20 for 55) over his past 15 games, but it seems like his only path now is an injury. Maybe the Red Sox could shift Ceddanne Rafaela to a utility role, but he brings value defensively in center field. It also sounds like manager Alex Cora is satisfied with his process at the plate.

“We’re still swinging a lot but we’re hitting the ball hard,” Cora said Wednesday, referring to Rafaela. “All the expected numbers are great. You look at the scoreboard and you’re like, ‘Eh.’ “We feel offensively it’s a competitive at-bat.”

Sounds like they want to see more from Rafaela, which means the wait continues for Anthony — again, barring an injury.

2024 minors: .307 BA (300 AB), 8 HR, 13 SB, .850 OPS, 30 BB, 66 K
2025 minors: .265 BA (166 AB), 8 HR, 2 SB, .796 OPS, 20 BB, 37 K

I’ve hinted at it before, and now I’m outright saying it: I think Mayer might beat Anthony to the majors. Rafael Devers may not be willing to shift to first base to fill in for Triston Casas, but Kristian Campbell has begun taking ground balls and practicing his footwork at the position. And how is that going?

“We’ll get there when we get there,” manager Alex Cora said. “This is not a commitment. This is introducing the position to the kid. We believe that athletic-wise, he can do it, but there’s more than just standing there and catching the throws.”

So slow and steady, then, but the Red Sox did recently give Campbell a couple days off, in part because he’s putting in this extra work to learn a new position. His primary position, by the way, is second base, and that’s the vacancy he’d be creating by shifting to first base. It’s also a position that Mayer, a natural shortstop, has been playing more and more recently.

You see where I’m going with this. If Mayer convinces the Red Sox that he’s ready for a big-league opportunity (which he may have already done) and if Campbell convinces them that he can handle first base (which he surely will in due time), then Mayer has a clearer path than Anthony. It’s that simple. Whether he’ll be as useful for Fantasy is harder to say, particularly with his OPS dipping below .800 in recent weeks. Still, the pedigree is there.

2024 minors: .241 BA (116 AB), 2 HR, .690 OPS, 7 BB, 26 K
2025 minors: .323 BA (161 AB), 9 HR, .931 OPS, 19 BB, 39 K

A week ago, when I first introduced Caglianone to my Five on the Verge, I said it was mostly because of the impact he could have when eventually promoted. But the emphasis was on the “eventually” since he had yet to move up to Triple-A.

Well, now he has, playing his first game there Tuesday. It was at first base, but his second game there was in right field, where he’s more likely to debut. Caglianone was expected to spend most of his first full professional season in the minors, but between his rapid move up the ladder and the Royals’ willingness to try him in the outfield, his timeline has moved up dramatically, such that BetMGM Sportsbook puts his Rookie of the Year chances equal to Nick Kurtz’s (+4000). Kurtz, you may have noticed, is already in the majors, and he arrived with plenty of hype of his own.

One thing Kurtz can’t do, though, is hit a ball 120.9 mph, which is no slight to him. Only five major-leaguers in the history of Statcast have reached that mark. Caglianone isn’t a major-league, of course, but the fact he did it in the minors this year is perhaps even more impressive. He’s a top-of-the-scales power source who has yet to present any strikeout issues in the minors, so you can understand the enthusiasm.

2024 minors: 3-5, 3.33 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 97 1/3 IP, 60 BB, 127 K
2025 minors: 3-0, 1.55 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 52 1/3 IP, 20 BB, 63 K

The strike-throwing continues for the 6-foot-7 right-hander, who worked an abbreviated three-inning start Wednesday in which he threw exactly two-thirds of his pitches for strikes. He peaked at 103 mph in his previous start, a more conventional seven-inning outing in which he threw 67.4 percent of his pitches for strikes. Over his past six starts, in fact — only one of which saw him issue more than one walk — he’s thrown 66.5 percent of his pitches for strikes. Those are fantastic numbers for anyone, but especially someone known just as much for his wildness as his stuff. The improved control over that six-start stretch has led to a 0.80 ERA, a 0.77 WHIP, and 11.2 K/9.

Even with Logan Henderson now occupying a spot in the rotation, the Brewers continue to run Quinn Priester out there every fifth day, so they could use some help. Brandon Woodruff has resumed his rehab assignment for shoulder capsule surgery after experiencing some ankle soreness a week ago, so maybe the Brewers want to see what he can do first. Fair enough, but compared to before the surgery, Woodruff’s fastball is down almost 4 mph. I don’t suspect it’ll go well, in other words, which means the Brewers will be turning to Misiorowski soon enough.

FIVE ON THE PERIPHERY

(Here are some other prospects doing something of note.)

2025 minors: 3-3, 2.27 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 35 2/3 IP, 8 BB, 55 K

Burns isn’t a new name to anyone who seeks out prospect content such as this. He was the second pick in last year’s draft, after all. But because there’s no such thing as a sure thing in any draft, it’s worth pointing out that he’s been as good as anyone could have hoped for in his debut season, having made the leap to Double-A after just three starts. He has a full arsenal of killer pitches, accounting for his 13.9 K/9, and no trouble commanding them, accounting for his 68 percent strike rate. He’s been so good, in fact, that Jeffrey Paternostro, lead prospect writer of Baseball Prospectus, is talking about putting him No. 1 in his midseason rank list, presuming Roman Anthony has graduated by that point.

2024 minors: 3-5, 5.17 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 109 2/3 IP, 56 BB, 141 K
2025 minors: 4-3, 3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 51 IP, 7 BB, 52 K

Now that the Giants have found a way to get Hayden Birdsong in their rotation, this guy is next. Whisenhunt seemed like he was on track to debut for them last year, but his stock crashed because of poor command. He ended up walking 4.6 batters per nine innings. This year, though, he’s on the opposite end of the spectrum. Nearly half of his seven walks came in his one shaky start April 25. His other four walks are divided between eight starts. In all, he’s thrown 70 percent of his pitches for strikes, a league-leading type of rate. 

That level of efficiency has led to four straight seven-inning outings, during which he’s put together a 1.29 ERA and 0.71 WHIP. Though he doesn’t throw especially hard, Whisenhunt’s changeup is a 70-grade offering. He also generates plenty of weak contact on the ground.

2024 minors: .291 BA (405 AB), 17 HR, .904 OPS, 59 BB, 117 K
2025 minors: .364 BA (132 AB), 5 HR, 1.076 OPS, 20 BB, 34 K

I wrote about Kayfus and his absurdly high batting average in the April 17 edition of Prospects Report, but you might have dismissed it at the time as a product of him repeating Double-A. Well, now he’s spent roughly half his season at Triple-A and has put together a nearly identical slash line (.364/.434/.652) there. Kayfus doesn’t meet the modern conventions of a hitting prospect, delivering modest exit velocities (at least on average, though his 110.4 mph max EV hints of untapped potential) while swinging more for line drives than homers. Batting average standouts are hard to predict, but that line-drive rate is really working for him, clocking in at an absurd 33.7 percent, according to FanGraphs. The major-league leader last year was only 26.5 percent, and it was Luis Arraez.

2024 minors: 8-4, 3.59 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 92 2/3 IP, 54 BB, 98 K
2025 minors: 3-1, 2.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 39 1/3 IP, 25 BB, 63 K

Looking beyond his 14.4 K/9 rate at the Dodgers’ High-A affiliate this year, it’s hard not to root for Copen. Just last August, pitching for the same minor-league team, he took a liner off the face, resulting in a fractured orbital bone and a detached retina in his right eye. He can no longer see out of that eye, yet he’s resolved to continue his career with only half his vision. So far, so good. In addition to all the strikeouts, he’s been near unhittable, boasting a .129 batting average against, and while walks have been an issue, he’s made big strides in his past three starts especially. They’re his only three of six innings or more, and over those 19 2/3 innings, he’s allowed a combined three runs on six hits with just four walks and 30 strikeouts.

Yohendrick Pinango, OF, Blue Jays

2024 minors: .239 BA (414 AB), 10 HR, 11 SB, .720 OPS, 54 BB, 89 K
2025 minors: .339 BA (127 AB), 7 HR, 5 SB, 1.038 OPS, 24 BB, 32 K

After putting together unremarkable numbers in the Cubs organization the past five years, the 23-year-old Pinango has found his stride with the Blue Jays, slashing .339/.455/.583 for their Double-A affiliate. I don’t have exit velocity readings for that level of play, but Baseball America does, and they say they’re quite good, including a max of 112 mph as of May 16. His batting eye is even more impressive, with him chasing just 17 percent of pitches out of the zone. A good rate would be, like, 25 percent. The major-league leader last year was at 21 percent. 

It all adds up to Pinango being a near-flawless hitting prospect in my eyes, reminiscent of when Jonathan Aranda began putting up monster numbers in the upper minors. And because he was a no-name coming into the year, he’s available in virtually all Dynasty leagues.