Graduated from Stash List Volume 1: Skenes The Mountain: Paul Skenes (1), Christian Scott (6), Joey Loperfido (7), Kyle Manzardo (8)
Jackson Holliday is not on this list. One of the few rules I’ve implemented here is that once you’re a big leaguer in the current season, you’re off the list. Holliday cashed those major league game checks, so he won’t be represented here. Neither will Tyler Black even though I’m writing this part on a Friday and thinking about his namesake Rebecca.
1. Nationals OF James Wood | 21 | AAA
This is fun, huh? In Washington’s defense, Wood does seem to be making little leaps in his approach, and he is still young in the baseball sense. But the growth he’s made in a short time makes me feel like he’s going to be good right away, especially because he’ll bring the impact whenever he connects, even if he’s struggling to connect from time to time. By the way, this man is slashing .344/.443/.552 with seven homers and nine steals.
2. Rays 3B Junior Caminero | 20 | AAA
Over his last ten games, Caminero is slashing .381/.422/.714 with an 11.1 percent strikeout rate. His season-long numbers are similarly impressive. Tampa’s offense has not been good. Here’s hoping this is his last time on the list.
3. Yankees OF Jasson Dominguez | 21 | IL
Earlier this week, Aaron Boone said Dominguez would begin a rehab assignment “within two weeks.” A few days later, they said it would be this coming Tuesday. I didn’t really know where to put him here, but he’s hit four home runs in just eight major league games. In other news, Mars will be in retrograde later this year.
4. Orioles 3B Coby Mayo | 22 | AAA
Baltimore is playing Jorge Mateo an awful lot, and that’s fine, but I’m gonna go ahead and suggest they move Jordan Westburg to second base and play Mayo at third. He’s slashing .295/.366/.609 with 12 home runs and three stolen bases in 37 games. That’s roughly a 50 homer, 10 steal pace. What’s that you say? Coby has struggled a bit in May. Oh, well I tend to think shooting-star prospects can stagnate when their setting doesn’t make a whole lot of sense given the outcomes they’ve been generating. Everyone’s different, and Mayo just hit another home run on Friday night, alongside three hits and a walk, so it’s not like he’s slumping. I’m just a worrier, and I’d be worrying about how I fit into that infield if I were in Mayo’s jar.
5. Blue Jays 3B Orelvis Martinez | 22 | AAA
This guy’s always on my suspicious mind. Has me all shook up. Come on, Toronto, don’t be cruel. You’ve got trouble on offense. Hitters look like they’re running a fever. Let’s have a little less conversation and a little more action. It’s now or never.
6. Tigers 3B Jace Jung | 23 | AAA
Now a full-timer at the hot corner, Jung is slashing .282/.400|.524 with six home runs in 35 games. The cats and kittens are playing Matt Vierling, who’s hitting well enough (109 wRC+) but made an ugly error on Friday and might be better employed in the outfield.
7. Cubs RHP Cade Horton | 22 | AAA
Triple-A has not been kind to Horton, who has walked eight batters and allowed two home runs and eight earned runs in seven innings at the level. He does have 11 strikeouts though, and nobody will care about his Triple-A results once he’s in the majors.
8. Marlins OF Victor Mesa Jr. | 22 | AAA
Could go either way here, but I’m starting to think Miami might just let Mesa plateau at Triple-A while their major league season goes up in flames. Max Meyer’s Triple-A ERA is at 9.24 across four starts, so he too might wind up planted on the farm for longer than I had earlier suspected. I kinda hate it, for it’s worth, demoting a guy to “protect” his arm or parking a surging player in the minors because your big league side isn’t the richest soil for development at the moment. The Mesa thing makes a lot more sense than the Meyer thing, for what it’s Werth. He hasn’t typically been this good a hitter, and there’s really no rush, but I just can’t imagine what Meyer’s mindset must be right now. He’s throwing innings but not major league innings because that’s somehow better for him, long term.
9. Tigers RHP Jackson Jobe | 21 | AA IL
Sent to the seven-day injured list on May 2 with a hamstring strain.
10. Diamondbacks 1B Andres Chaparro | 25 | AAA
Sometimes you look at a guy’s Wins Above Replacement, and his number calls the whole practice into question. Eugenio Suarez was worth 3.3 WAR according to Fangraphs last year while slashing .232/.323/.391 with 22 home runs and a 30.8 percent strikeout rate. He played all 162 games, so that’s the fly in the math, and he was worth 10 defensive runs, which simply can’t be right given his career outcomes. His previous high was 5.8 defensive runs in 2017, when Suarez was 25, but Fangraphs would have us believe he was twice as good as a 31-year-old after posting a 0.3 the year before and a -3.4 the year before that. I mean, it’s possible, but these defensive metrics are so all over the place I’d have to watch every play of every season myself to believe them.
Wow, that was a long job just to say Andres Chaparro is doing what he does in Triple-A, slashing .340/.419/.617 with nine home runs and a 10.6-to-16.9 percent walk-to-strikeout rate. If you’ve been around a while, you know I like this guy and have long failed to comprehend why he’s an afterthought. The club has an option on Suarez for $15 million in 2025 after paying him about $11 million this year. At 3.3 WAR, that’s a bargain, but Suarez is currently posting a .297 OBP and 86 wRC+ with three home runs in 38 games.
To be fair, the snakes have been playing Chaparro mostly at 1B and DH. He hit cleanup as the DH on Friday night and hit two home runs. With Christian Walker and Joc Pederson at those spots, Chappy might just be stuck if the team doesn’t want to try him at third, but if he does get a chance, I’m gonna want him on all my teams.
Thanks for reading!
And Happy Mother’s Day!
