After coming over from San Diego as part of the return for Dylan Cease, White Sox RHP Drew Thorpe has posted a tremendous season for Double-A Birmingham and was rewarded for his efforts with a promotion jumping right over Triple-A and into the majors for Tuesday’s game. He threw five innings against Seattle and allowed one earned run. In 60 Double-A innings, Thorpe’s double-plus command and changeup helped him produce a 0.87 WHIP and 1.35 ERA along with 56 strikeouts and 17 walks.
Chicago has created a centralized development hub in Birmingham, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Seems kind of strange to have a pitching prospect skip Triple-A during a lost season, but it’s not unique in a general sense for a team to protect a young arm from the inflated offensive environments across the minor league’s highest level. Makes me wonder if dynamite LHP Noah Schultz might be pretty close to the majors despite throwing just 11.2 innings in Double-A. He turns 21 in August. I’d still be betting against a 2024 debut, but crazier things have happened.
Miami’s bullpen is in search of a late-inning outs-maker, and recently converted Astros starters seems to be a smart bucket to search for such a player. Marlins RHP Angel Macuare (24, AAA) is not a prototypical candidate for a Rolaids relief award, but his kitchen sink and command approach can work in today’s game, and his name looks like “make our way,” which is pretty hopeful. Macuare didn’t allow a home run in 28.1 Double-A innings. If he can bottle and replicate that outcome at the highest level, he’ll make his way to a nice career.
Rangers OF Anthony Gutierrez (19, A+) has been on the prospect roller coaster since Texas promoted him to the complex league at age 17. His outcomes have not been especially encouraging, but the talent is obvious on the field, and over the last 15 games, Gutierrez has started to generate the kind of outcomes we might expect from a player so gifted, slashing .340/.382/.500 with ten stolen bases. He has yet to homer this season through 33 games and hit just two in 84 games last year, but development is not linear, and the trajectory is still overwhelmingly positive for Gutierrez, who is probably available in most dynasty leagues after the slow burn of his time in the lower minors.
Despite missing the early part of the season to injury, Astros SS Brice Matthews (22, A+) has laid waste to professional pitching so far in 2024, slugging six home runs and swiping ten bases in just 17 High-A games. The 28th overall pick out of Nebraska in 2023, Matthews closed out his draft season with a 120 wRC+ across 33 Low A games and appears poised to continue the Houston tradition of finding excellent prospects late in the draft order.
Another pricy draft pick back on the field after missing the season so far, Cubs RHP Jaxon Wiggins (22, A) is on his way back from Tommy John surgery and looking good so far, striking out five batters over three scoreless innings in his Low-A debut. The 6’6” 225 lb righty features a nasty fastball curveball combination that made him the 68th overall pick despite the injury.
Through 24 complex league games, Phillies 2B Aroon Escobar (19, CPX) has walked twice as often (20.2%) as he has struck out (9.6%). He’s also slashing .338/.495/ 481 with three home runs and nine stolen bases in nine attempts. He walked more than he struck out last year in the Dominican Summer League as well but didn’t generate much offense (84 wRC+) because he batted .209 with one home run.
Pirates 1B Tony Blanco Jr. (19, CPX) checks in at a healthy 6’7” 243 lbs and features easy double-plus power. He’s played 16 games in the complex league and is slashing .315/.397/.574 with three home runs and a 30.2 percent strikeout rate. Predictably enough, he’s got a king right-handed swing, but it’s not egregious, and if he can shave that K-rate down even a little bit, he’s a fantasy Monstar waiting to settle into his body and dunk all over the league.
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