Cardinals Prospect Spotlight: Dylan Carlson

Dylan Carlson, with Palm Beach Cardinals, September 2018 - photo credit Bryan Green on Flickr

Hey all. Hope everyone is having a great fantasy baseball season, and enjoying the early parts of both the MLB and minor league seasons. There have been a lot of minor league call-ups so far this season in MLB, and I have enjoyed watching as many of their at bats as possible. With my Diamond Duos V team being comprised of several Minnesota and Milwaukee players, I was jacked when Keston Hiura got called up. Also another one of my favorites, Brendan Rodgers got the call. I finally got to insert him into my fantasy lineups after declining what feels like thousands of trade requests for him. While there have been many prospects getting the call this year, I’m going to let you know about a prospect that is a few years away, but will be a must add ASAP.


At just 20 years of age, Dylan Carlson has been one of the best Cardinals prospects this season. I had him at #11 in the St. Louis organization on my preseason Cardinals Top 50 prospects, but he’s already #6 on MLB Pipeline’s Redbirds rankings. Although he’s one of the youngest players in Double-A, he’s top 10 in almost every offensive category in the Texas League.

Carlson started the season getting invited to the Cardinals spring training camp. He held his own in Spring Training hitting for a .250 AVG, with 1 HR and 4 RBI. His lone home run came off of Mets closer Edwin Diaz. That in itself should have been a massive confidence boost for Carlson, as Diaz has been one of the best closers in recent years.

So far this season for Double-A Springfield, Carlson has been at the top of his game. He’s hit 8 HR, 31 RBI, and 9 stolen bases, to go along with a solid .291 AVG. While he’s only had just over 200 plate appearances this season in Double-A, he looks comfortable facing the Double-A pitchers. I’m sure one of the top highlights for him this season was hitting a home run off of Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw was down in Tulsa doing a rehab assignment when Carlson took him deep. If he thought hitting the home run off of Diaz in Spring Training was great, imagine hitting one off of the best pitchers in baseball. That would be a confidence boost to the absolute max.

While Carlson will most likely spend most, if not all of this season in Double-A, I would like to see him move up a bit and get some at bats in Triple-A. He’s done nothing but impress at every level so far and I don’t see that changing. Carlson has the potential to be a superstar both offensively and defensively one day for the Cardinals, and I believe with the way things have been going for him. There’s no doubt that’s coming sooner rather than later. If he’s available in your fantasy leagues, I would grab him now while you still can. He might be a few years away from the MLB, but things seem to move quickly for him, so the future is closer than you might think.

On a side note, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to some or all of our Prospects1500 Futures Focus podcasts yet, you’re definitely missing out. They have been great so far and feature different writers from Prospects1500 talking about their teams, as well as other guests. Also if you’re into collecting baseball cards, there’s a great episode for the collectors as well. Both Scott and Jake have done a phenomenal job recording these podcasts. Can’t wait for the next one!!

 

I am the St. Louis Cardinals correspondent for Prospects1500. Live in Manitoba, Canada. Big sports fan for all sports. Love my Philadelphia Eagles, San Jose Sharks and the Boston Red Sox. Part of Diamond Duos V deep dynasty league. Always free to answer questions, or just chat fantasy sports. Thanks!! Follow me on Twitter at @ChrisEros




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