The Minors Are Back in a Major Way

When Mario Feliciano made his major league debut last weekend, it was unlikely for a number of reasons. That’s not to say that Feliciano is a nobody: The hard-hitting catcher was the MVP of the Carolina League in 2019 and has been highly ranked by multiple outlets for some time now. But prior to the 2021 season, he had barely played above A-ball, having spent most of 2019 as a member of the Carolina Mudcats, then a high-A affiliate of the Brewers, before earning a late-season promotion to the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers, where he played in only three games. But when Omar Narváez was placed on the injured list on May 1, Feliciano was called up from the Brewers’ alternate site to replace the ailing backup catcher on the roster, though his call-up seemed unlikely to lead to playing time, barring unforeseen circumstances.

You know where this is going. Those unforeseen circumstances arrived in the form of an extra-inning game against the Dodgers, when Milwaukee called upon Feliciano, the only remaining player on the bench, to pinch hit in the pitchers slot in bottom of the 11th inning. Down by two with runners on first and second, Feliciano fouled off a couple of good pitches and laid off some close ones out of the zone, drawing the count full before walking to load the bases and eventually scoring the winning run on a walk-off single by Travis Shaw three batters later.

But that unlikely appearance meant that Feliciano’s MLB debut preceded his first game in Triple A by three days. And while a mid-week matchup between the Nashville Sounds and the Toledo Mud Hens may seem much less exciting than an 11th-inning at-bat against the reigning World Series champions, Feliciano’s Triple A opener was arguably steeped in more anticipation and intrigue. On the mound that night for the Mud Hens was Matt Manning, a Top 100 prospect who has earned future-of-the-franchise fanfare of his own. Indeed, this game represented the return of one of the aspects of the minors most sorely missed during the nearly 600 days since the end of the 2019 MiLB season: a glimpse into baseball’s future.

Manning and Feliciano faced off twice in the game, with dramatic results both times. In the top of the second, Manning froze Feliciano on a 2–2 fastball at the knees for a called strike three. But the catcher answered in his next at-bat, smashing a first-pitch breaking ball over the wall in right for an opposite-field home run in the fourth.

Manning had left the game by the time Feliciano came up to bat again, but thanks to another 2021-specific change, we might not have to wait long before we see these two prospects go head-to-head once again. To cut down on travel, this season’s minor league schedule features six-game series, with every Monday as a designated league-wide travel day. That schedule change places a greater emphasis placed on a player’s ability to adapt to their opponent over the course of a full week. (It also meant that Manning started against the Sounds again on Sunday.)

Feliciano-Manning wasn’t the only clash to watch in the first few days of the season. The most hotly anticipated matchup of the week was undoubtedly MacKenzie Gore versus Jarred Kelenic. Even with some recent skepticism about Gore’s struggles to harness his command, you’d be hard-pressed to find a prospect list that doesn’t include both San Diego’s high-kicking southpaw and Seattle’s up-and-coming outfielder in its top 10 (like ours, where the former ranked second and the latter fifth). And on Friday night, the two young prospects squared off in three at-bats at sparsely attended Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington.

Though not as explosive as the Feliciano-Manning bout, Kelenic’s plate appearances against Gore (a single, a lineout, and a walk) gave viewers an idea of where each player was in his progression towards the majors. Padres fans saw a solid four innings from Gore before his command issues emerged on his third time through the Tacoma lineup. Meanwhile, Seattle fans tuning in for a Kelenic check-in didn’t get the fireworks he’d provided the night before, when he homered twice in his Triple A debut. But his mature approach against Gore, a more imposing mound presence than the arms Kelenic had triumphed over in Thursday’s game, should be reassuring all the same.

But far be it from me to withhold those fireworks from you. Here’s how Kelenic started what is likely to be a short Triple A stint:

Several other players also wasted no time reminding us what we’ve been missing. Of the 54 position players listed in our Top 100 Prospects list who started their season in the minors, 19 of them have already hit at least one home run in the first five days of the season. It’s far too soon to make assumptions about these players quite yet, so instead of reading too far into these early games, let’s just appreciate some of the dingers that have been dinged in the first few games of the season, starting with some of the more recognizable names.

Wander Franco didn’t homer in his first Triple A game, instead showcasing his 80-grade hit tool with a triple and two singles on the night. In his second game of the season, however, the best prospect in baseball launched one out against Memphis lefty Austin Warner:

Adley Rutschman didn’t get off to quite the same explosive offensive start as Franco, striking out three times in a hitless Double-A debut with the Bowie Baysox, but on Thursday, he belted an opposite-field bomb over the wall in left-center for his first homer since 2019:

Rutschman’s assignment is widely viewed as an appropriate starting point for the catcher, who is likely to move quickly through the Orioles’ system. Conversely, when it was announced that Riley Greene would skip A-ball and instead start the season with Detroit’s Double-A affiliate, that may have seemed aggressive for a high school hitter. But the Tigers, who had him at their alternate site in 2020, were confident in his beautiful swing and mature approach, and that confidence was no doubt buoyed by his six hits in spring training, including a double with a 115.8-mph exit velocity.

In his second game of the season, Greene did his best to quiet the remaining naysayers with a ninth-inning grand slam against the Reading Fightin Phils:

Unfortunately, A-ball video is harder to come by, which is a shame, as it deprives us of the chance to see how some 2020 draftees are adapting to their new surroundings. Nick Gonzales and Robert Hassell III, who went back-to-back as the seventh and eighth picks in the 2020 draft, have both tallied their first notches in the home run column for their professional careers (Hassell’s done so twice already). But even if we can’t watch these lower levels, some low-A games are played in stadiums where Statcast data is available. So while we couldn’t see Mets prospect Francisco Álvarez’s two-hit Friday night against the Jupiter Hammerheads, we do know that his double and his homer, as well as his lineout to left, all came off his bat at more than 100 mph.

That’s not to say that there are no televised A-ball games, and I’m not in the business of leaving you hanging. Here’s a look at Gunnar Henderson’s first 2021 home run for the Delmarva Shorebirds, the Orioles’ low-A affiliate:

It’s great to have minor league baseball back, even if it’s a little late and looks a bit wonky. And while the start of every MiLB season inspires questions about what impact the players on the field may have on their respective franchises, this year brings with it a unique batch of questions about what strides they were able to make — whether at their clubs’ alternate sites or elsewhere — without a 2020 season. Less than a week into the season, it seems clear that many of these prospects are all too eager to remind us just what we’ve been missing.