Big League Debut: Beaty and Bishop Get the Call

Matt Beaty, UTIL - The Dodgers reached down into some of their depth at Triple-A and called up Matt Beaty. Beaty was a 12th-round pick out of Belmont in 2015. He’s been groomed as a utility man primarily playing first, third and left field and has also spent time at second base as he climbed through the minors. He has solid defensive skills at the infield corners, and a good enough arm to play third long-term if needed.

He’s here because he can hit though. Beaty was limited to just 31 games last season due to a torn thumb ligament in his thumb but owns a career minor league slash of .307/.366/.445 with gap-to-gap power, strong contact rates and above-average walk rates. He hasn’t hit lefties nearly as well as righties but the Dodgers do as good a job as anyone at putting their players in a position to succeed. The 26-year-old was ranked 29th on our Dodgers Top 30 list. He can be left on the wire in everything but those 30-teamers.

Braden Bishop, OF- Bishop actually made the roster for the Mariners Japan Series in the middle of March, but was sent down to Triple-A prior to stateside opening day. The 25-year-old centerfielder has moved slowly through the system after getting drafted in the third round after the University of Washington and hit Triple-A for the first time in 2019. Bishop ranked 13th on our Mariners top 30 prospect list.

He showed some increased power gains from 2017 to 2018 after more than doubling his career high in homers and increasing his fly ball distance by an average of 20 feet. He did so despite only playing in 84 games due to a broken hand so there’s something to these power gains. To take it a step further, Bishop has already hit three homers in Triple-A this year in only 21 games so there might be some more power being unlocked here. The concerning thing here is the stolen bases seemed to have evaporated. He stole 22 bags in 2017, but only attempted seven stolen bases last season. The Mariners sent Mallex Smith down to Tacoma and will rely on Bishop to play center later in games for Jay Bruce and will shift Mitch Haniger to right field. He’s one injury away from having real fantasy value, but until then Bishop can be left on the wire in all formats.