It’s perhaps the ultimate rite of spring – poring over prospect ratings, getting too excited over a rookie’s chance to impact their Major League Baseball squad, going nuts over absurdly small samples of fake baseball in Grapefruit and Cactus league exhibitions.
Well, maybe this is the year to revel in it a bit.
Four top prospects have done little to dispel that they may not only be big league-ready, but poised to break through even before the most starry-eyed prospect-head could’ve imagined.
Yes, three weeks remain before Opening Day, plenty of time for twentysomethings to get schooled by superior pitching and steady veterans look more alluring to a manager. Noted.
Let’s take a minute to hone in on four uber prospects who have made the industry take notice with their early performances in camp:
Konnor Griffin, SS, Pirates
Might as well start with the aircraft carrier. Griffin is a teenager, at least until April 24, the game’s top prospect and a dude who has no idea how to tamp down the hype surrounding his name.
Thankfully, Griffin finally mixed in a single in an exhibition against Colombia, ending his spring streak of every hit being a gargantuan home run. Alas, those tape-measure shots did little to dull the roar that emerged from a .333/.415/.527 first professional season that started at low A and concluded at Class AA.
At 6-foot-3, 222 pounds, Griffin looks the part and, in his comportment and style of play, acts it as well. Ace Paul Skenes has voiced his support that the kid start in Pittsburgh sooner rather than later.
And for whatever it’s worth, he’s still at shortstop while presumed incumbent Jared Triolo is getting reps at third.
Tea leaves will soon turn to brass tacks. And the most anticipated debut in several years may very well stay on the fast track.
Kevin McGonigle, SS, Tigers
Here’s the deal: The Tigers were a really good team last year, falling short of the ALCS only because the Seattle Mariners outlasted them in a 15-inning elimination game. And the really good team returned virtually intact on the position-player side.
Run it back? Not so fast, perhaps.
McGonigle is the consensus No. 2 prospect in the industry behind Griffin and we just have to say, this simply doesn’t happen. Nos. 1-2 never bust down the door in tandem, in spring training. Perhaps 1 is major league-ready and 2 is an uber talented kid ticketed for Class A.
But no. While Griffin’s loud noises in Bradenton have generated attention, McGonigle is doing even more to win a job up in Lakeland.
The Tigers keep putting him in high-profile positions – imagine never playing above Class AAA and suddenly playing behind Tarik Skubal – and he keeps answering. They batted him leadoff against the Dominican Republic’s World Baseball Classic team in front of a crowd in the D.R. ready to tear the roof off in support of their heroes.
And McGonigle hit a leadoff home run and produced a 3-for-3 night.
Never mind the stats, which are great – six hits in 15 Grapefruit League at-bats, a 1.137 OPS. The 21-year-old simply seems unbothered, and steady.
“The confidence that he’s showing in his at-bats against these particular pitchers,” manager A.J. Hinch said after McGonigle lit up the Dominicans, “is impressive.”
There was little doubt McGonigle would impact the Tigers this season, especially as it got closer to the playoffs. The next three weeks will reveal just how much that timeline has sped up.
Justin Crawford, OF, Phillies
Don’t be alarmed, but the Phillies very much look poised to plug a young player into the lineup.
Nope, John Middleton’s store-bought NL East champions all won’t carry nine-figure contracts this season. In fact, one of the most important positions figures to be manned by a guy making his major league debut when he jogs out to center field March 26 at Citizens Bank Park, when the Phillies open against the Texas Rangers.
He’s had a very nice spring thus far, with six hits in 19 at-bats, including three doubles, a nice catch in center field and, like McGonigle, a feeling that he’s ready.
Probably more than ready.
Crawford is 22 and has 112 Class AAA games already under his belt. And it’s true … legacy players are typically less fazed by the big league environment and Crawford bears many uncanny resemblances – looks and game-wise – to his father Carl, a four-time All-Star.
Unlike Griffin or McGonigle, Crawford carries neither the top two prospect hype nor the weight of franchise expectations. Batting ninth in a lineup of All-Stars is actually a pretty great way to break in.
Right now, it feels only a matter of time.
Andrew Painter, RHP, Phillies
OK, it was just two innings in a fake baseball game in Clearwater.
Yet 20 pitches, two perfect frames against the New York Yankees and a sense of command – figuratively and literally – went an awful long way toward cementing Painter’s spot in Philadelphia’s rotation to begin the season.
“I was very encouraged,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters after the March 1 outing. “I thought it was great.”
It is no small thing. It’d been three years since Painter’s first exhibition start. Then came Tommy John surgery, sidelining what was then the game’s top pitching prospect, and two years spent largely on the mend. He fought himself and his new arm a bit last summer, costing him a chance at a late-season recall once Zack Wheeler succumbed to a blood clot and thoracic outlet surgery.
Wheeler won’t be ready until perhaps a month into this season. That created the opening Painter is vying for and, most likely, has already nailed down.
His next start is March 7 against the defending American League champion Toronto Blue Jays. They will see a guy with enhanced confidence and a five-pitch mix building himself up for his big league debut.