Prospect Team of the Month, June 2024

Last month I was a few days late releasing the team of the month, this time around I’m right on time. I’m writing this on June 30th so some of the statlines aren’t quite representative of the entire month, but that’s the cost of being prompt. Kristian Campbell is our first player to feature on back-to-back editions, Jhonkensy Noel slugged his way to the show, and I’m crossing my fingers that Coby Mayo won’t be eligible come August when it’s time to do this exercise for July.

Without further ado, Happy James Wood day to all who celebrate and let’s jump in!

As a reminder, while this is technically my team of the month, it’s only my team insofar as it’s comprised of prospects that appeared (or will appear) on my latest ranking update. The rest is up to the players. Those who performed the best in June made the cut. 

SP: Caden Dana, Los Angeles Angels (AA)

June: 2.30 ERA, 30.6% K%, 6.5% BB%, 29.9% CSW in 31.1 IP

I’ve really become a big Caden Dana fan this year. He’s pitching exceptionally deep into games – he’s gone 6.0 or more innings in eight of his 14 appearances and crested the 80 pitch threshold in each of his last seven starts – and is performing well even as a young 20-year-old. I did a breakdown on him two weeks ago and what I saw was really impressive. He’s got the classic rising heater I’ve come to covet and is great at imparting spin on all of his pitches, ultimately leading to a repertoire with above-average stuff but roughly average command. It’s unclear to what end the Angels are using him so heavily; typically big league clubs want to stretch their potential rotation call-ups in advance of a promotion, but that doesn’t seem imminent to me.

C: Edgar Quero, Chicago White Sox (AA)

June: .364/.417/.614 with 5 HRs in 96 PA

I feel pretty comfortable saying Quero is the best catcher in the White Sox system, Major League club included. That’s not the most controversial stance out there given that they’re running out a Korey Lee / Martin Maldonado tandem on a regular basis, but I don’t want to understate just how good Quero has been. He’s currently top-10 in the Southern League in wRC+ and OPS, and he’s just outside the top 10 in BB/K. It would be a little premature to promote him directly from Birmingham but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bump to Triple-A following the All-Star break.

1B: Jhonkensy Noel, Cleveland Guardians (MLB)

June: .390/.438/.732 with 6 HRs and 1 SB in 89 PA

The guy just keeps hitting and even a promotion to the show hasn’t slowed him down. It’s only 14 plate appearances with the Guardians but he’s already hit two home runs, including one in his first Major League plate appearance. I’m skeptical it’ll continue, at the very least not at the sweltering pace he found in June, and it’s got a lot to do with his plate discipline. He was chasing 40.6% of offerings out of the zone over 284 plate appearances in Triple-A this year, which isn’t really a figure you expect to improve against big league pitching, and while it didn’t hinder him too much in the minors because his batted ball quality was great, I don’t really expect him to be able to find the fat part of the bat with as much regularity at the highest level. Kudos for a simply fantastic month, though!

2B: Michael Arroyo, Seattle Mariners (A+)

June: .354/.505/.695 with 7 HRs and 3 SBs in 107 PA

Michael Arroyo hit his way to a promotion to High-A Everett in the back half of the month, and I’m sure he’s excited about his new destination (whether he’s privy to the difference in park factor or not). Everett is a significantly easier place to hit than Modesto, which is one of the least friendly in all of minor league baseball (Tri-City, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Sugar Land have lower run factors in their specific leagues) and makes his outstanding June that much more impressive. The underlying data seems to support it, too, as Dylan White of Baseball America pulled together a rather favorable comparison of Arroyo’s contact rate, 90th percentile exit velocity, and chase rate to that of Lazaro Montes.

3B: Coby Mayo, Baltimore Orioles (AAA)

June: .438/.518/1.000 with 7 HRs in 56 PA

I don’t really know what to say about Coby Mayo anymore. I’ve written about him a great deal in the Threecap, especially over the last week and change as he’s gone 15-for-31 with four home runs and three doubles over his last 8 games. He made a great play with the leather yesterday and has played a competent third base this year which has reinforced his viability at the position long-term. The O’s have some decisions to make as the deadline approaches, primarily how to handle Ramon Urias and Jorge Mateo, neither of which have minor league options, and whether to unload some prospect capital for pitching help at the big league level. In any event, we’re not far off from a debut for Mayo.

SS: Kristian Campbell, Boston Red Sox (AA)

June: .371/.467/.663 with 6 HRs and 2 SBs in 107 PA

Shoutout to Kristian Campbell for taking a little bit of formatting work off of my plate by repeating as a Minor League prospect of the month. He was promoted to Double-A on June 3rd and I really thought advanced pitching might give him some headaches, but that hasn’t been the case whatsoever. As I touched on in last month’s edition, Campbell has really worked to reimagine his swing for power and it’s paying off in spades. My concern was related to the rise in chase rate and (probably related) decline in contact rate, but until it starts to impact his performance it’s hard to say that it matters all too much. As a side note – Campbell has actually never played shortstop, I’ve just shoehorned him in the team to make sure I was highlighting his performance. A more elegant solution likely would have been to slide Arroyo to shortstop and stick Campbell at second, which is a much more natural position for him, but alas.

OF 1: Chase Davis, St. Louis Cardinals (A)

June: .328/.447/.655 with 4 HRs and 3 SBs in 76 PA

I’m not sure there was a larger month-over-month improvement by any player in baseball than what Chase Davis has managed. What’s extra encouraging about it is that it seems to be the result of a gradual swing evolution as the season has progressed. He was very crouched and started his operation very open at the beginning of the year and has closed his front side and is standing more upright now, and the results are flowing. Davis was considered one of the top collegiate bats in last year’s draft and has struggled since his selection – it would be huge for St. Louis and fantasy managers who invested mid-round FYPD picks if the changes he’s implemented mean a substantive change in output.

OF 2: James Triantos, Chicago Cubs (AA)

June: .425/.465/.663 with 4 HRs and 15 SBs in 86 PA

Triantos feels perpetually under-appreciated. Sure, he doesn’t pack a whole lot of punch but he does a lot of other things really well. He has a great feel for the barrel and carries excellent contact rates, he is as defensively versatile as they come, and is obviously comfortable using his wheels to impact the game. He reminds me a little bit of Brice Turang with more routes to playing time by way of his ability to defend both in the grass and on the dirt. It’s a little curious that he hasn’t gotten a bump to Triple-A yet given his torrid performance in the AFL and results thus far at Double-A, so I’m inclined to think that promotion is imminent with potential for him to debut down the stretch. The trade deadline will be an interesting one in Chicago as they’ve stumbled to last place in the NL Central.

OF 3: Jhostynxon Garcia, Boston Red Sox (A+)

June: .329/.398/.684 with 8 HRs in 88 PA 

Garcia is the proud owner of what is, in my opinion, the best nickname in baseball: The Password. I’ve long been of the opinion that a large swath of the populace is rendered illiterate by the presence of an unexpected letter (for example, most would have no problem pronouncing Jhonkensy Noel’s first name if not for that pesky H) but Jhostynxon’s first name gives even the most prolific English speakers fits. Garcia was promoted to High-A on May 29th and actually performed better with Greenville than he did at Single-A Salem. It’s an interesting dynamic because Greenville is generally considered a less-friendly place to hit (albeit still skewed toward hitters, just not to quite the same degree as Salem) and, obviously, he’s facing better competition. He should be on your watch list at minimum.