One Night Only! (Roster Expansion Madness, NL Edish)

This edition of One Night Only continues what yesterday’s started — namely, as an attempt to catalog recently promoted players and inform the reader as to when said players might be seen.

As with yesterday’s installment, none of what follows ought to be regarded as official prospect mavening. Bryan Smith, just yesterday, wrote two pieces about our very newest Major Leaguers. As is typical, Smith’s work offers things like “information” and “analysis” — i.e. a pair of traits far beyond the purview of the present work.

Unlike yesterday’s post, this one previews not only a single night of games, but a long-weekend’s worth. For that reason, the reader will see three times listed after each match-up. These are the games times for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively.

For each series, I’ve included (a) the name, age, and position of each respective call-up, (b) said call-ups’ rankings both on Marc Hulet’s top-10 and Baseball America’s top-30 preseason organizational prospect lists, (c) the players’ lines at their most recent minor league stop, and (d) any notes relevant to better enjoying said players’ promotions.

An American League edition will appear in these pages around the noon hour today.

(wOBA+, or park-adjusted wOBA relative to league average, courtesy of StatCorner.)

New York at Chicago | 2:20pm, 1:05pm, 2:20pm
Mets
Mike Nickeas, 27, C
Hulet / BA: NR / NR
Line: 318 PA, .283/.403/.396 (.323 BABIP), .372 wOBA, 112 wOBA+ (Double-A)
Notes: Nickeas is technically getting called up from Triple-A Buffalo, but only had 26 PAs there. And though I’m sure he’s one of the nicest guys around, he very probably won’t end up on Kris Liakos’ list of the best Greek baseball players.

Notes on Lucas Duda available in yesterday’s edition.

Cubs
None.

Washington at Pittsburgh | 7:05pm, 7:05pm, 1:35pm
Nationals
Daniel Espinosa, 23, SS/2B
Hulet / BA: 4 / 5
Line: 108 PA, .295/.349/.463 (.338 BABIP), .345 wOBA, 104 wOBA+ (Triple-A)
Notes: Bryan Smith discussed Espinosa in these pages yesterday, suggesting that Espinosa would likely move to second base, with Ian Desmond sticking at short. Hulet’s preseason write-up of him includes the line, “Taking to the wood… has been good for Espinosa.” If you’re a male with an emotional age of 22 or under, that’s probably pretty hilarious.

Pirates
None.

Milwaukee at Philadelphia | 7:05pm, 7:05pm, 1:35pm
Brewers
Jeremy Jeffress, 22, RHP
Hulet / BA: NR / 21
Line: 14.1 IP, 9.42 K/9, 1.26 BB/9, 1.73 FIP (Triple-A)
Notes: As Smith noted yesterday, Jeffress has received two drug-related suspensions. The latter of those, 100 days, lasted till June of this year, which is the reason he’s only thrown 32.1 innings this season. Wisconsiner Jack Moore is excited about Jeffress’s velo, and so can you be.

Phillies
None.

Atlanta at Florida | 7:10pm, 7:10pm, 12:10pm
Braves
Notes on J.C. Boscan and Freddie Freeman available in yesterday’s edition.

Marlins
Chris Hatcher, 25, C
Hulet / BA: NR / NR
Line: 293 PA, .202/.261/.277 (.293 BABIP), .251 wOBA, 81 wOBA+ (Double-A)
Notes: Not entirely sure what his defensive reputation is, but I’m guessing it’s good, as his offensive numbers are pretty mediocre.

Cincinnati at St. Louis | 8:15pm, 4:10pm, 2:15pm
Reds
Yonder Alonso, 23, 1B/LF
Hulet / BA: 1 / 2
Line: 445 PA, .296/.355/.470 (.339 BABIP), .365 wOBA, 108 wOBA+ (Triple-A)
Notes: Has been rated 35th and 45th the last two years, respectively, on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list. Hulet rated him 47th overall this past March. When asked if he’d still rank Alonso in the same spot, Hulet responded, “Alonso’s value is down but not massively… He’s probably still a top-100 guy.”

Notes on Aroldis Chapman available in every single place on the internet.

Cardinals
None.

Houston at Arizona | 9:40pm, 8:10pm, 4:10pm
Astros
Brian Bogusevic, 26, OF
Hulet / BA: NR / 21
Line: 575 PA, .277/.364/.414 (.329 BABIP), .359 wOBA, 103 wOBA+ (Triple-A)
Notes: Awesome. Bogusevic was originally drafted as a left-handed pitcher with the 24th-overall pick in the 2005 draft. Unfortunately, he kinda bit. Luckily, he was also a good hitter in college (at Tulane) and so, in July of 2008, moved to the outfield. Survey says he may not be so bad there. His contact rate is slightly up from last season and he’s 23-of-24 on stolen base attempts.

Henry Villar, 23, RHP
Hulet / BA: NR / 27
Line: 102.0 IP, 6.00 K/9, 3.71 BB/9, 4.56 FIP (Double-A)
Notes: Villar has split time between starting and relieving this year. Per StatCorner, he’s had groundball rates in the 47%-50% area. Would have to cut walks to make rotation, likely, as he doesn’t feature swing-and-miss stuff.

Diamondbacks
None. (Although, yesterday, Bryan Smith discussed the recently recalled Brandon Allen a little bit. Allen had 116 PA last year. Additionally, he murdercated a Luke Gregerson offering two nights ago, and made a nice catch, too. Highlights of both available by clicking here.)

Colorado at San Diego | 10:05pm, 4:10pm, 4:05pm
Rockies
Notes on Christopher Nelson available in yesterday’s edition.

Padres
Cory Luebke, 25, LHP
Hulet / BA: 7 / 6
Line: 57.2 IP, 6.87 K/9, 2.65 BB/9, 3.91 FIP (Triple-A)
Notes: Luebke will actually start tonight’s (Friday’s) game. He also pitched 56.1 IP at Double-A San Antonio this year, posting a 2.84 FIP. Is distant relative of Officer Krupke from West Side Story. No joke.

San Francisco at Los Angeles | 10:10pm, 10:10pm, 8:05pm
Giants
Darren Ford, 24, CF
Hulet / BA: NR / 13
Line: 516 PA, .251/.315/.365 (.314 BABIP), .313 wOBA, 97 wOBA+ (Double-A)
Notes: Was 37-of-52 on stolen base opportunities at Richmond (home of the Flying Squirrels). Also, this is interesting, per BA’s Prospect Handbook: apparently, the Giants tried to turn Ford into a switch-hitter, beginning two falls ago. Apparently, they stopped the experiment last summer.

Dodgers
None.