With the shortened season and limited days off, taxi squads will provide immense benefit to major league ball clubs. Each team will have a “taxi squad” consisting of 30 players who do not make the Opening Day roster, but are eligible for action at any point throughout the season.
Many of the players in these pools are 2020 draftees who are solely there to get practice reps and some are veterans that remain available in the event of an injury. But some are primed, ready to go, future MLB All-Stars who are reaping the benefits of taxi squads more than anyone else.
Here is a look at five young promising players that will benefit the most from the player pool:
Aristides Aquino - OF/DH, Cincinnati Reds
Aquino showed Reds fans his ceiling last August when he burst on the scene, blasting 14 home runs in 28 games and tying Hall of Famer Frank Robinson and Greg Vaughn’s franchise record for long balls in a single month.
However, Aquino fell back to Earth in September and October after his historic month. The 25-year-old outfielder was only able to muster an anemic slash line of .196/.236/.328 across the final two months. The combination of his measly offensive numbers with the additions of Nick Castellanos and Japanese signee Shogo Akiyama left Aquino as the odd man out.
However, with MLB allowing 30 men to break camp with the major league ball clubs and 30 more to be available for in game action, the door has been reopened for Aristides Aquino in 2020.
With the addition of the DH in the National League, Aquino will have the chance to prove that his stellar month of August was no fluke. Here is how: Newly acquired slugger, Nick Castellanos, is a defensive liability. He very well may find himself being sheltered from his defensive woes, serving as the club’s designated hitter. The DH also gives manager David Bell and other NL skippers more freedom to manipulate their lineup and rest their sluggers more consistently.
With Castellanos serving as the DH, we could see Bell deploy the platoon of left-handed hitting Jesse Winker and right-handed hitting Nick Senzel on most nights, until one of the outfielders proves to be consistent. This inevitably leaves a corner outfield spot open for Aristides Aquino.
Jo Adell- OF, Los Angeles Angels
Jo Adell has been climbing prospect boards since he was 18-years-old and was a frequent fixture in the top five of 2019 rankings. The number three prospect in our Top 100, Jo Adell is ready to join the outfield of Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. The 21-year-old is coming off a minor league season where he slashed .289/.359/.475 across three levels including 131 plate appearances in Triple-A.
Adell has the speed to patrol center field, but with Mike Trout already holding it down, Adell is seemingly destined for a corner outfield spot in LA. A potential five-tool threat in the big leagues, Adell has the arm to man a corner outfield spot and has the ability to chase down balls in gaps. As a run producer with plus power, his offensive profile is best suited for a corner outfield spot as well. The only stain on Adell’s profile is his lack of bat to ball skills. The young Kentuckian still swings and misses at a 25 percent clip.
With the Angels looking to get Mike Trout back to the playoffs, you can expect Jo Adell to appear in a significant number of games as new skipper Joe Maddon will deploy his best nine every night.
There is even a scenario where Jo Adell takes over Mike Trout’s job this season. I bet that was not a sentence you expected to read this year. But it’s true! Mike Trout’s wife, Jessica, is pregnant with their first child. And Trout has not been shy about voicing his opinion about the circumstances of the season. The Angels superstar has made it very clear that if at any time he does not feel safe, he will opt out of the season. With Trout sidelined, the Angels would be desperate to replace his production. The young Jo Adell is the most suited reserve on the Angels’s roster to potentially be able to match the unmatchable offensive and defensive production of Mike Trout.
Luckily for Adell, he will have the chance to bludgeon the weak pitching on the west coast in his first major league season. Even if Mike Trout does not opt out, the lack of production from Brian Goodwin and the scarcity of pop and inability of David Fletcher to put the bat on the ball, could net the 21-year-old a starting job before too long.
Jake Cronenworth - OF, San Diego Padres
Much like the Los Angeles Angels, the San Diego Padres are on the cusp of being a playoff team. With some top tier MLB talent and some outstanding young guns, AJ Preller and the Padres are looking to put it all together in the shortened season and make a run.
With the expanded rosters and 60-game sprint to the postseason, there is a solid chance that we see the top ranked pitching prospect in the game, McKenzie Gore, lock down a rotation spot in San Diego.
However, with the player pool being available to ball clubs, a lesser known Padres’s prospect will quietly reap the benefits.
Already on the fence to make the roster out of Spring Training 1.0, Jake Cronenworth now becomes a lock for MLB plate appearances. The left-handed hitting Cronenworth does have some competition for the utility role with the big club, however. He has to leapfrog the likes of former top prospect Jurikson Profar, Ty France, Greg Garcia, and maybe even newly acquired Jorge Mateo. However, with his ability to play anywhere on the diamond and his plus-plus bat to ball skills from the left side, the new Padre should force himself into the lineup on most nights – particularly against right-handed pitchers.
The crafty utility man posted a .334 batting average for the Durham Bulls in 2019 before being shipped over to San Diego in the Tommy Pham trade. While he does not possess the same pop as former Padres’s top prospect, Fernando Tatis Jr., Cronenworth does have the ability to run into 10-15 long balls a year.
The combination of his versatility, left-handed stroke, and elite bat to ball skills will aid Jake Cronenworth in earning close to 200 plate appearances this year.
Jarred Kelenic- OF, Seattle Mariners
In the past, the Seattle Mariners have been far from shy about exposing their top prospects to the bright lights rather quickly. Now, they have the chance to do more of the same with Jarred Kelenic.
The Wisconsin native showed flashes of superstardom last year posting a 20-20 campaign in his first year in pro-ball. The 20-year-old has been called big league ready by a number of scouts and it was rumored that we could see Kelenic in The Show before the Mets faced off against the Mariners this summer.
Although that series in New York is obviously not happening, Kelenic will still have the opportunity to make Mets fans bite their tongues in 2020. The former first round pick has a strong chance to see significant time at the majors for a couple of reasons. First is that the Seattle outfield isn't hard to crack. Roster Resources has Jake Fraley listed in left field, but the rookie could only muster six hits in 40 at-bats in his debut last season. Similarly, Kyle Lewis is slotted as the starting right fielder, but has struggled mightily with the strikeouts since his debut, posting a woeful 38% strikeout rate. While both are young and deserve a chance, how long can the Mariners withstand this poor of performance in a 60-game season? Kelenic needs legitimate development and has proven he has skills beyond his age. A scenario where he's up after two weeks to replace a struggling outfielder is very likely.
Hopefully we see Kelenic’s counterpart, Julio Rodriguez, in Seattle with him at some point this year, but the 19-year-old may still be a bit off.
Regardless, future All-Star Jarred Kelenic should have some major league plate appearances under his belt before the 2021 season.
Logan Gilbert - RHP, Seattle Mariners
Sticking with the Mariners, another top 100 prospect that we could see out of camp with the big club is right-hander Logan Gilbert.
Gilbert shot up prospect boards last year after absolutely dominating competition across three levels in his first professional season. Standing at 6-foot-6, the big right-hander has a blazing fastball topping out at 97 mph that he complements with a plus slider and an average curve and changeup combo. Perhaps most notably, however, the green Gilbert has already shown that he can command all four of his pitches exceptionally well, walking only 2.2 BB/9 innings in his first full season.
The Mariners will presumably not be making a playoff appearance this season, but there is no harm in exposing guys like Gilbert and Kelenic to major league competition, particularly with no minor league season. The right-hander already appears to be on the fast track to the big leagues. A year with no in game competition for Gilbert would set the former first round pick back in a big way.
The Mariners have a five-year plan for success that might actually be more of a two-year plan. They have been rapidly building their farm system over the last few seasons with the additions of Justin Dunn, Justus Sheffield, Julio Rodriguez, Jarred Kelenic, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert. All of whom we can expect to see in the big leagues before Opening Day 2022.
Two of the Mariners current staff members are not a part of this future success plan, Taijuan Walker and Kendall Graveman. The right-handers are both coming off of injury plagued seasons and were brought in as cheap roster fillers. It is for that reason that the Mariners will not be chomping at the bit to get them on the bump this season. Those innings are much better served going to the development of Logan Gilbert and George Kirby.
Even if Gilbert does not crack the rotation this year, we could see him bolster a weak Seattle bullpen in 2020 before bringing front of the rotation potential into the 2021 season.