Rangers SS Cameron Cauley (23) had a great start Monday night, starting at second base and drawing a walk before tripleing in the seventh inning to help tilt the game for Texas. He didn’t start Tuesday, but Corey Seager was ruled out of the game before his first at-bat with a back injury, so it makes sense that Cauley will be in the lineup moving forward. Find him where you can fit him. 20 stolen bases in half a season maybe straight.
Blue Jays 3B Sean Keys (23) singled and scored as a first baseman in his first game, flashing a bat speed of 77.5 miles per hour, a number that ranks him among the league’s fastest hitters. I was wondering where they were going to play this kid when I wrote about him the other day in Prospect News: Primera Things Primera, Find Your Keys:
“Keys posted a 158 wRC+ in 49 Double-A games to earn his promotion to Triple-A, where he kept the team going with a 166 wRC+ in 14 games. Toronto is in a weird spot, at least as far as the corner bats are concerned. Kazuo Okamoto and Vladimir Guerrero have playing time as those spots will have long stretches to develop the Keys. play. the boys are always healthy.” Pair that bat speed with the plate skills and results the key has produced, and it’s easy to imagine Toronto finding ways to unlock as many key combinations as possible. He scored a clean sweep on Tuesday after little Vlad bowed out with a back problem.
Kahlil Watson Guardians (23) played well enough with Chase DeLauter on the shelf that he should stay in the lineup now that DeLauter is back. He has hit fourth or fifth in the past four games despite making just one walk in his 36 MLB plate appearances. His average first exit velocity of 94.2 is on the high side, and his bat speed of 73.4 mph is above average. Time will tell how he fares when hitters attack him out of the strike zone more and more, but you don’t have to be a doctor to see that Watson has the skills to stick around for a long time.
Giants C Drew Cavanaugh (24) got the call as Daniel Susac went on the injured list with a back problem. It feels like so much of that job will be taken over that if Cavanaugh looks capable on both sides of the ball, he’ll likely stick around for most of the season if he doesn’t transition directly from here on out. He’s a great guy to pick up if you need help behind the plate. He was hitting .330/.445/.571 with six home runs and three steals in 32 Pacific Coast League games. I thought this was his job to lose when the Patrick Bailey trade went down Prospect News: Montgomery Burns The Braves or Last Call On Lara:
I traded Phillies RHP Ramon Marquez (20, A+) left Razz30 last week for Noah Cameron, and that looks even worse today as Marquez has been promoted to High-A and is thriving while Cameron continues to whiff. His ERA is now 4.95. The worst part of the situation was that I didn’t want Cameron anymore when we finally got a mutually agreeable trade, but I had invested so much money back and forth that I figured I might as well click to accept a trade that looked fair enough to me. The full trade was Marquez, Gabe Speier and Blue Jays 3B Juan Sanchez for Cameron. Even after his meltdown Tuesday night against the Rays, I can make a strong case that he has the most value among these four guys. Does that mean he deserves the other three in the SV+H league where Speier has been holding it down all season? No, it’s not. I wouldn’t blame you for putting Cameron last in that group. In the context of this league, where Quality Starts is in the sixth stage (it’s 6×6), and I need those QS something strong after losing Spencer Schwellenbach, Carlos Rodon and Tyler Glasnow early and Tarik Skubal just as things are about to start in Milhouse. Most of the time I took the position that I should not chase the middle innings. My horses will eventually be healthy enough to make the playoffs, which is how the season played out until I made that trade. The Royals were a comfortable team hitting between 4th and 5th in the American League, and that’s where they are today. I got selfish and wanted to chase the regular season crown, a trivial $200 title versus the $800 playoff winner. Anyway, I’m trying to get better at catching guys I underestimate a bit because I added them early in their royalty arc. “Anyone looking for Marquez? I just added him a few weeks ago.” That has to stop. It doesn’t matter when you added the boy. These are the smart people we play the game with. There’s a reason they want a player. Good luck dear reader.
Cardinals LHP Quinn Mathews (25, AAA) has been staying out of the strike zone so much this season that it’s hard to see him and stop yourself from yelling “Come on!” That changed in the last month or so. I wouldn’t say he’s been staying in the zone, but he’s certainly throwing enough strikes to be successful these days, recording a 0.89 WHIP and 2.08 ERA over his last six starts spanning 30.1 innings. I doubt he’s ready to repeat those numbers in a big month, but he figures to get the next opportunity in St.
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