The minor-league season is about a month away from its culmination, but that hasn't stopped teams from promoting numerous top prospects to the Triple-A level in recent weeks. Those players are now a stone's throw away from reaching the majors ... provided, anyway, their general managers can deign themselves by opting against service-time manipulation.
To honor the occasion, we're dedicating this week's Prospect Watch to highlighting four players in particular, each of whom is a recent first-round pick. (Do note the players are presented in chronological order of their promotion.)
Witt is no stranger to these parts; he put on such a show in spring training that Dayton Moore was publicly discussing the possibility of having him on the Opening Day roster. Witt instead began the season in Double-A, where he hit .295/.369/.570 with 16 home runs and 14 stolen bases in 61 games. He's since moved to Triple-A, where, in 24 games, he's batted .284/.354/.588 with eight homers and six steals. He's even walking more frequently and striking out less frequently than he did in Double-A, suggesting he isn't about to slow down. The Royals might be the only team in the league who won't play the service-time game, meaning Witt (complete with four plus or better tools) could debut in September.
Whereas Witt, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft, has spent close to a month in Triple-A, Rutschman, the No. 1 pick in the same draft, only recently received the nod. It's not his fault the Orioles took their time to move him up the ladder; he did his part by hitting .271/.392/.508 with 18 home runs and nearly as many walks (55) as strikeouts (57) in 80 Double-A games. Rutschman, a switch-hitting catcher with a chance for four plus or better tools, could probably hold his own in the majors already, but the Orioles seem likely to keep him down until next summer.
Greene is yet another early pick from what's proving to be a loaded 2019 class. (He was the No. 5 selection.) He won't turn 21 until late September, but that didn't prevent him from hitting .298/.381/.525 with 16 home runs and 12 steals (on 13 attempts) in Double-A. There are two aspects to Greene's game worth monitoring heading forward: his ability to stick in center field (he'd originally been expected to move to a corner, but he's yet to make that transition) and his strikeout tendencies (he punched out in 27 percent of his Double-A plate appearances). It's probably fair to expect Greene's debut to come sometime next spring.
Spencer Torkelson, 1B/3B, Tigers
We'll end with Torkelson, the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft. He's on his third level of the year, having battered High-A pitching before then hitting .263/.373/.560 with 14 home runs in 50 Double-A games. Scouts projected Torkelson to be a quick-moving middle-of-the-order hitter who was limited to first base; the Tigers, nevertheless, have had him split his time almost evenly between the hot and cold corners. He still seems likely to end up at first base over the long haul, but maybe the Tigers treat him as their own Andrew Vaughn next spring, asking him to play other corner spots as a means of maximizing their lineup's potency.
