Brewers 1B Tyler Black he’s consistently productive, posting at .400 or better all-time since being drafted 33rd overall out of Wright State in 2021. He also hit 18 home runs and stole 55 bases in 123 games across two levels in 2023. With Rhys Hoskins at the start, the dark figures to enter where he can, perhaps for a designated hitter as often as not. In other words, defense isn’t a colorful attribute for blacks, but that won’t matter much for our purposes as long as he’s on the roster. He got two hits in four at bats in his first start, and new manager Pat Murphy has shown a knack for distributing opportunities among everyone in his lineup and rewarding whoever hits. You have to think Heston Kjerstad or Jose Fermin won’t be riding the pine all week if they’re promoted to Murphy’s care.
Like Black, Jordan Beck’s Rockies he collected a few hits in his debut Tuesday night. The Rockies continue to play Charlie Blackmon, so Beck needed Nolan Jones to be sore from head to toe like a loser, kid, but we can’t just kill him for fantasy purposes no matter how many rosters sink throughout our game. Jones will come back at some point, but the background issues are never good news and are incredibly tricky to navigate, especially for older keyboardists like me. I don’t remember what it’s like to have a painful sore as a 25-year-old, but I bet it’s not good then, either. Beck was hitting .307/.405/.594 with five homers and five steals in 25 games at Triple-A and should definitely be on the roster as long as he can compete, but this is Colorado, so we’ll always be waiting for Bud. Black will wake up screaming and kicking Beck in the well.
Wenceel Perez’s Tigers he is a switch hitter who came on as a shortstop before switching to the outfield this season. He’s played center and right so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pop up all over the field for these cats and cats if he keeps hitting. Through 15 games, he is hitting .302/.375/.628 with three home runs and two steals. For now, there is no need for Perez to return him to the dirt since Parker Meadows is missing from the valley, leaving Perez free to be an everyday player starting on April 19. He has hit two and three in a row and may retain his spot. even if he experiences an extended slump at some point.
Face to face Blue Jays RHP Alek Manoah tuesday night, Pirates RHP Paul Skenes he threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts. His longest outing in the pros was 4.1 innings his last outing. Even in the shallowest mixes, Skenes is almost impossible to find, but Manowa sure is. He allowed two hits, two walks and one run in his six innings, recording 12 strikeouts along the way. What really inspired me, he knew his slider very well and threw it any way he could. With Blue Jays RHP Yariel Rodriguez on the injured list, the door is wide open for Manoah to earn a replacement spot.
Here is what I wrote about it Cubs RHP Cade Horton in Prospect News: Stash List Volume 1: Skenes The Mountain:
“The club is playing off the 7th pick in the 2022 draft to some extent. He’s started just three games and thrown 11.1 innings, which is below where he should be, but they don’t like the idea of throwing too many innings in the minors. They’ve been lucky with Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon looking like solid starters and Ben Brown controlling the position, but with Kyle Hendriks looking mature, Horton’s time is coming.”
Fast forward four days, and the club has made it official that Horton will make his next start in Triple-A. His last Double-A outing included five shutout innings. It won’t be long now.
White Sox 3B Brooks Baldwin (23, AA) refuses to quit, slashing .406/.454/.566 with one home run and three steals. He reminds me a bit of Brewers hitter Mike Boeve in that he comes from a small school (UNC Wilmington) and may not offer much power or speed, but his hit tool still demands its level. The one difference here is that Baldwin plays for the White Sox and may not get the Boeve-ian level of intigue around the echo chamber.
As of April 14, Rangers SS Sebastian Walcott (18, A+) is slashing .275/.408/.475 with two home runs and a walk-to-strikeout rate of 18.4 to 24.5 percent. It’s only 11 games, but I’m very impressed with how quickly he bounced back from a rough first week in the league when he was 4.2 years younger than average.
I don’t usually pour free agent budgets on low A’s pitchers, though Guards LHP Matt Wilkinson (21, A) recorded 15 strikeouts in six hitless innings on April 25, bringing his season total to 41 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. His ERA is 0.44. His WHIP is 0.58. His K-BB rate is 47.9 percent. At 6’1” 270 lbs, Wilkinson doesn’t fit the typical profile and appears to have fallen into the trenches going into the 10th round in 2023 out of Central Arizona College.
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