2021 Triple-A All-Stars

The start of 2022 Spring Training has officially been pushed back (to at least the following Tuesday). And while negotiations have ramped up between the league and the players’ union, the MLB website still has no mention of active Major League players. So I thought I’d follow that example and look at the highest level of the minor leagues.

It’s difficult to use statistics from Triple-A to determine player value, because of the transitional nature of the league. The top prospects don’t often get the chance to accrue a lot of counting stats, since the better they are, the quicker they get called up to the majors. On the other hand, the players who spend full seasons at Triple-A tend to be journeyman types who haven’t been able to stick in the show. But since we deal in fantasy points here, that’s how we’ll judge the top Triple-A players from 2021.

The top scorer in the top level of the minor leagues was Rays prospect Josh Lowe, who put up a 20-20 season while playing center field and right field for the Durham Bulls. The third player with that last name developed by the team in recent years (after Brandon and Nathaniel), J. Lowe made his MLB debut with a two-game cup of coffee in 2021, which means that Aquarius might have his talents for most of the upcoming season – barring some service time manipulation, provided that kind of stuff is still allowed in the next CBA. Next on the Triple-A fantasy points leaderboard is an example of the second type of player I mentioned above. Scorpio corner infielder Aderlin Rodriguez has yet to make the big leagues, but the Tigers brought him in as organizational depth, and he stuck on the Toledo Mud Hens roster, hitting nearly 30 home runs.

Number three is another Aquarius player who made his debut for the Rays in 2021. Second baseman/outfielder Vidal Brujan has been on top prospect lists since 2019 - a lot longer than Lowe, who made his first appearance in the top 50 this offseason. With these two, Wander Franco, and Taylor Walls, Tampa Bay has some impressive talent on the horizon. Aries first baseman Ryan McBroom has seen big league action with the Royals in every season since 2019, although his seven-game cameo last year allowed him plenty of time to slug 32 homers for the Omaha Storm Chasers. Jose Siri came to the Astros as a minor league free agent, and then played so well with the Sugar Land Skeeters that he actually had some playing time in the World Series. Despite his time on baseball’s biggest stage, he’s relegated to low-level outfield depth for the Cancer Crabs.

Another Cancer Crab, Blue Jays prospect Kevin Smith, also made his MLB debut in 2021, and although he only played third base in his brief call-up, he was primarily a shortstop with the Buffalo Bisons. Yet another Rays player is next, giving Tampa Bay three of the top seven Triple-A point scorers in 2021. Leo slugger Dalton Kelly played mostly first base in Durham, but he could move to his secondary position of left field in this hypothetical lineup (with McBroom at first and Rodriguez at the hot corner). This leaves only catcher and DH, the former of which would go to Carlos (Eduardo) Perez of the Athletics, a Scorpio who broke the 30-homer plateau in 2021 while also seeing some time at first base and left field with the Las Vegas Aviators.

For DH duties, we have two players separated by a single 2021 fantasy point, but a much more significant points-per-game average of close to five (5!). The first one is a Scorpio you might have heard of: Greg Bird has four MLB seasons under his belt, all with the Yankees, although none since 2019. He recently resurfaced as the fist baseman/DH for the Albuquerque Isotopes, the Simpsons-inspired AAA affiliate of the Rockies. The other option is Mariners first baseman/outfielder Jose Marmolejos, who had one fewer Triple-A home run than Bird (26 to 27), but he did it in 29 fewer games (83 to 112)… while sporting an OPS over 1.100 (compared to Bird’s .894). Who knows how high this Capricorn’s Triple-A stat line might have reached had he not been called up for 40 big league contests.

The last two players to reach 1,500 Triple-A fantasy points would make very good utility infielders for these Triple-A All-Stars. Sagittarian Johan Camargo has already proven his versatility in the majors, despite a 2021 with negative MLB points for the Braves. (Camargo was picked up by the Philies prior to the lockout.) Jason Krizan has yet to earn his first call-up with the Giants, but the Cancer Crab played every infield position except for shortstop for the Sacramento River Cats in 2021. Aries Matt Davidson has dabbled in two-way player status in the past, but he’s settled in as the Dodgers’ AAA first baseman. Backup catcher duties would go to Matt Thaiss of the Angels, despite the fact that the Taurus lefty hitter has only played the corner infield spots in his brief major league tenure.

The top-scoring Triple-A pitcher also appeared in the 2021 playoffs, but Kyle Wright was on the winning side, picking up two long relief appearances for the Braves. The Libra starter was on the top-100 prospect lists of MLB, Baseball America, and Baseball Prospectus every year from 2018 to 2020, before “graduating” with an eight-start pandemic shortened season. While Wright’s fellow Libra Raynel Espinal hasn’t graduated from rookie status, he did make his debut in 2021: one game with the Red Sox, where he gave up two runs in as many innings. Scorpio Matthew Liberatore has yet to see the majors, but he has already been involved in a major trade, going from Tampa Bay to St. Louis in the deal that netted the Rays 2021 Rookie of the Year Randy Arozarena.

Speaking of the Rays, Dietrich Enns reached Tampa Bay’s big club for 22 innings over nine games (including two saves), after starting 11 of 19 for Triple-A Durham. The 30-year-old Taurus rookie actually made his MLB debut way back in 2017 with the Twins, then spent 2020 in independent league ball, before making it back to the show. Rounding out the hypothetical starting five would be another Taurus, Blue Jays lefty Zach Logue, who had seven starts and 35.2 innings in Double-A, to go along with his 17 and 89.1 in Triple-A. For depth, we have a non-prospect: Gemini Josh Lindblom, who reinvigorated his career in Korea in 2018 and ’19, before returning stateside with the Brewers in 2020.

The Brewers also provided the best fantasy Triple-A reliever in 2021, with Pisces closer Luke Barker. At 29 years of age, Barker is two years older than the weighted average of all pitchers in the league, whereas runner up Ronel Blanco (a Virgo closer in the Astros system) is just a touch younger than the mean. Number three among Triple-A relievers is Sagittarius veteran Kevin Quackenbush, who didn’t sign with the Dodgers until May. The last relief pitcher to score at least 1,000 Triple-A fantasy points in 2021 is another Sagittarian, Bryan Baker of the Blue Jays, who made his MLB debut after putting up a sparkling 1.31 ERA in 41.1 innings at Buffalo.

Next time I will complete the 1980’s in my reverse chronological trip through FABL history. Don’t miss this exciting milestone!