Twelve of MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects made MLB Opening Day rosters for the 2019 season, including Appalachian League alums RHP Alex Reyes (St. Louis/ Johnson City Cardinals 2013), RHP Josh James (Houston/ Greeneville Astros 2014), and RHP Danny Jansen (Toronto/ Bluefield Blue Jays 2014).
Twelve of MLB Pipeline's Top 100 prospects made MLB Opening Day rosters for the 2019 season, including Appalachian League alums RHP Alex Reyes (St. Louis/ Johnson City Cardinals 2013), RHP Josh James (Houston/ Greeneville Astros 2014), and RHP Danny Jansen (Toronto/ Bluefield Blue Jays 2014).
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Are the tides turning?
This is perhaps the most aggressive teams have been in pushing top prospects to the Major Leagues in recent memory. In 2018, nine of MLB.com's Top 100 Prospects found themselves on Major League Opening Day rosters. This year -- when 28 of the game's 30 clubs will be playing their first games of the season on Thursday -- that number is up to 12, including three of the game's top four overall prospects. Two of the 2018 nine hadn't played in the Majors yet. One (Shohei Ohtani) had just been signed from Japan. The other (Scott Kingery) had signed a new contract to make it happen. This year's crop includes four who have yet to make their big league debuts, with Fernando Tatis Jr., Eloy Jiménez, Chris Paddack and Pete Alonso all getting the call for the first time. Of that quartet, only Jiménez signed a pre-arbitration contract, meaning the Padres and Mets were willing to put aside service-time clocks and potential free-agency worries to play their best players when they showed readiness.
Whatever the circumstances that brought them to The Show, these are the dozen Top-100 prospects slated to open the 2019 season where every player dreams of playing -- the Major Leagues.
No. 33, Alex Reyes, RHP, Cardinals: With 50 career innings pitched in the Majors, Reyes will no longer be a prospect after he next records an out on the game's biggest stage. Unfortunately, he's in that position after missing all of 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery and most of 2018 with a right lat strain. Back to full health, he'll open the season out of the St. Louis bullpen, in part so the club can monitor his innings. There's no doubt his stuff will play in the Majors. His fastball has hit triple digits in the past, and his curveball is quite the weapon. Add in a slider and changeup that can flash plus, and it's a nice pitching arsenal. That could lead to a career as a dominant late-inning option. However, the hope here is that Reyes proves healthy long enough to get at least one more look in the St. Louis rotation by season's end.
No. 62, Josh James, RHP, Astros: Houston's No. 4 prospect entered the spring as a contender for the fifth spot in the rotation. Plans changed when he suffered a quad strain in February, though manager A.J. Hinch said at the time he could still be a bullpen candidate if everything worked out the rest of the way. Apparently, everything did. James will indeed open the year as a reliever, with Brad Peacock taking the starting spot. That doesn't mean James might not get a rotation look further into the season. The 26-year-old righty can pitch in the upper 90s with his fastball while mixing in an above-average slider and a plus changeup -- a package that helped him fan 36.3 percent of the Minor League batters he faced as a starter last season. It would have been interesting to see how a healthy James could have competed with Peacock, but every relief outing he has will be another audition for that starting spot and will increase in importance as Forrest Whitley continues to exhibit Major League readiness.
No. 65, Danny Jansen, C, Blue Jays: At least one of the Blue Jays' Top-100 contingent is opening 2019 in the Majors. Jansen played 31 games for Toronto last season after getting called up on Aug. 12 and produced a .247/.347/.432 line with nine extra-base hits. That made the Jays comfortable enough to deal Russell Martin to the Dodgers, clearing room on the depth chart for their No. 3 prospect. The 23-year-old should open 2019 behind the plate, catching Marcus Stroman's first pitches of the season. Jansen has the chance to be an above-average hitter -- his 146 wRC+ was the highest by a Minor League catcher with at least 300 plate appearances in 2018 -- and at a time when the catching position features a dearth of good bats, he could be of even higher value to the Jays' rebuild efforts.
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Read the complete article from MiLB.com: Top prospects opening 2019 in the Majors
