Prospects of the Week(+): July 23 – August 2

Luis Robert (from 2018 Arizona Fall League) - photo credit Benjamin Rush, forloveofbaseball on Flickr and on Instagram

In a normal year, each week during the Minor League Baseball season, Scott Greene and I would pick the hitting and pitching prospects from each level (AAA, AA, A+, A, A- (Short Season) and Rookie ball who, in our opinion, had the best week. The 2020 season is a little bit different. Even though there is no minor league action, we are still going to bring you POTW, but instead of highlighting prospects at each level, we are going to highlight prospect eligible players in the majors!

As always, tweet us (@Prospects1500@berrys_baseball and @Scotty_Ballgame) when you see a great performance that warrants a consider for Prospect of the Week. Enjoy, and make sure you’re keeping an eye out for these prospects in your dynasty leagues.


Hitters

Kyle Lewis, OF (Seattle Mariners Preseason #9)
.425/.477/.650, 3 HR, 17 H, 9 RBI

He has since surpassed the rookie threshold of 130 at bats, but he didn’t start the season there. Kyle Lewis has taken the baseball world by storm. Once a highly touted prospect, the former first round pick had fallen off many radars mostly due to injury. We won’t relive the struggles. We are here to discuss the fact that Lewis is on a tear to start 2020. In fact, the Georgia native already has 17 hits, which leads the majors, and three homers through the Mariners first 10 games, with base hits in all 10 games so far. While this pace won’t be sustainable, Lewis is looking more like the player we all hoped he would so far this season. His baseball cards have absolutely skyrocketed as of late as well, for obvious reasons. 


Luis Robert, OF (Chicago White Sox #1)
.351/.385/.595, 2 HR, 13 H, 6 RBI, 1 SB

Robert is living up to the hype so far and is easily the top name of this season’s rookie class. His 13 hits have him tied for seventh in the majors with the likes of Mookie Betts and Whit Merrifield (and he has done it in one less game than those guys). LouBob also has five extra base hits and a steal on his resume in the early going.

Nick Madrigal, 2B (Chicago White Sox #4)
.308/.308/.308, 1 RBI, 2 R

Madrigal went 4-4 on Sunday and while all of four of those hits were less than stellar, they were still hits. Plus, I knew the backlash from White Sox twitter would be extreme if he wasn’t mentioned here.


Pitchers

Cristian Javier, RHP (Houston Astros #7)
6.2 IP, 1 ER 9 K, 1 BB

The 23-year-old has been a strikeout wizard in the minors and he has carried a little bit of that over with him into the bigs. Javier’s debut came out of the bullpen where he tossed one inning against the Mariners before he got his first big league start against a stout Dodgers lineup. Let’s just say things went according to plan. Javier allowed one run on two hits over 5.2 IP while walking just one and striking out eight. The righty only produced nine swinging strikes to 20 looking strikes in that outing, but the numbers are impressive nonetheless.


Jesus Luzardo, LHP (Oakland A’s #1)
6.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 3 BB

Luzardo hasn’t gotten a start yet, but he has been impressive in his 6.2 IP. The lefty has tallied seven K’s to three walks and has allowed just one earned run.

Dustin May, RHP (Los Angeles Dodgers #2)
7.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 K, 2 BB

Brady Singer, RHP (Kansas City Royals #5)
10 IP, 4 ER, 10 K, 4 BB

James Karinchak, RHP (Cleveland Indians #18)
5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 8 K, 1 SV
He could be the heir apparent to Brad Hand in the backend of Cleveland’s bullpen. Hand is struggling and Karinchak is on fire. Let’s see what happens over the next week or two.

I reside in Carrollton, Georgia and love everything baseball. I graduated from the University of West Georgia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management. I have a passion for the minor leagues and have high hopes of visiting as many minor league parks as I can. I enjoy the statistical side of the game, especially sabermetrics. I am also an avid baseball card collector and fantasy baseball player.




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