Daily Prospect Notes: 5/11/21

These are notes on prospects from lead prospect analyst Eric Longenhagen. Read previous installments here.

Bryce Johnson, CF, San Francisco Giants
Level & Affiliate: Triple-A Sacramento  Age: 25   Org Rank: NR   FV: 35
Line: 5-for-5, 2 2B

Notes
Johnson was a 2017 sixth round pick out of Sam Houston State, his draft stock driven by his above-average speed, terrific baseball frame, and feel for the strike zone. His career .271/.358/.361 line in the minors perfectly illustrates his offensive skillset and flaws. He’s the sort of hitter who can be a bench outfielder if he can play a dynamic center field, where Johnson is closer to average. While the hitting environment in Las Vegas (where Sacramento spent their first six games) likely aided Johnson’s incredible start to the year (.684/.727/1.263 with five multi-hit games in six days), his swing is clearly different now than it was in 2019, so maybe he will actually hit for some more power now. His stride is quite a bit longer now than it was when we last saw him and the bigger move forward has made his swing a little more athletic. Johnson’s back foot is coming off the ground close to the time of contact, not something you’d see with his last swing’s more conservative footwork. It’s too early to re-evaluate an older hitter like this, and even if this change proves to be meaningful, Johnson is still probably just a bench player, but it might be the difference between him getting a cup of coffee at some point or not.

@genericaccount pic.twitter.com/5snKXoNdlJ

— FanGraphs Prospects (@FG_Prospects) May 11, 2021

Ivan Castillo, 2B, San Diego Padres
Level & Affiliate: Triple-A El Paso  Age: 25   Org Rank: TBD   FV: 35+
Line: 3-for-4, SB

Notes
It’ll be unsurprising to our readers that Castillo, a 5-foot-9, switch-hitting Dominican infielder, originally signed with Cleveland (which has a near-monopoly on little switch bats) all the way back in 2011. The Blue Jays popped him in the Triple-A phase of the 2017 minor league Rule 5 draft, then he signed with San Diego as a minor league free agent the following offseason. The whole while Castillo has run impressive strikeout rates (14% career rate) even though he has a tendency to expand the zone and swing at balls. He can move the bat head around the zone really well but he’s at his best swinging at low pitches from the left side. I like him as upper-level depth in case of injury and he might get a longer big league look from a rebuilding club because of his statistical track record.

Yonny Hernandez, 2B, Texas Rangers
Level & Affiliate: Triple-A Round Rock  Age: 23   Org Rank: TBD   FV: 40
Line: 3-for-5, SB

Notes
Here is yet another upper-level middle infielder whose short levers and feel for contact have helped push him up the minor league ladder. Skilled and versatile, Hernandez is a likely big league role player whose abilities can impact a game in many situations. He’s tough to strike out and has reached base at a career .390 clip because he walks a lot and has an effective slash-and-dash offensive approach. He’s also an acrobatic multi-positional infielder with a lot of experience at both middle infield spots and a little bit at third base and left field. Hernandez will give a big league team a good at-bat off the bench and an upgrade on the bases, and he can competently spell or sub for any of your bat-first infielders later in games.

Luis Frias, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks
Level & Affiliate: Hi-A Hillsboro  Age: 22   Org Rank: 15   FV: 40+
Line: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 9 K

Notes
I still have Frias on the relief end of the pitching spectrum (though probably in higher leverage situations) because he just tries to bully hitters with velo in the zone rather than actually pitch. His delivery is a little different now than in the video below but it doesn’t seem to have helped Frias’ command level up. His leg kick is more abbreviated and almost looks like he’s quick-pitching the batter, but it’s just his normal tempo now.