AFL Preview: Salt River Rafters

Salt River Rafters – Diamondbacks, Orioles, Rockies, Marlins, Brewers

The Guys You Know
Ryan Mountcastle, SS, Baltimore Orioles (#41 Midseason Top 50)
Corey Ray, OF, Milwaukee Brewers (#41 Top 101)
Dillon Peters, LHP, MIA (Appeared in the majors)

The Guys You Don’t
Adrian Houser, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
A former second-rounder of the Astros, Houser moved to Milwaukee as part of the return for Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers. He lost big swaths of time to Tommy John surgery and recovery over the past couple years. Milwaukee will likely continue trying him out as a starter somewhere in the higher minors next —Wilson Karaman

Victor Reyes, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Reyes is a solid hitter, though his bat-to-ball comes at the expense of anything resembling pop. He can run a little, with consistent above-average times to first, and the glove works in either corner and has just enough for sporadic centerfield utility as well. It’s a fourth-outfielder’s profile. —WK

Quinton Torres-Costa, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers
A lefty who works sidearm from the extreme 1st base side of the rubber, Torres-Costa throws across his body so he has some deception that can make his pitches play against righties as well. He throws a fastball, slider and change and changes speeds well, but he struggled with command when he hit AA. If he streamlines his repertoire and sharpens his command, he can be at least a useful LOOGY down the road. —Scott Delp

Steve Wilkerson, 2B, Baltimore Orioles
It’s unusual that a 25-year-old Double-A infielder catches your eye without a carrying hit/power tool, but that’s exactly what Wilkerson did for me this past season. His ability to play all over the diamond, along with sneaky barrel control, a sound approach and plus speed make him enough of an offensive threat to potentially carve out a utility role on a big league roster. —Greg Goldstein

Jon Perrin, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Perrin attacks hitters with an underwhelming fastball and a solid slider. There’s middle relief upside, but… uh, yeah. —Craig Goldstein

Nate Griep, RP, Milwaukee Brewers
Griep served as Carolina’s closer in 2017, striking out a boatload with his fastball-slider combo. It plays up due to the righties deceptive delivery that makes the ball hard to pick up. Ultimately, advanced hitters should adjust to the funk, and while the stuff is good, his command waffles. —John Eshleman

Ryan Atkinson, RHP, ARI
Kirby Bellow, LHP, ARI
Shane Broyles, RHP, COL
Miguel Del Pozo, RHP, MIA
James Farris, RHP, C
Zachary Jemiola, RHP, COL
Ben Meyer, RHP, MIA
Colin Poche, LHP, ARI
Scott Squier, LHP, MIA
Michael Perez, C, ARI
Rodrigo Vigil, C, MIA
Peter Mooney, SS, MIA
Jack Reinheimer, SS, ARI
Yoan Lopez, RHP, ARI

The Guys You Will

Monte Harrison, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
The former first-rounder cemented himself as one of the most intriguing prospects in baseball this season. The pure athleticism has never been in question; while still raw in center field, I expect he'll stick. Harrison is a 70 runner with excellent instincts on the base paths, but the key for Harrison is his bat, and it could be elite in center. Harrison's strength and barrel feel stand out, and on a prospect-laden Carolina team, he was the lone 60 of the group, with potential for more, impacting the game in all facets —JE

Lucas Erceg, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers (Eyewitness)
It was a rough season for the talented third baseman, who really struggled against lefties in my views. His hands were extremely quick and he flashed impressive bat speed that was borderline necessary due to a lengthy swing. While his hand-eye coordination yields frequent contact, too often it is weak contact. At the hot corner, Erceg is a sublime defender with good hands and a howitzer for an arm. It’ll be interesting to see if Erceg is gassed coming off his first full season, but getting him some more seasoning isn’t a bad idea. —CG

Yency Almonte, RHP, Colorado Rockies
Almonte was quietly the best pitcher on the Yard Goats this year, despite missing time with a shoulder issue early in the season. Almonte’s fastball sits in the mid-90s and he can find some extra velocity when he needs it later in starts. He commands the pitch well to all four quadrants and most nights he only needed the numero uno. He shows two potentially average secondaries in his slider and change and fits snugly in the mid-rotation starter or late-inning reliever profile, albeit one with more pitchability than the median version. —Jeffrey Paternostro

Dom Nunez, C, Colorado Rockies
Nunez can be a hard player to get a read on; the glove is solid, and he improved dramatically in transforming some of his potential into practical skill this year, cutting way down on his passed balls with more consistent and effective blocking. He throws well too, with solid-average arm strength and consistent accuracy. He lacks for great bat speed, though, and he produces in the box with guile than tools. There’s a bit of pop there, and if he can unlock enough of it he’ll play in the majors for a long time. —WK

Yonathan Daza, CF, Colorado Rockies
Daza was one of the more fun prospects to watch grow and develop this summer in the Cal League. He transformed his body last off-season, and after shaking off some adjustment pains early really began to thrive in the outfield, where his quick reads and newly-plus speed worked in tandem to drive the best performance of the year in center. He’s got a solid, compact stroke at the dish, with good hand-eye that feeds a solid hit tool. The swing plane isn’t conducive to much loft, though he’s a strong kid who can put a charge into line drives to all parts of the yard. —WK

Brian Mundell, 1B, Colorado Rockies (Eyewitness)
Mundell’s a solid if somewhat boring bat, with very good contact skills for a big man stemming from his more compact stroke. There’s enough strength and bat speed to project plus raw power, but he doesn’t always display it, even in batting practice. The approach is sound, however, and as he matures as a hitter there’ll be opportunity for him to develop into a perfectly competent corner bat. He’s a converted catcher whose hands are consistent at first, though he doesn’t move all that well around the bag. —WK

Braxton Lee, OF, Miami Marlins
Lee came over to the Marlins’ organization from the Rays in the Adeiny Hechavarria deal near mid-season. He wound up leading the Southern League in batting average and kicked in 20 SB as well. Lee is the polar opposite of the higher launch angle approach and he starts with his hands very high and tries to stay above the ball and hit line drives to all fields. He is a plus defender in CF with an above average, accurate arm. The defense and baserunning say that Lee will play in the majors at some point. If he continues improving on the offensive side, that could be as at least a second division regular. —SD

Jake Gatewood, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
Gatewood made strides this year more than doubling his walk rate from 2016, in part due to corrective lenses that helped him identify pitches, and the strike zone better. While he’s always owned prodigious power, his shortened swing allowed him to make more contact while retaining his in-game output. He’s moved all the way down the defensive spectrum from shortstop, to third, to first but he has the offensive upside to make the profile play. He’ll need to show better at Double-A to tilt the odds in his favor though. —CG

Tanner Scott, LHP, Baltimore Orioles (Eyewitness)
It’s rare that you see a southpaw with a true 8 fastball, but that’s the type of arm talent that Scott brings to the table. The former 6th round pick worked exclusively in three inning starts all year long as the Orioles hoped that the extra innings would help him hone his command and slider. The plan was not a bad idea as both showed signs of improvement in his second full season, even though Scott is most definitely built for a late-inning bullpen role. Scott can push his fastball up to over 100 mph when he wants and looks pretty effortless when doing so as well. It’s really quite amazing to see such a thin guy throw this hard without trying, but he really does just easily pump elite velo. This already makes him a legit relief prospect, but the progress of the slider is what makes Scott a potential set-up man when all is set and done. The pitch has a chance to get to average, although it predictably just plays up because of how easily Scott can miss bats with the heater. However, the command must get a tad bit better if Scott hopes to reach his ceiling. I think he’s likely to harness his stuff because he’s athletic enough to do so. After making his MLB debut last month, Orioles fans should see a lot more of the 23 year-old fireballing lefty in 2018. —GG

Keegan Akin, LHP, Baltimore Orioles (Eyewitness)
The Orioles farm system is a bit bare when it comes to potential starting pitchers, but I think that Akin may be the best pitching prospect in the system apart from 2017 first-round pick D.L. Hall and the oft-injured Hunter Harvey. Left-handed with a thicker body, Akin holds his plus fastball deep into starts, repeating his delivery fairly well. The slider is a legitimate above-average pitch, showing late swing-and-miss bite down in the zone. He also flashes enough feel for the change that the pitch should get to average as well. He’s not all too athletic, so command was a problem during his first full pro season. Akin still produced his fair amount of dominant starts in the Carolina League and showed better than his mediocre stat line would suggest (21 GS, 100 IP, 4.14 ERA, 89 H, 46 BB, 111 K). Akin can overpower when the he needs to and I believe the control will develop enough to make the 2016 second round pick a solid #4 starter in the bigs one day. —GG