Many of the series I’ve seen during this tour of the Midwest League have been one or two-game samples. This week is a little different, I saw four games between these two teams. This is on top of the several games prior to this series that I’ve seen these two teams. There are some very fun prospects that took the field during this series, including Denzel Clarke, Max Muncy, Jace, Jung, and Izaac Pacheco, among others.
Denzel Clarke, OF (OAK)
Ready for a hot take right out of the gate? I’m convinced that Denzel Clarke is a top 100 prospect in baseball. For starters, he’s a plus defender in the outfield. His first step is amazing, and his routes are incredibly efficient. His speed plays well out there, too. Clarke is an easy plus runner, if not double plus. That speed plays on the offensive side of things too. He has plus raw power that plays average in games right now because of his hit tool, but he shows signs of getting to all that power in game. When he barrels a ball, it’s loud contact both in terms of exit velocity and the sheer sound it makes off the bat. The biggest question for Clarke will be his hit tool. I’ve seen a total of 8 games worth of at bats from Clarke, and there are certain signs his hit tool will play. He can recognize offspeed out of the hand well. He doesn’t chase very often, though he can be susceptible to good breaking balls away. When he does recognize offspeed he has a tendency to get out on his front foot and try to fight it off. He’s mostly a dead red fastball hitter who shows the skills necessary to be able to hit other pitches. Simply put, this guy is electric. He hit two inside-the-park home runs in this series, and crushed one out of the park. Clarke makes things happen.
Izaac Pacheco, 3B (DET)
Pacheco was a late entrant to the team. He played only two games during this series, but they were two impressive games. At the High-A level, the good players will make themselves known. Pacheco announced that he was a dude almost immediately. He was the youngest player on the field, but he was so comfortable at the plate. His feel to hit was obvious, and he commanded the zone really well. Those are two great skills. His hands and power were on display, too. His first hit at the level was a homerun to the opposite field. There’s a lot of juice in this bat and his feel to hit helps the power play in game. He played third and he was a lot better than anticipated. He has soft hands on the infielder and quick reactions at the corner. There’s still room to grow on the big frame, so the worry is that he’ll outgrow the position. If he does, he might wind up at first base. That’s something to monitor, but he’s got the skills and arm to stay at third base long term. He’s a guy who should be ranked in the top 5 Tigers prospects, even top 3. He absolutely has top 100 potential.
Max Muncy, SS (OAK)
Only Pacheco was younger than Muncy and the young guys were some of the best out there. Muncy comes with first-round pedigree and you can see why. His feel to hit at the plate is exceptional. He was never overmatched at the plate, showing great hand-eye coordination. His bat will play, showing good gap power for extra base hits. Defensively he moves well at shortstop and shows the arm to make plays while on the move. When he has time, however, things can go awry. There was one game where he overthrew the first baseman on a routine play and things started to spiral a bit for him. Overall he was pretty solid a shortstop. There’s a chance he’s a long term second baseman if he continues to struggle with balls right at him.
Jace Jung, 2B (DET)
The Tigers first-round pick made his professional debut during this series, playing two games and collecting one hit through eight chances. There was a definite feel of rust with Jung. He was late on basically everything and seemed pretty overmatched at the plate. That’s to be expected after not playing for awhile in between the end of his college season and the debut of his professional season. His weird set up is very pronounced live, but he still gets to all the positions. He has plenty of bat speed so the power should start to play once he gets back in the groove of baseball. By this point the stat lines are already more favorable. Defensively the question is where Jung will play. The Whitecaps had him at second base and he did a good job. He moved pretty well and he showed the arm strength to make the throws. There was one double play where the feed from the shortstop put Jung in a non-ideal position to throw, he still made the play with a quick arm and accurate toss to first base. He should be able to handle that position long term if the bat plays.
Joey Estes, RHP (OAK)
This is my second look at Estes and my opinion completely changed from the first. The first I walked away worried about his late arm and the difficulty he may have repeating the delivery. That would still be true for most pitchers, but Estes has a very quick arm and stays closed for a long time, which neutralizes that worry. His 92-94 MPH fastball still plays well in the zone, and his 79-84 MPH slider plays well to righties. I got a look at his 82-84 MPH changeup in this start and it appeared flat. It flashed some movement at times, though it was inconsistent. With his slider being sweepy rather than having depth, the changeup will have to be on or Estes may have issues getting lefties out. That’s because the horizontal shape of the slider will break right into the path of left-handed bats. He’s still really young and very talented. Those are generally ingredients you can bet on, but the changeup development will be important.
Keider Montero, RHP (DET)
After two other live looks before this and countless stream watches, I had kind of decided Montero was a future reliever at best. This outing is the fastest I’ve changed my mind about a player. Even if it was just a flash, it was a really good flash that showed his starter upside. He’s always had a decent fastball, in the 93-95 MPH range in this start. But what really changed my mind is that he usually works with that fastball and a big mid-80’s curveball that has high spin. In this start he had both of those and he was commanding them, which opened up an entire five-pitch arsenal that he commanded. On top of the 4-seam fastball, he threw a 2-seam fastball in the low-90’s, a cutter from 89-90 MPH, a mid-80’s changeup, and of course the big curveball. The fact that he was throwing all of these pitches in the strike zone was an eye opening experience. Montero was avoiding the middle of the plate, but he still wasn’t getting many whiffs. His sequencing and feel to pitch are still works in progress. As that improves, the Tigers might just have a starter on their hands.
Cooper Bowman, 2B (OAK)
After being traded to the Athletics at the trade deadline, this was Bowman’s first series in Lansing. There’s some interesting aspects to his game. He has quick hands and showed the ability to turn on the inside pitch with some power. Bowman hit a few balls that got out of the park in a hurry. However in this series he did not have as much success with pitches on the outer half. His hands were decent enough, though, that he should be able to handle those. The power may be limited to his pull side. He did a good job at second base. He reacted well and moved well. In my looks he did have trouble making plays to his right. There were a couple chances that way and he struggled on both. He makes the throws, though his arm path is a little long. Overall, he is probably limited to second base with pressure on him to hit.
Ty Madden, RHP (DET)
This was Madden’s last start in High-A before being promoted. It was an interesting experience. His fastball was mostly 91-93 MPH and he touched 96 MPH once. He showed a good slider at 83-85 MPH and a distinct curveball between 73-77 MPH. The secondaries looked decent enough to play, but his fastball was not as good as it lacked the ability to induce whiffs. Madden has given up hard contact all year on that fastball, but they’ve been warning track flyouts. As the hitters get better, those fly balls will likely turn into homeruns. He’ll have to find a way to improve this fastball through sequencing, command, or shape or it will be a tough time for Madden to try and make the big leagues.
Shane McGuire, C/1B (OAK)
Right when his brother Reese got traded to Boston, Shane was promoted from Single-A to High-A. Shane is technically a catcher, though he was played only first base and DH during this series. His bat is the story of his profile. He hits well, turning on pitches, waiting on them, and driving them really well. McGuire has quick hands at the plate that help him spray the ball around the yard. The one catch is that he looks lost as soon has a same-handed pitcher (lefty) takes the mound. He goes from an impressive approach to being blown away once a southpaw toes the rubber. He may just be a platoon bat in the higher levels because of that.