Last Week, we began updating leaderboards that document the top minor league performances throughout the course of the year. Minor league performances are translated to projected offensive peaks of the players, based on data we have researched on aging curves and minor league level to MLB translations. We will update these leaderboards on a weekly basis: please feel free to view the full projected wOBA leaderboards HERE.    We will also highlight some interesting performances weekly—what follows is our first weekly roundup.  Every month or so we’ll publish a rankings update of the best stats-only prospects. See our 2018 rankings here.

As was the case last week, there are stipulations that everyone should be aware of when interpreting this information.

1. The season is still quite young and the sample sizes remain small. With fewer plate appearances, the less accurate the projections should be expected to be.
2. Context is very important to take into consideration when considering how to use this information.
3. Our offensive projections are heavily based on wOBA. wOBA (weighted on-base average) is a metric that aims to measure a player’s overall offensive contributions per plate appearance.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOBA).

Why wOBA? 

We believe that wOBA is a useful catch-all statistic for capturing a player’s offensive contributions.  The numbers used to calculate wOBA apply to almost all fantasy leagues.  This statistic also forms an offensive basis of the WAR (Wins Above Replacement) statistic, which is commonly used to reference a player’s overall contribution to a team. The main difference is that WAR includes values that fantasy leagues do not typically apply in their scoring systems.  However, an area that wOBA does not cover and that is often tracked by fantasy leagues is a player’s contributions on the base paths.  This is something you will want to keep in mind while digesting this information.  Below is a commonly referenced scale that can be used to read wOBA numbers.  For reference, statistical anomaly Barry Bonds posted an absurd peak wOBA of .544 during his 2002 season.  Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown while posting a .417 wOBA – his following season was even better when he posted a .455 wOBA en route to his second straight MVP award.  Mike Trout’s peak wOBA came last year, with a .447.  When you see wOBA projections that are higher than these figures, please keep this in mind and take it with a grain of salt.

wOBA Scale

2018’s Top Minor Leaguers by Projected Peak wOBA:

Table 1: 2018 Top 25 Players with MiLB At-Bats in 2018 by Projected Peak wOBA

Players of Note

 Vladimir Guerrero – Guerrero made his Major League debut last Friday.  He had just begun really warming up in Triple-A ahead of his promotion.  Most players take some time to adjust to MLB pitching and while it has only been a handful of games, it seems reasonable to assume that it will even take a premier talent like Guerrero some time to adjust.

Eloy Jimenez – The MLB is every minor leaguer’s dream destination.  It is also a unicorn for many and provides serious competition for those who reach it. Jimenez, like Guerrero, is still adapting to the level.  That journey of perseverance has been put on hold for Jimenez for the time being, as he was placed on the IL with an ankle injury.

Fernando Tatis – In contrast to Jimenez, Tatis has hit the ground running in his first attempt at the MLB level.  The only thing that has slowed him down to this point has been a groin injury, which will sideline him for at least 10 days.

Other top projected performers from last year that have validated (or exceeded) last year’s projections include Nolan Gorman (11% improvement), Peter Alonso (9%), Luis Urias (8%), Nate Lowe (2% – and was also just rewarded with a call-up from the Rays), Alejandro Kirk (2%), Wander Franco (-1%), Geraldo Perdomo (-3%), Xavier Edwards (-3% – and who also brings a healthy dose of speed to the table), Tyler Freeman (-4%), and Gavin Lux (-6%).

Yordan Alvarez – Excluded from that list above was Alvarez, who has performed so much better than last year’s already strong performance that he is worthy of special note.  Alvarez has absolutely mashed Triple-A pitching, to the tune of .347/.443/.867 with 11 home runs.  While he is likely due for some regression, he has established himself as a noteworthy target for all dynasty leagues.

2019’s Top Minor Leaguers by Projected Peak wOBA:

Table 2: 2019 Top Players with MiLB At-Bats by Projected Peak wOBA

Players of Note

Luis Robert – At one point over this last week, Robert struck out in 8 straight plate appearances.  It hardly dented his projection, however, as he still homered in his last two games.  In his last game of in High-A ball, Robert put perhaps the best performance at the plate of the season together, going 4-5 with one of those home runs and 9 total bases.  Robert was rewarded for his efforts with a promotion to Double-A.  Are we on the verge of seeing a Juan Soto-like ascension all the way up to the MLB?  It’s certainly a possibility, but Robert will need to keep the strikeouts at bay to continue finding success as he rises through the levels.

Brendan Rodgers – One of baseball’s finest prospects according to most pundits, Rodgers certainly played like it last week, catapulting all the way from 226^th on the qualifying list to 26^th.  In a six-game stretch that began last week, Rodgers hit .520 with three home runs, cementing his status as an elite player to watch.

Jarren Duran, Steven Kwan, and Juan Martinez – These are three lesser-known prospects that appear to be validating strong performances from last year and could be worth a look before major publications start picking up on them.  Hmm…I may need to make a transaction or two in my league before this is published.