With today's official promotion of the STL Cardinals' 2B Nolan Gorman and SP Matthew Liberatore, it's as good a day as any to look at other possible (or really, needed!) promotions. Of course we know the Orioles are going to call up Adley Rutschman and Grayson Rodriguez soon, so there's no need to mention those two (and all Riley Greene has to do is hit in his return to AAA and he'll be up)....but who else should we be looking at, not just for MLB promotions but overdue promotions within the minors? Here is an in-exhaustive look at 10 such players:
1) Moises Gomez. Has anyone hit better than the Cardinals' Moises Gomez at AA Springfield? With 17 HRs (leading all of the minors), a .339 average (26th best among players with at least 75 ABs), .476 ISO (tops in the minors) and a wRC+ of 185 (7th highest), Moises Gomez is having the breakout of all breakouts. And good for him, after beginning his professional career at 16, Moises had an outstanding campaign in Low A in 2018 with 19 HRs and a .280 avg. While in 2019 he hit 16 HRs (at High A), the average sunk to .220 (but he was just 20). The following year (2020), Moises was promoted to AA and really hit a wall, batting .171 with 8 HRs. Still just 22 years old, Moises became a minor league free agent (not protected by Tampa) and elected for a change of scenery into the St. Louis farm system. which has elevated ("parted"?) Moises game to a new level.
With the departure of Gorman and Liberatore, its time to part the AAA seas and bring Moises to Memphis
2) Corbin Carroll. Corbin has destroyed AA pitching, hit 12 Hrs, swiped 11 bases (1 CS), and batted .331 with a wRC+ of 184 (#9 overall). And, according to some, with the mix of power, speed, contact (and low K's), Corbin has already skyrocketed to #1 prospect territory. With Alek Thomas promotion to the Diamondbacks, there's a perfect outfield spot waiting for Corbin in Reno.
3) Robert Perez. Who is Robert Perez? Robert is a 22 year old playing low A ball in Modesto as part of the Mariners system. While being 22 and in low A is probably not a good sign (even if the Mariners did flip former A+ Modesto with Short season low A Everett). But what is a good sign is hitting 14 HRs in 158 plate appearances batting .291 (with an OPS of 1.037) and striking out just 39 times (to 19 walks). Come on Mariners, the 6'1" 1B from Venezuela has earned himself a promotion to A+ Everett. Let's bring this guy to the great Northwest!
4) Matt Gorski. In a similar situation to Robert Perez, Matt finds himself a bit older than the players around him. At 24 and in A+ ball, Gorski stands out....but not just for his age, but for the power..... 14 HRs in 134 plate appearances, a .287 average, wRC+ 175, .417 ISO and 9 SBs in 10 attempts. That's pretty legit stuff. So, shouldn't Pittsburgh be promoting Matt from Greensboro to AA Altoona? Sure, its a big move to go from Grasshopper to Curve, but the 6'4" Centerfielder has earned it.
5) David Villar (SF Giants, OF). David has mashed pitching at Sacramento to the tune of 13 HRs, 39 RBIs while collecting 20 BBs to 40 Ks on the way to batting .309. The bigs are calling for Mr. Villar, but right now the Giants have a lot of bodies at the MLB level. So, we're thinking David is one injury away from making an impact this year!
6. Adam Macko (SEA). Adam has Macked the Northwest League, striking out 54 battters in 34.1 innings. The ERA may look a bit high at 4.19 but the better metric here is xFIP which "normalizes" or adjusts Adam's ERA to 2.71 (good for 20th best in the minors to go with the 19th best K rate). It's time for the Slovakian sensation to say goodbye to the Aqua Sox and "Ahoj" Arkansas Travelers.
7. Mason Montgomery (TBR, SP). Striking out 41.9% of the batters to go with a 1.55 ERA (2.70 xFIP) is pretty impressive. Shouldn't the 22 year old lefty be eating Biscuits in his namesake? AA Montgomery. Who wouldn't want to buy that jersey! Front: "Montgomery" Back: "Montgomery"
8. Garrett Hill. (DET SP). Striking out 14.63 batters through 9 IPs will get out attention, and Garrett has done just that in AA. At age 26 and holding down a 2.25 ERA (2.70 xFIP), its time to think about a promotion to AAA Toledo (or, straight to Comerica Park where the Tigers are struggling with injuries in their rotation).
9. Joe Boyle (CIN, SP). When talking microscopic ERAs, we can't possibly fail to include Joe Boyle's 0.65 ERA. Yep, its as hard to read as it is to write. Any ERA under 3.00 is great. 2.00 is ridiculous and under 1.00 is insane, especially when the pitcher has hurled at least 27.2 innings (as Boyle has). If anything though, the control needs work (19.6% of batters walked), but that shouldn't stop a promotion from high A to AA Chattanooga.
10. Gavin Williams (CLE, SP). Gavin was high on most of our draft boards this year (out of East Carolina) and hasn't disappointed in A+ ball, pitching to a 1.48 ERA (and an incredible 1.74 xFIP, 3rd best in all of the minors) With some high heat and good mechanics, Gavin is a lock to make the big club by 2023. For now, the Guardians need to look at more competition in AA Akron
Honorable Mention:
Royber Salinas (ATL, A+) would have made this list if not for his recent promotion to High A, striking out 51.5% of the batters he faced (best in the minors among pitchers with 27+ innings) coupled with a 3.21 ERA was pretty pretty good.
Ken Waldichuk (NYY, SP) With a blazing fastball, Ken made Waldichuk pie out of AA batters, striking out 41.1% while collecting a microscopic 1.26 ERA (2.36 xFIP). Ken is ready to be promoted to MLB as soon as there's an opening. Ideally he comes in with a role like Spencer Strider and is eased into a start...but for now, the Yankees have chosen AAA Scranton as the Ken Express's next stop.
Hunter Brown (HOU SP) Hunter can dial it up to 98/99 with a great K rate and ERA. HOU's pitching rotation is pretty solid and that's the only reason to keep Hunter in AAA Sugar Land (for now).
Jacob Gonzalez (PIT, 1B/3B) After destroying low A pitching, the Pirates just promoted Jacob, which was good, because a .425 average, 1.235 OPS and wRC+ of 240 (#1 in the minors, by a lot!) was too much to keep down.
Trey Cabbage (LAA, OF) The 25 y.o. OF has put together an impressive year at AA (.327 Avg, 1.098 OBP, .474 Avg on BABIP and a 182 wRC+) and knocking on the promotion door.
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