By Steve Slowinski, Special to the Times
Saturday, June 11, 2011
As the calendar flips to June, baseball's collective attention momentarily shifts away from the day-to-day narrative of the season and onto a new topic: prospects.
Beginning with last week's amateur draft, June is prospect season, with new players being drafted and top prospects being called up to the majors. Just last week, the Royals called up one of their top prospects in third baseman Mike Moustakas, and other organizations have been following suit: Dee Gordon with the Dodgers, Anthony Rizzo with the Padres, Jemile Weeks with the Athletics and multiple others.
The Rays are currently sitting only a few games behind the Yankees and Red Sox, but instead of bolstering their roster through trades, the Rays are more likely to improve their roster by dipping into their farm system, one of the strongest in the majors.
So which prospects should we expect to see in the coming months, and what should we expect from them?
Desmond Jennings
Ranked before the season by Baseball America as the 22nd-best prospect in baseball, Jennings is widely considered a rising star. The 24-year-old centerfielder has all the tools: he's fast, plays great defense, hits for average, shows good plate discipline and is beginning to flash some power (nine home runs in 59 games this season). In many ways, he's a slightly younger version of B.J. Upton: great defense and speed, but with fewer strikeouts and a higher batting average.
Jennings is ostensibly in Triple A for developmental reasons, but the reality is that the Rays won't call him up until he is past the Super Two deadline. The Super Two rule allows young players with more than 130-140 days of service time to be eligible for arbitration after only two seasons instead of three. Players accumulate service time each day that they are on a team's 25-man roster, meaning the Rays don't want to call Jennings up until they are sure he will finish the year with fewer than 140 service days.
Jennings started the year with 33 days of service time due to past September callups, so the Rays likely won't call him up for another two weeks. He should start in leftfield but is expected to eventually replace Upton in center.
Brandon Guyer
Debatably the third-best player acquired in the Matt Garza trade (pitcher Chris Archer and shortstop Hak-Ju Lee were the centerpieces) Guyer is an athletic outfielder who is proving his breakout in Double A last season was no fluke. Always a fast player with a good command of the strike zone (7 percent walk rate), Guyer started hitting for power last season, posting a .588 slugging percentage and hitting 58 extra-base hits in only 410 plate appearances. This season, he has moved up to Triple A and has picked up right where he left off, hitting .318 while stealing nine bases and ripping 25 extra-base hits in 220 plate appearances.
Guyer has the athleticism to play all the outfield positions, but his range better suits him in a corner slot like leftfield. He has been in Triple A for only 54 games, but at 25 years old he could get called up later this season if he stays hot. If the Rays decide to deal Upton before the trading deadline — and the rumor mill is already heating up — Jennings will play in center and Guyer could land in left.
Jake McGee & Brandon Gomes
Rays fans have already seen McGee and Gomes at the major-league level this season, and both of them are power arms who figure to be key members of the Rays bullpen for years. However, they both still need more time in the minors to work on a few aspects of their game. McGee has been told by the Rays to work on consistency with his fastball (which oscillated between 91 and 96 mph) and on throwing his slider for strikes. As for Gomes, the Rays want him to get left-handed hitters out more consistently, which has been a struggle for him due to his almost sidearm delivery. He needs to refine his splitter even further, as pitches with vertical movement are quite effective against opposite-handed hitters.