As baseball fans, we all get excited about prospects. So much tantalizing potential and the hope of baseball's next star player. When a player gets called up, everyone gets excited about what could be on the way and if greatness is arriving.
On Saturday, the Oakland Athletics announced what could be the start of a new era. With Chad Pinder headed for the disabled list, Oakland promoted infielder Franklin Barreto from Triple-A Nashville. Barreto, the consensus top rated prospect in the A's farm system and one of the highest-rated infielders in the minors, is expected to make his MLB debut against the Chicago White Sox. While it's not yet known how long Barreto will be up with the A's, he still offers plenty to be excited about and is worth writing about.
2017 Stats:
Barreto received his first major opportunity to impress the A's coaching staff in spring training this year. Barreto, who just turned 21 in February, tore the cover off the ball in 27 at bats this spring. He collected 13 hits to give him a .481 batting average, hit one home run and one triple. While he did get caught stealing on all three attempts in the spring, he put his speed to the test and displayed the early signs of another skill he brings to the table.
While ordinarily those numbers would have earned a spot on the big club, Super Two rules and the A's veteran depth in the middle infield meant Barreto would start the year with the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. While some young players might have taken the move back to the minors hard, Barreto handled it in stride and his success in the spring carried over quite nicely when he returned to Nashville to begin the season.
The 21-year-old's first month with the Sounds went about as perfectly as the A's could hope for. In 100 plate appearances, Barreto posted a strong .333/.394/.540, .934 OPS and an outstanding 138 wRC+. Barreto's four home runs showed flashes of the power he could offer and even while he still struggled stealing bases, the power and slash line showed the promise he offered in the near future for Oakland. But the largest cause for concern was a 31 percent strikeout rate, that could lead to questions about going forward over the next few months.
Sure enough, the drop off came for Barreto in May. From May 9 to May 30, Barreto's numbers took a massive hit compared to his stats the previous month. In 87 plate appearances over that 19-game span, he posted an ugly .226/.253/.405 slash line and his 63 wRC+ and .658 OPS. While Barreto managed to cut his strikeout rate down to 26.4 percent over that span, he only drew a walk in 2.3 percent of his plate appearances and the power cut in half to two home runs.
While that all raised reason for concern, it's also important to note Barreto is one of the youngest players in Triple-A. He turned 21 just a few months ago and plenty of players at that age are still in High-A ball and scattered in Double-A for the first time. He is at the highest level of the minor leagues and he crushed it in his first month, then pitchers made adjustments to him. The key for him would be adjustments, just as it will in the majors, adapting to how pitchers adjust to you and being able to make your own changes so you can turn things around and return to form as a hitter.
That's exactly what Barreto did. From June 8 until his last game before the call up on June 23, he posted a .310/.365/.362 slash line and a .727 OPS, meanwhile he raised his walk percentage to nearly four times what he posted in May. Barreto may not have been hitting like he did in April, but he proved himself a very capable hitter in the top of Nashville's lineup. He started making consistent contact again, but it wasn't great contact. Of Barreto's 18 hits, 17 were singles and the other was a home run. So while he made adjustments, the extra-base hits took a major blow.
Barreto's overall line across 309 plate appearances in Triple-A this season is still strong. Eight home runs paired with a .754 OPS and .281/.326/.428 slash line is a very good hitter and those numbers would be loved by fantasy owners. But you can see the times where he struggled and how those numbers came to be.
Scouting Report:
There's good reason why Barreto receives plenty of hype. Barreto, the center piece the A's received back in the Josh Donaldson trade a few years ago, entered the season as a consensus top-40 prospect in baseball. Barreto immediately shined as a 14-year-old and a few short years later, became the top international prospect on the market and his baseball career in the states began from there. Now the 21-year-old is set to make his major league debut with a nice skill set that A's fans and fantasy owners will enjoy.
Barreto's hit tool generally draws a 60-grade on the 20-80 scale, which puts him well in the above-average category and fits right in at the second base position. Praised for quick bat speed that can handle any variation of pitch speeds from slower, moving off-speed pitches to lightning-quick fastballs that can reach into the high-90s. With a simplified, quick approach, it allows Barreto to generate some hard contact and plenty of line drives that should lead to a future where he racks up tons of extra-base hits.
Obviously some of Barreto's game will come with swing-and-miss, it's been demonstrated by his strikeout numbers this season, though he never posted a strikeout rate higher than 19.5 percent from 2014-'16. So this year's numbers were an outlier in terms of the percentage of strikeouts, but it's still worth noting that Barreto is a player who will still generate his fair share of whiffs and it may not come with a very high walk percentage.
While Barreto came up through the minors as a shortstop, his future will come at second base in Oakland. His speed and athleticism certainly sticks out and paired with a 60-grade arm are the making of a good defender at second base who can show quality range for the position and make all the throws necessary to succeed. Pair that with an above average bat with enough that could put him in the range of 12-15 home runs in his prime and maybe more given the era of 'juiced' baseballs and a higher focus on driving the ball for more home runs.
Barreto also offers 60-grade speed that he demonstrated throughout the minors with 29 stolen bases in 2014 and 30 in 2016. While his success rates aren't great, working with professional coaches to develop his technique and having a great first base coach to send him at the right times and put him in the best position to succeed could help Barreto put up multiple 20-plus stolen base seasons.
This is still a very young player who will encounter ups and downs, he will enter the majors as by far one of the youngest in the game and face pitchers with years of experience pitching against some of the best players in baseball. But while he will face challenges and some down times, Barreto's future is exciting for fantasy owners with the potential for 15 home run-20 steal seasons and he could become a major core player of the A's future.
2017 Fantasy Outlook
While we don't quite know yet how long Barreto will be up with the Athletics, his call up was at least coming next month after Oakland traded veterans away. So this may be the time for Barreto and with Chad Pinder on the disabled list and Jed Lowrie injured, the opportunity exists for Barreto to seize a job opening and never letting it go. So that does make Barreto even more worth owning than some other prospects who got the call up in fantasy, because a job should be open for him very soon.
That said, things could be a little tough for Barreto to start out. He should have the early advantage on pitchers just because there is no major league scouting report on him, but they'll quickly make adjustments, then it will be up to him to respond back. I expect the slash line to be fairly low, especially with his strikeout rates in Triple-A this season and the new competition he will face against MLB pitching, which could put his batting average near .250 and a strikeout rate over 25 percent.
If Barreto remains up and starts for the remainder of the season, that should lead to some nice pop and steal numbers. He could finish with six to eight home runs over the remainder of the year and steal 10-plus bases, which makes him worth an add in A.L. only leagues and deep standard leagues with 16-plus teams that need depth in the middle infield.
Long-term, that's where the love for Barreto comes. He has the potential to be near All Star caliber at second base with strong offensive output that makes him a top-10 fantasy second baseman year after year. He will be a fun player to watch over the rest of the season and for the future as fans begin to see why Oakland fell in love with his talents at such a young age and saw him as a needed center piece in the Donaldson trade.