28 Aug 2062
Boise, Idaho
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by Les McBurney
It's almost September again and that means roster expansion! What Spuds can expect to get a look in the bigs? Read our analysis (guesses) below:
21yo RH DH Perry Taylor
Ok, this is cheating but we'll touch on Taylor. With GM Ben Teague unlikely to exercise the 2063 team option on 31yo 1B/DH Pedro Hozven the choice was made to get Taylor up earlier than September to give him a chance to seize the role. He joined the club on 24 July and his first week was shaky as he hit .182 in 6 games but his strikeout rate was only 13.3% so he was putting the ball in play. Sure enough, the light clicked on in a big way come August as he has slashed .295/.361/.623 (.984 OPS) and posted 2 doubles, 6 HR, and 18 RBI. Good enough, in fact, that he has 72 PA to Hozven's 48 this month.
Verdict: Already Done
22yo LHP Felipe Ledesma
Ledesma has been a fixture in the rotation at AAA Salt Lake City. He's not the prospect he was when he was drafted (7/7/9), but he did sit at #92 in the BBA Top 100 Prospects last season. He's had 26 starts at AAA posting a 13-10 record with 3.77 ERA, 167.0 IP, 1.28 WHIP, +4.4 WAR. Why hasn't he been in Boise already? Teague wants to keep him stretched out as a starter and doesn't want to put him in the bullpen to rust away. He'll get at least a couple of starts in September and some relief appearances.
Verdict: Yes
21yo LH 1B William Coleman
Where does Coleman, #10 prospect in baseball, go at this point? Taylor has all but seized the full-time DH job and RH 1B Tracy Allison has overcome his phantom splits issue hitting .325/.378/.502 with 37 2B, 14 3B, 5 HR, 38 RBI, 57 SB, +3.5 WAR. But Coleman, even with some development to come, has mastered AAA slashing .338/.411/.480 and posting 21 2B, 1 3B, 14 HR, 71 RBI, +2.3 WAR. His future is a debate for a (very soon) time to come, 1B is not a premium position on the trade market, but he'll definitely slide in next to Allison in some manner and possibly carve out Hozven's ABs at DH.
Verdict: Yes
22yo RH 1B Miguel Bermúdez
In fact, here's exhibit B on first basemen value as Bermúdez tore into A pitchers at Tulsa to earn his way another rung up the ladder. At AA Weymouth, the righty has posted .369/.457/.461 with 4 2B, 3 HR, 20 RBI, and a +1.2 WAR in 36 games. But he's already blocked at AAA by Coleman and, to a much lesser extent 26yo 1B Jesús Márquez, not to even mention the majors. Teague has been shopping him and will continue to do so this offseason so there's a chance Bermúdez steps into Coleman's spot in AAA to put up numbers for market value. But it wouldn't be surprising to see him get some ABs vs ML pitching, too.
Verdict: Likely
26yo RHP Tariku Jabiri
Jabiri is an interesting case as he has spent the year in the AAA rotation but his future could be in an ML bullpen. He has made 24 starts this season in Salt Lake City posting a 5-14 record with 4.65 ERA in 153.0 IP, 1.40 WHIP, +2.8 WAR.
Verdict: Yes, likely in bullpen
21yo RHP Máximo Rivera
Rivera is a live-armed reliever who jumped AA to spend the latter part of the season in AAA. He's made 13 appearances and though he sports a 5.79 ERA it's a small sample size. He is 3-1 with 2 saves in 14.0 IP, a 1.64 WHIP, and +0.1 WAR. Most importantly he's logged 10.3 K/9 while only walking 5.1. There is not a little amount of debate about how to develop him given the current shape of Spuds pitching, but he's ready to go in some role.
Verdict: Probably
22yo RHP Alfredo Morán
Second verse same as the first. #71 prospect Morán has more development room than Rivera, but he certainly has the higher ceiling. Unlike Rivera, his fastball tops 100mph. He posted a 2.57 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 13 games at AA Weymouth to earn the jump to AAA. His numbers haven't been stellar in Salt Lake City in 33.1 innings with a 9.18 ERA, 2.13 WHIP, and 6.2 BB/9, but 9.5 K/9. Once his control comes around Morán will be hard to handle. Question is will he be a trade piece or join CL Mario Santos, veteran Brian Groves, and Rivera to create a pretty stacked Boise bullpen? But it's not sure right now if he needs a handful of innings at ML or to continue shaving his numbers down at AAA this September.
Verdict: Not Likely
20yo LHP Jonathan 'Downtown' Swett
He's been making noise in the Boise front office so we'll include him here even though he is almost certain to stay put as the calendar turns. Swett is the lefty to righties Santos, Groves, Rivera, and Morán. He'll certainly slide up to AAA to fill Rivera's spot as his AA numbers are eye-catching: 31 G, 0-3, 10 SV, 3.44 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, +0.6 WAR striking out 9.8/9 and only walking 3.0.
Verdict: No