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.

That said, it should also be noted that in cases where the collective enthusiasm regarding a player’s talent becomes very fevered — like how the enthusiasm collectively right now for Philadelphia third-base prospect Maikel Franco is very fevered, for example — that will likely affect said player’s likelihood of appearing among the Five, given that the purpose of the series, at some level, is to identify prospects who are demonstrating promise above what one might expect given their current reputations within the prospect community.

With that said, here are this week’s Fringe Five:

Ji-Man Choi, 1B, Seattle (Profile)
Of Choi, readers will first note probably that his given name (Ji-Man) holds many possibilities in the way of amusing sobriquets — or, perhaps just one amusing one that can used frequently. Upon further inspection, however, that same reader might note something more germane to Choi’s status as a ballplayer — namely that he (i.e. Choi) has precisely zero stats for 2011. “Whither Ji-Man?” the cry goes round — or did, one assumes, for the duration of that lonely season. “Rehabbing from a back injury,” appears to be the concise answer. Regardless of what happened two seasons ago, the present one (i.e. season) has been rather an excellent one for Choi. Beginning the year with High-A High Desert, Choi recorded walk and strikeout rates of 12.8% and 15.6%, respectively, while also hitting seven home runs in 211 plate appearances there. Following an early June promotion, the 22-year-old has been even more impressive with Double-A Jackson, posting a 14.1% walk and just 13.0% strikeout rate in nearly as many plate appearances (184), while hitting more home runs (eight) than in his Cal League stint while playing in a less robust park and league run environment.

Of Choi, here’s not particularly helpful footage of him hitting a grand slam at the end of July:

And here’s an animated GIF from that same video of Choi making merry at the conclusion of his home-run trot:

Choi Fake

Edwin Escobar, LHP, San Francisco (Profile)
After appearing thricely within the Next Five portion of this weekly column, the left-handed Escobar makes his debut here among the Five proper on the strength of an ever more impressive record at Double-A Richmond. After recording a 92:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 74.2 innings with San Jose of the High-A California League, Escobar has more or less preserved his rates following an early July promotion to his present Eastern League club, with whom he’s posted a a 32:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over five starts and 31.0 innings. Originally signed for $350 thousand out of Venezuela by Texas in 2008, Escobar was traded to San Francisco before the 2010 season in a relatively minor deal at the time. Still just 21, however, Escobar might very well become relevant at the major-league level at some point. According to Chris Martinez of Bay City Ball, Escobar sat in the low-90s during a mid-April start.

Stephen Piscotty, OF, St. Louis (Profile)
As Jeff Sullivan recently noted with regard to Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre, it’s not particularly common for hitters to make contact with great frequency (as does Beltre) while also demonstrating power on contact with great frequency (as does Beltre, also). While it’s unwise, probably, to draw very strong comparisons between an accomplished major leaguer and Double-A prospect, it’s also probably fair to say that Piscotty at least has the makings of both skills (again, if not to the extent that Beltre possesses them). After recording walk and strikeout rates of 6.8% and 10.2%, respectively, in 264 High-A plate appearances — and hitting nine home runs at that level — Piscotty has actually improved his rates following a mid-June promotion to the Double-A Texas League. The 22-year-old has posted a 10.5% walk and 8.4% strikeout rate in 95 plate appearances — and hit three home runs — for Springfield there. Physically, Piscotty is listed at 6-foot-3 and has a strong frame that appears capable of holding even more muscle.

Here’s footage from this season, courtesy Baseball Instinct, of Piscotty recording multiple plate appearances:

Danny Salazar, RHP, Cleveland (Profile)
Scheduled to start tonight (Wednesday) for Cleveland, Salazar spent the past week again with Triple-A Columbus, thus making him eligible — by the totally arbitrary rules drafted by the author — for this edition of the Five. Like nearly all of his appearances with Columbus, Salazar’s most recent appearance with Columbus was entirely impressive. Over 5.0 innings, the 23-year-old needed only 52 pitches to record an 8:0 strikeout-to-walk against 16 batters (box). At some point, even if he does return to the minors, it will be difficult to continue to designate Salazar as a fringe sort of prospect. For the moment, however, he merits more attention.

Marcus Semien, MI, Chicago AL (Profile)
After much consultation of this weekly column, one assumes — in which Semien has been a fixture all season — the Chicago White Sox finally relented this past week, condescending to promote the infielder to Charlotte of the International League. While the 22-year-old failed to scale the same heights in his first week of Triple-A ball as he had at Double-A, that was never likely to happen, on account of how conspicuously frenzied those same heights were. Semien performed ably enough, however, recording a 1:2 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 24 plate appearances. Despite having played shortstop and second base almost equally with Birmingham — and third base about half as often as either — Semien has started at shortstop exclusively with his new club, a fact which is perhaps significant, but also perhaps not.

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

Mookie Betts, 2B, Boston (High-A Carolina League)
Eddie Butler, RHP, Colorado (Double-A Texas League)
Ty Kelly, IF, Seattle (Triple-A Pacific Coast League)
Juan Oramas, LHP, San Diego (Double-A Texas League)
Danny Winkler, RHP, Colorado (High-A California 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 4 34
Marcus Semien White Sox SS 9 6 33
Danny Salazar Indians RHP 8 5 29
Wilmer Flores Mets 2B 8 3 27
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
Chad Bettis Rockies RHP 3 2 11
Robbie Ray Nationals LHP 3 2 11
Corban Joseph Yankees 2B 3 1 10
Matthew Bowman Mets RHP 3 1 10
Chase Anderson D-backs 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
Mookie Betts Red Sox 2B 2 1 7
Cody Martin Atlanta RHP 2 0 6
Edwin Escobar Giants RHP 1 3 6
Joc Pederson Dodgers OF 1 3 6
Ronald Torreyes Astros 2B 1 3 6
Stephen Piscotty Cardinals OF 1 3 6
Tim Cooney Cardinals LHP 1 3 6
Danny Winkler Rockies RHP 1 2 5
Eddie Butler Rockies RHP 1 1 4
Jose Ramirez Yankees RHP 1 1 4
Zach Walters Nationals SS 1 1 4
Ji-Man Choi Mariners 1B 1 0 3
Zachary Petrick Cardinals RHP 1 0 3
Brad Miller Mariners SS 0 2 2
Nolan Fontana Astros SS 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
Garin Cecchini Red Sox 3B 0 1 1
Greg Garcia Cardinals SS 0 1 1
John Murphy Yankees C 0 1 1
Josh Vitters Cubs 3B 0 1 1
Juan Oramas San Diego LHP 0 1 1
Nick Delmonico Brewers CIF 0 1 1
R.J. Seidel Brewers RHP 0 1 1
Ty Kelly Mariners IF 0 1 1





Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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Jeff
10 years ago

The fact that this post was not headlined by the news of Corey Kluber going to the DL absolutely shocks me. Will the Society meet in his absence, perhaps to correspond to the work of Mr. Salazar? Or will the Society be forced into some kind of moratorium? The level of existential crisis this may cause is horrifying.

mch38
10 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

How does a demi-god get hurt?

David
10 years ago
Reply to  mch38

He is so magnanimous that he is sitting himself down just to give Salazar a chance to earn his own glory!

danwatson19member
10 years ago
Reply to  mch38

Laying himself down on the alter is perhaps the only way to ignite the bats of Swisher and Cabrera. Quite the risky gambit.