The Fringe Five: Baseball’s Most Compelling Fringe Prospects

The Fringe Five is a weekly exercise (introduced in April) wherein the author utilizes regressed stats, scouting reports, and also his own heart to identify and/or continue monitoring the most compelling fringe prospects in all of baseball.

Central to this exercise, of course, is a definition of the word fringe. The author recognizes that the word has different connotations for different sorts of readers. For the purposes of this column, however — and for reasons discussed more thoroughly in a recent edition of the Five — the author has considered eligible for the Five any prospect who was absent from all of three notable preseason top-100 prospect lists.

This week, the reader will find that two players retain their place among the Five — namely, very successful major-league debutant Danny Salazar of Cleveland and entirely promising White Sox infielder Marcus Semien.

Departing from the Five proper — largely because the author, not unlike a three-year old child, demands to be constantly surprised by new wonders — are third-base prospect Maikel Franco (Philadelphia), right-hander Cody Martin (Atlanta), and left-hander Robbie Ray (Washington).

Replacing that triumvirate are entirely able Futures Game participants Arismendy Alcantara (a shortstop in the Cubs system) and Eddie Butler (a right-hander in the Colorado one) — plus also left-handed St. Louis prospect Tim Cooney, who has been excellent of late.

Now, here are this week’s Fringe Five:

Arismendy Alcantara, MI, Chicago NL (Profile)
Would Alcantara appear here among the Fringe Five this week were he not to have hit an impressive second-level home run (video) on Sunday during the Futures Game? “Likely not,” is the present author’s answer to that question; however, that same author will point to how Alcantara has appeared previously among both the Fringe and Next Five. The author will also remark upon how (a) Alcantara’s defense-independent marks (389 PA, 13 HR, 38 BB, 85 K) suggest above-average offensive production, how (b) Alcantara remains quite young (21) for Double-A, and how also (c) he’s likely to continue occupying a place on the strong end of the defensive spectrum.

Eddie Butler, RHP, Colorado (Profile)
Relative to league — which, in this case, is the High-A California League — Butler’s defense-independent figures aren’t necessarily so impressive as some other pitchers who’re eligible for inclusion among the Five. That’s not to say his numbers are poor, of course: since his promotion to Modesto in mid-May, for example, Butler has recorded a 55:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 52.2 innings. Still, Butler’s appearance here this week has a lot more to do with his impressive inning in this past Sunday’s Futures Game at Citi Field, during the course of which the 22-year-old exhibited three plus pitches consecutively in the same at-bat — in this case, to very talented Boston prospect Xander Bogaerts.

Here’s Butler’s first pitch from that at-bat, a 97-mph fastball to Bogaerts:

Here’s Butler’s second pitch, a slider at 88 mph for a called strike:

And finally, for the strikeout, here’s Butler’s changeup at 90 mph and featuring considerable fade:

Tim Cooney, LHP, St. Louis (Profile)
The left-handed Cooney has now struck out more batters (67) over 63.2 innings in the Double-A Texas League this season than he did previously (66) in 90.2 innings between earlier this year and last at Low- and High-A. To what, precisely, does one attribute this sort of development? “I have no idea,” is the author’s most insightful answer. Still, the 22-year-old has been excellent of late at Springfield, having recorded strikeout and walk rates of 31.9% and 6.9%, respectively, over his last three starts (16.2 IP). Cooney’s velocity isn’t elite but has reached 93 mph in recent starts with Springfield, it seems.

With regard to he repertoire as a whole, Cooney’s most impressive offering appears to be his curveball — which pitch he’s captured throwing here, during his most recent start, to Yem Prades of Kansas City affiliate Tulsa:

And here also to the next batter in that game, Roman Hernandez:

Danny Salazar, RHP, Cleveland (Profile)
Since last week’s edition of the Five, Salazar has been promoted to the major leagues, made a start against Toronto during which he recorded a 1.93 xFIP while conceding just a single run (box), and then been optioned back to Triple-A Columbus. That last point is what makes him eligible once again this week — by the author’s completely arbitrary rules governing the matter — for the Five.

While Salazar’s strikeout figures continue to be superlative, of particular note during that brief appearance with Cleveland was his split-changeup, an example of which one can find here:

Marcus Semien, MI, Chicago AL (Profile)
There’s very possibly no minor leaguer right now who both (a) was absent from the preseason’s notable prospect lists and also (b) is producing so excellently at the moment relative to age and level and position as Semien. Since last week’s edition of the Five, the 22-year-old has recorded a 4:3 walk-to-strikeout ratio and home run in 22 plate appearances — and has now produced one of the Double-A Southern League’s most impressive regressed batting lines (per the author’s likely flawed methodology) even while doing most of his work afield on the more demanding end of the defensive spectrum.

Here’s what Semien looks like when he’s batting:

And here’s what Semien looks like when’s he’s batting and has had Paint.NET’s oil-painting effect applied to him:

The Next Five
These are players on whom the author might potentially become fixated.

Edwin Escobar, LHP, San Francisco (Double-A Eastern League)
Maikel Franco, 3B, Philadelphia (Double-A Eastern League)
Max Muncy, 1B, Oakland (Double-A Texas League)
JR Murphy, C, (Triple-A International League)
Stephen Piscotty, OF, St. Louis (Double-A Texas League)

Fringe Five Scoreboard
Here are all the players to have appeared among either the Fringe Five (FF) or Next Five (NF) so far this season. For mostly arbitrary reasons, players are assessed three points for each week they’ve appeared among the Fringe Five; a single point, for each week among the Next Five.

Name	Team	POS	FF	NF	PTS
Mike O’Neill	Cardinals	OF	10	2	32
Wilmer Flores	Mets	2B	8	3	27
Marcus Semien	White Sox	SS	6	6	24
Danny Salazar	Indians	RHP	5	5	20
Maikel Franco	Phillies	3B	6	1	19
Brian Flynn	Marlins	LHP	4	3	15
Rafael Montero	Mets	RHP	3	5	14
Burch Smith	Padres	RHP	4	1	13
Corban Joseph	Yankees	2B	3	1	10
Matthew Bowman	Mets	RHP	3	1	10
Robbie Ray	Nationals	LHP	3	1	10
Chase Anderson	Diamondbacks	RHP	2	2	8
Nick Kingham	Pirates	RHP	1	5	8
Arismendy Alcantara	Cubs	SS	2	1	7
Max Muncy	Athletics	1B	1	4	7
Cody Martin	Atlanta	RHP	2	0	6
Joc Pederson	Dodgers	OF	1	3	6
Ronald Torreyes	Astros	2B	1	3	6
Chad Bettis	Rockies	RHP	1	2	5
Jose Ramirez	Yankees	RHP	1	1	4
Tim Cooney	Cardinals	LHP	1	1	4
Zach Walters	Nationals	SS	1	1	4
Eddie Butler	Rockies	RHP	1	0	3
Brad Miller	Mariners	SS	0	2	2
Nolan Fontana	Astros	SS	0	2	2
Stephen Piscotty	Cardinals	OF	0	2	2
Taylor Lindsey	Angels	2B	0	2	2
Victor Payano	Rangers	LHP	0	2	2
Chris Heston	Giants	RHP	0	1	1
Clayton Blackburn	Giants	RHP	0	1	1
Edwin Escobar	Giants	LHP	0	1	1
Garin Cecchini	Red Sox	3B	0	1	1
Greg Garcia	Cardinals	SS	0	1	1
JR Murphy	Yankees	C	0	1	1
Nick Delmonico	Orioles	CIF	0	1	1
R.J. Seidel	Brewers	RHP	0	1	1