Continuing our post from yesterday, today we’ll be looking at who could be the next stars for each team over in the National League.
Starting with the Diamondbacks we are looking at Daulton Varsho and Seth Beer (cuz let’s face it, who doesn’t like a guy whose last name is “Beer”?) Varsho currently leads Arizona in homeruns, with 4, while Beer leads in average with a cool .375. A look at the numbers in the minors shows Varsho hitting .302 with 46 homers over 259 games, while Beer checks in at .292 with 54 bombs in 289 games. Looks like the D’Backs will have some bats to compliment Ketel Marte (assuming they can keep him) soon.
Over in Colorado we’re keeping an eye on Connor Joe. Joe is the oldest guy we’re looking at in these posts, clocking in at the ripe old age of 29 years old. He leads the Rockies in hits, average, and OBP at the moment. Last year, while kickin around in the minors, he hit .326 with 9 homeruns and 25 RBI in 26 games. Again, it took him some time to get up the the bigs, but hopefully he can stick around.
The Dodgers don’t have many young guys on the roster as they like to trade them for proven vets (Trea Turner trade for example). I do, however, think that Tony Gonsolin has been overlooked thus far. In his 155 innings in the Majors, he’s sporting an 11-5 record with a 2.67 ERA and a strikeout per inning. Looks pretty solid for basically a full season’s sample size. All that said, it should be noted that over the course of 4 seasons (but factor in the shortened 2020 season), he’s only pitched in 38 games with 30 starts….Maybe his arm falls off if he stretches out to 100 innings or more a year.
Mackenzie Gore has made his long-awaited debut with the Padres. After 2 starts, he’s 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA and 10 Ks in 10.1 innings. His Minor League record shows he was 12-11 with a 2.79 ERA and 311 strikeouts in 238.1 innings. He could be on his way to a solid pro career!
I feel like I’m cheating by saying Logan Webb is the one to watch in San Francisco, because you should probably already know that name. He’s got 260+ innings in the majors, but has yet to crack the 150 mark in a season, so we’ll consider him for this post. He’s 17-11 in his first “full” season (last year) and he had an ERA of 3.03.
In Chicago we’re watching Seiya Suzuki. Is this the next Ichiro?? lol I know, big stretch, but they share the same last name and they both came to MLB in their age 27 seasons. Should be fun to see how this plays out. Seiya is currently leading his team in average, homeruns, RBI, OBP and hits. Not a bad start!
In Cincy, you’d think I’d talk about Jonathan India or Tyler Stephenson, but pitching is where we’re going here. Hunter Greene set a record with something like 38 pitches of over 100 MPH in a game. He may be a one trick pony and that’s his thing, but that’s some fun stuff to see! They also have Nick Lodolo who just picked up his first win today. In the minors, he compiled a record of 2-3 (in 21 starts, which is kinda weird), with an ERA of 2.35 while striking out 108 in 69 innings.
Milwaukee doesn’t have too many people in the range that we’re looking for, so we’ll look to Andy Ashby since he’s got MLB bloodlines. Currently 0-2 with a respectable 3.18 ERA while his Minor League numbers show a record of 12-17 with an ERA of 3.75, striking out 301 batters in 247 innings. Perhaps he pans out.
Pittsburgh (my team growing up) has Ke’Bryan Hayes at the hot corner. I hope he can stay healthy, because it seems he’s been having stupid nagging injuries to start his career. Hayes (the son of Charlie Hayes from back in the 80’s) has started his career hitting .285 with 11 longballs in 134 games. I assume these numbers have been hindered due to injuries and for the record, he plays a gold glove level third-base. Once Oneil Cruz (6’7″ shortstop) gets called up, he’ll be the one we’re REALLY watching!
My choice for Rookie of the Year last year, Dylan Carlson, is my Cardinals pick as someone to watch. He had 18 bombs in 151 games last year while hitting .266 (.277 with 11 homeruns in the 2nd half of the season). His second half made me think he had what it took to take the ROY award, but they gave it to Cincy’s Jonathan India.
Ian Anderson (no not the guy from Jethro Tull) looks like the man in Atlanta. Through 174 innings in the Bigs, he’s compled a record of 13-8 with an ERA of 3.41. Kyle Wright is another guy to watch for the Bravos. His Major League numbers so far have been somewhat iffy (over parts of 5 seasons he’s pitched in 87 innings with a 5.48 ERA, but his Minors numbers show a record of 10 games over .500 with an ERA of 3.47 while striking out a batter per inning over 400+ innings.
Jazz Chisolm started hot last year, but then faded, so I feel like perhaps we’re being duped again, so I’ll go with Jesus Sanchez as my Marlins pick. Currently hitting .310 with 3 bombs in the Bigs, his minors record shows him as a .299 hitter with 60 homers in 501 games. That SHOULD translate to a solid Major League career.
Through his first 4 starts this year, Tylor Megill has posted a 3-0 record with a 2.35 ERA for the New York Mets. He could definitely be someone to watch (I’ve never heard of him before writing this post).
Alec Bohm has all but confirmed that he’s not a third baseman (see his 3 error performance where he shouts “I fu**in hate this place), but his bat can certainly speak. He’s currently hitting .393 with a bomb, but swatted 21 balls in 125 games in his last full season in the minors. I’m definitely expecting him to be better than Rhys Hoskins.
Cleaning up this thought process, we end with Washington. The two guys we’re going to focus on here were once in the Dodgers organization and part of the Trea Turner trade. Keibert Ruiz is hitting .240 with 3 RBI in a stacked LA lineup. I DO think he’ll put up better numbers with a little more seasoning. He hit .301 with 50 blasts in 459 games in the Minors while posting a .933 OPS (on base plus slugging) in his final year on the farm (72 games). Also we can look at Josiah Gray who’s slotted in the number 3 starter position at the moment. He’s got a 2-1 record with a 3.14 ERA his first 14.1 innings this year. MILB shows his career at a 14-5 record with an ERA under 2.50 and 228 K’s in 198 innings.
This brings our “Starts of Tomorrow?” posts to an end.
If you have any minor leaguers that you’d like me to deep dive, let me know. I miss hopping into the boxscores!
Check out our American League Stars of Tomorrow post from yesterday here –https://nightlyunwind.com/2022/04/23/american-league-stars-of-tomorrow/
Footnote…this post was made over 4 hours with much vodka. Please excuse any typos or general mistakes.
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