A Child Protege? Another good ‘Brewers’ Prospect? A better “Ichiro?” Grab their cards up before they go skyrocket!

Who doesn’t like finding a hidden gem? Those guys who picked up Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani Bowman autos must be really happy right now, however, we also have sympathy for those who have grabbed some Wander Franco, Kyle Lewis 1st Bowmans, yikes. Yet, for me at least, that’s how it works, you win some and you lose some. Well, in this blog, we want to give you some insight into some under-the-radar prospects, that, we think, you should invest into, especially when it comes to their 1st Bowmans before they, potentially, become the next MLB superstar. So, you can finally “win some.” 

The Child Protege. Jadyn Fielder.

Did you pay attention to the MLB during the 2000s? If you did, there’s a good chance that you watched the Milwaukee Brewers. They were an exciting team at the time; they had some notable players such as Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. However, one of the players was caught using steroids and the other player fizzled out. Thankfully, the son of Prince Fielder, Jadyn Fielder, doesn’t look like he’ll regress anytime soon. Fielder, as of writing this blog, is unranked in the Brewers organization, yet his stats show why he shouldn’t be unranked. He currently has 0.458 SLG (FanGraphs) and a 0.429 OBP (FanGraphs). For comparison, lets compare Jadyn Fielder to a well-known Brewers prospect, Jesus Made. Made has a respectable 0.395 SLG (FanGraphs) and a decent 0.377 OBP (FanGraphs). You read that right; Fielder has a higher SLG and OBP compared to one of the top prospects in America. Let’s not forget to mention their ISO, Fielder has 0.183 ISO (FanGraphs) while Made has a 0.127 ISO (FanGraphs)! However, while he is currently producing better stats than Made, there are a couple of things that we must keep in mind for Fielder. First off, Fielder is in a different league. When comparing players, it is usually wise to evaluate what leagues they’re in and their age gap. In Fielder’s league, which is the CPX league (FanGraphs), the average age is around 21.0 years old (baseballamerica.com), Jadyn Fielder is 20 years old, that is very close to the average age. For Made, who plays in single-A, the league average age is 21.0 years old as well. The reason why this is important is because it shows the players’ development through the different minor leagues, a key aspect of their developing is when they move up through the minor leagues at a younger-than-average age. Since Fielder is closer too the league average age than Made, it is necessary to give Made some ‘leeway’ if he isn’t performing as well as one of his fellow prospects. Moreover, leagues will get tougher. As a baseball player, when you progress through the minor leagues, the ‘higher-up’ leagues will be tougher with more experienced and talented players. For Fielder, being close to the league average age and performing this well, is a good sign, however, compared to his superstar-in-the-making and fellow prospect Jesus Made, who is younger than the league average and performing nearly as well, it pales in comparison. Don’t fret though! There are a couple of reasons why I think these things don’t matter as much as you think. Starting off, Fielder plays for a great organization. The Milwaukee Brewers are regularly touted as a top 10 developmental organization, which is shown by their ranking at number 2 for their MiLB teams behind the number 1 Kansas City Royals, (baseballamerica.com). This shows that, as of late, they know how to make winning teams in the minors. This fact can be usually translated as that they have good prospects, and they know how to develop them, which further proves my statement of them being a ‘top 10 developmental organization.’ My oh my, those words were a mouthful. With all this information in mind, I’m very sure that the Brewers know what they are doing with Jadyn Fielder, I mean, most people, who’s collect baseball prospects, love Jesus Made, who is in the Brewers minor league affiliates. Why couldn’t it be the same for Jadyn Fielder? 

Another good ‘Brewers’ prospect. Yophery Rodriguez. 

Let’s just say that the Brewers have a knack for finding good prospects. Evidenced by Luis Pena, Jesus Made, and the one I have mentioned earlier, Jadyn Fielder. I would also like to include another ‘Brewer’ prospect, who, I think, has a ton of potential. This former Brewer prospect is currently ranked 39 in OBP (milb.com) and 54 in SLG (milb.com). At first glance, this prospect doesn’t seem to have the tools we’re looking for in this blog, however, we’re missing one more important ‘under-lying’ stat, the stat is BB/K. He is currently ranked, in over 295 plate appearances, number 7 with a 0.732 BB/K (milb.com). That shows Yophery Rodriguez has insane plate discipline and vision, like he has 125 vision and 125 plate discipline in MLB the Show! To show you how ridiculous this stat is, lets compare it to Aaron Judge, a player who we already know is very disciplined and has good vision, his BB/K is 0.66! This stat shows us that Yophery Rodriguez is a very disciplined hitter. Albeit, this single stat doesn’t really outweigh the other stats earlier, OBP and SLG. However, BB/K is a very important foundational stat, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge, who are the top superstars in MLB right now, all have a BB/K over 0.55. On another note, Yophery Rodriguez has shown good stats in the past. The stats we’ve shown about Yophery Rodriguez were of this MiLB season, yet, if you checked his career stats and where they have trended, you’ll find some good news. If you have checked his career OBP throughout his minor league career it’s about ~0.371 OBP (FanGraphs), and if you did the same with his SLG it’s about ~0.433 SLG (FanGraphs), these career stats show that this year may be a temporary ‘down’ year for him. Another promising sign for Rodriguez is that he is currently adjusting to the new league and possibly a new organization. He started in the DSL league for the Brewers when he got drafted, then, only 52 games later, he got promoted to the A affiliate for the Brewers, after a longer 110 games, the Brewers decided to move him up to A+. This is where it got tricky. After putting up only 13 games, he got traded to the Red Sox, where the Brewers got Quinn Priester (FanGraphs). As per writing this blog, he has only played 88 games with them (FanGraphs) and is not performing his best. There could be multiple reasons why he isn’t performing like a top-tier prospect, maybe it’s the sudden change of new organizations. Some organizations have different developing tools and methods than others. Let’s take this into account as well, Rodriguez is playing for a top-tier developmental organization in the Red Sox. Let’s name a couple of former prospects of the Red Sox, Rafael Devers, Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Roger Clemens (mlb.com) and so forth. The Red Sox have the money and the development team to produce superstars. With their experience, the Red Sox should ‘restore’ Yophery Rodriguez into an amazing prospect. This prospect should be on your ‘Bowman Prospect Radar,’ BPR for short. 

A Better “Ichiro.” Ichiro Cano Hernandez. 

Before I say anything else, Ichiro Cano Hernandez is NOT related to the Ichiro we all know. The one who played for the Mariners, Yankees, and Marlins during his lifetime (FanGraphs), the one who had amazing fielding skills, a cannon for an arm, and the one who has over 3000 career hits (FanGraphs). Plus, the Ichiro I’m talking about is born from Mexico (FanGraphs), not from Japan. However, this Ichiro I’m talking about is just ‘oozing’ with superstar potential. This 20-year-old Reds prospect is currently revolving around 3B and 1B and is playing for the CPX affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds (FanGraphs). If you look closely at Ichiro Cano Hernandez’s OBP and SLG, it is currently ranked at 11 with a 0.416 OBP (milb.com) and ranked 45 with a 0.371 SLG (milb.com). Add to the fact that his ISO is ranked 46 with a 0.112 ISO and that his BB/K is ranked 7 with a 0.837 BB/K. This data shows that Ichiro doesn’t really hit for power, but can get on base and has plate discipline, just like Ichiro Suzuki. To be frank, the only thing concerning Ichiro is that he is not progressing through the Reds minor league system fast enough. Albeit he was picked up only last year by the Reds and has only played 42 games so far (FanGraphs). Give him at least 50 more games, and he will progress through the minor league system swiftly. Another thing to note is his organization, the Cincinnati Reds, have a decent and improving development team. As I have explained earlier in my last blog, the Reds recently striking gold with Elly de La Cruz show that they have the tools and the scouts to find prospects and turn them into superstars. So, the Reds may know what they are doing with Ichiro Cano Hernandez. Another thing to consider is the current 1st and 3rd baseman of the Cincinnati Reds. The current 3B and 1B for the Reds are Noelvi Marte and Spencer Steer, one is a capable and versatile veteran, and the other is a young slugging third baseman (mlb.com). Spencer Steer is on a one-year contract with the Reds, while Noevli Marte is also on a one-year deal (spotrac.com). Both Marte and Steer have been contributing solid stats for the Reds, and since they still are relatively young, assuming they continue their first half performance, entering the second half of the season, it is quite possible for the Reds to resign them. Of course, assuming Ichiro would continue to improve, Steer might more likely be the one replaced by Ichiro. All in all, Ichiro Cano Hernandez shares a lot of similar traits with Ichiro Suzuki, has a ton of potential and stats to back it up, and is in a good situation with the Reds. Add another one to the ‘BPR!’