Agustin Ramirez is a minor leaguer again. It’s an outcome no one foresaw, but alas, it’s happened.
The question in Fantasy, then, is whether to drop or stash, and while he’s obviously not a prospect anymore, it’s at least somewhat fitting to address it in an article that regularly comments on the stashability of minor leaguers.
And as minor leaguers go, one would think Ramirez is more stashable than the actual prospects. With as hard as he impacts the ball, along with his ability to draw walks and steal bases, he probably has the most upside of any hitter in the Marlins organization. Most likely, then, his demotion was just a measure to get his bat going, and it may only take the minimum 10 days, even before he returns.
But that’s not what the Marlins are saying. The demotion, according to them, is about getting Ramirez right behind the plate.
“You’re going to go down to Triple-A, and you’re going to continue to catch,” manager Clayton McCullough stated. “That part of his game needs to continue to improve to be able to catch up here for us. That was the main thing.”
Here’s the problem with that: Ramirez was never right behind the plate. He probably never will be. And seeing as the Marlins swapped him out with a defensive specialist in Joe Mack (and have another catcher who’s hitting well in Liam Hicks), it seems ridiculous to hold Ramirez to that standard. Have him play DH or learn first base. Have Hicks play the other. Don’t hold back the bat for the sake of a defensive pipe dream.
Perhaps the Marlins will eventually come around to that way of thinking, but until they do, it’s hard to be hopeful about Ramirez’s timetable.
Fortunately, they are at least giving us reason for hope with another one of their minor leaguers …
FIVE ON THE VERGE
(Here are the prospects most worth stashing in redraft leagues.)
Robby Snelling, SP, Marlins
2025 minors: 9-7, 2.51 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 136 IP, 39 BB, 166 K
2026 minors: 3-1, 1.86 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 29 IP, 15 BB, 44 K
Yes, Robby Snelling looks to be the replacement for Chris Paddack, who the Marlins designated for assignment Tuesday. It could have been Braxton Garrett instead, who has the advantage of being on the 40-man roster already, but the Marlins allowed him to take his regular turn Tuesday, even knowing they had an opening Friday.
Snelling has been, in many ways, excellent at Triple-A. His recent start, Friday, saw him strike out nine over five no-hit innings, and his 44 strikeouts are tied for the minor league lead. But he’s come about them in an unusual way. He’s not actually generating many whiffs. His 10.2 percent swinging-strike rate would be substandard against major league hitters, much less their Triple-A counterparts. With a heavy reliance on just two pitches, his fastball and curveball combining for about 85 percent use, he may find that major league hitters are less confounded by which pitches to swing at and which to take. Throwing strikes has also been an issue for Snelling this year, given his 4.7 BB/9.
Still, the left-hander has made a combined 17 starts at Triple-A now between this year and last and has put together a 1.46 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, and 12.1 K/9 between them. Perhaps the analysis doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that. The need for another quality pitcher is unending in all Fantasy formats, so of course, you roll the dice on rostering Snelling if you have a chance. I’m just saying that if it turns out he’s not an immediate success (as could be true of any prospect call-up), I’ll understand why.
Noelvi Marte, OF, Reds
2025 majors: .263 BA (339 AB), 14 HR, 10 SB, .748 OPS, 16 BB, 85 K
2026 majors: .138 BA (29 AB), 0 HR, 1 SB, .331 OPS, 2 BB, 10 K
2026 minors: .397 BA (63 AB), 3 HR, 8 SB, 1.114 OPS, 10 BB, 10 K
Noelvi Marte (not a prospect anymore, I know) continues to kill it at Triple-A, hitting every hittable pitch and running with reckless abandon. He’s clearly too good for the level, which shouldn’t be so surprising given that he’s already tasted success in the majors. What may be surprising, though, is that the Reds haven’t called him back up yet. Partly that’s because they’re still trying to figure out where he best fits defensively. Partly that’s because JJ Bleday has been performing so well. Partly that’s because they don’t actually trust Marte’s Triple-A production.
“It’s more about the process,” general manager Meador told independent journalist Charlie Goldsmith. “As we’ve seen, there’s a big gap right now between what’s happening in Triple-A and what’s happening in the big leagues. We’ve seen it with a few of our guys. You’re hitting breaking balls off the plate; that doesn’t work here. It’s more than what his numbers look like.”
He has a point there. The gap between Triple-A and the majors is about as big as it’s ever been, and the Reds probably have more sophisticated ways of measuring growth than by pure production. Still, there’s a reason why you don’t see a bunch of Triple-A players hitting .400 with a 1.100 OPS. There comes a point when such players need to be challenged again, and I would guess that point for Marte is sooner rather than later.
Kade Anderson, SP, Mariners
2026 minors: 2-0, 0.37 ERA, 0.70 WHIP, 24 1/3 IP, 4 BB, 38 K
Proximity has little to do with this pick. The Mariners are going to have a hard enough time finding room for Bryce Miller in their rotation once he’s activated from the IL later this month, so adding Kade Anderson as well is probably not something they’re prepared to think about. But how long is that going to last? The modern reality for starting rotations is that the next opening is no more than weeks away, and by the time a second opening comes for Anderson, it should be abundantly clear to everyone that he has nothing more to accomplish in the minors.
Shoot, it may already be. He was billed as a near-finished product coming out of LSU last year and has been as close to flawless as a pitcher can be in his five starts at Double-A. You might presume he won’t be up until he’s thoroughly mastered Triple-A as well, but I made that mistake with Chase Burns last year and left him out of the Five on the Verge for too long. He ended up making only two Triple-A starts prior to his promotion. Meanwhile, the Mariners have been known to let some of their best pitching prospects skip Triple-A entirely, given how hitter-friendly the Pacific Coast League can be, with Bryan Woo and Miller himself being notable examples. It won’t be happening tomorrow for Anderson, but you won’t want to be caught by surprise when it does.
A.J. Ewing, OF, Mets
2025 minors: .315 BA (485 AB), 3 HR, 70 SB, .830 OPS, 68 BB, 105 K
2026 minors: .375 BA (88 AB), 2 HR, 16 SB, 1.054 OPS, 20 BB, 18 K
Just a week ago, I was celebrating A.J. Ewing’s arrival at Triple-A in my Five on the Periphery. All he’s done since reaching that level is hit .440 (11 for 25) while stealing four bases in seven games. The little bit of Statcast data we’ve been treated to confirms why he’s such a good hitter. He doesn’t chase pitches out of the zone and doesn’t miss on pitches in the zone. He hits the ball on a line regularly and is comfortable going to the opposite field. The base-stealing, meanwhile, speaks for itself. Ewing is the prototypical leadoff man at a time when those are making a comeback (even if they tend to hit lower in the lineup now). The moribund Mets lineup could certainly use a spark plug like him, especially with Tyrone Taylor having to fill in for Luis Robert in center.
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Diamondbacks
2025 minors: .289 BA (484 AB), 18 HR, 29 SB, .892 OPS, 96 BB, 106 K
2026 minors: .285 BA (123 AB), 3 HR, 6 SB, .880 OPS, 19 BB, 37 K
Does Ryan Waldschmidt really deserve to claim this fifth spot? Well, if he ends up missing time with a concussion after getting hit by a pitch in the head Tuesday, the answer is certainly no (early indicators there are promising, though). Even if he doesn’t, he’s more here by process of elimination. Charlie Condon has fallen into a deep funk that takes him out of the running. Max Clark seemed like a hard no for the Tigers even before his recent skid. Thomas White and Hagen Smith are both missing bats at a nice rate, but not pitching particularly well otherwise. Waldschmidt at least has a good slash line (.285/.400/.480) and an easy path to playing time if the Diamondbacks would only give up on Alek Thomas (which they should).
FIVE ON THE PERIPHERY
(Here are some other prospects doing something of note.)
Spencer Jones, OF, Yankees
2025 minors: .274 BA (438 AB), 35 HR, 29 SB, .933 OPS, 58 BB, 179 K
2026 minors: .261 BA (115 AB), 11 HR, 7 SB, .968 OPS, 17 BB, 44 K
Spencer Jones continues to tinker with his stance, hoping to land on something that doesn’t get him eaten alive by strikeouts, and his recent mechanical mess has seen him homer six times in his past seven games, with the recent looking like this:
You know, sometimes I wonder if too much is made of the strikeouts. The surest way to overcome a rate of over 30 percent (it’s 32.4 at Triple-A right now) is to make exceptionally hard contact, and Jones currently has an average exit velocity of 95.6 mph with a max of 117.4 — Aaron Judge-like numbers, quite honestly. His stolen base prowess also gives him some cushion for Fantasy. At his worst, though, he just seems like the longest of long shots. I imagine Jones will get a look in the majors at some point this year, provided he continues to perform well at Triple-A, but with Jasson Dominguez only now getting a chance, it isn’t on the horizon.
Cole Carrigg, OF, Rockies
2025 minors: .237 BA (477 AB), 15 HR, 46 SB, .710 OPS, 45 BB, 145 K
2026 minors: .371 BA (124 AB), 2 HR, 20 SB, .963 OPS, 11 BB, 21 K
Cole Carrigg flashed an interesting enough tool set in the lower minors to earn some top-100 consideration heading into 2025, but his stock took a tumble that year as his strikeout rate escalated against upper-level pitching. Well, now he’s climbed another level, all the way to Triple-A, and he’s looking pretty good again. His strikeout rate is down to just 15.2 percent. He’s collected 12 extra-base hits already with exit velocities that rate as average at worst. He’s also racked up an astonishing 20 steals in just 32 games. While he’s still primarily a center fielder, the Rockies have reintroduced him to shortstop this year, a position he played some early in his minor league career, which only gives him more paths to contributing with the big club. He may not have enough over-the-fence power to be a high-impact player in Fantasy, but if he’s playing half his games at Coors Field, you never know.
Ethan Salas, C, Padres
2025 minors: .188 BA (32 AB), 0 HR, 2 SB, .544 OPS, 6 BB, 5 K
2026 minors: .325 BA (80 AB), 5 HR, 6 SB, 1.001 OPS, 12 BB, 21 K
Remember how all the highest-profile prospect publications were tripping over themselves to get Salas into their top 10 when he was a 17-year-old who advanced all the way to Double-A in 2023? Subsequent years have made them out to be fools who were lured in by the Padres’ cheap trick of aggressively promoting players purely to raise their stock, or so it seemed. But now look at what Salas is doing as a 19-year-old at Double-A. He’s still well ahead of the developmental curve at that age, but now he’s hitting absolute rockets to the right.
I mean, the numbers speak for themselves. He seems to have figured things out offensively, and because his defensive chops were never in question, you shouldn’t be surprised to see him rocket back up prospect rank lists.
Kevin Alcantara, OF, Cubs
2025 minors: .266 BA (379 AB), 17 HR, 10 SB, .819 OPS, 48 BB, 128 K
2025 majors: 4 for 11, 1 SB, 1 BB, 4 K
2026 minors: .255 BA (110 AB), 12 HR, 2 SB, .985 OPS, 15 BB, 44 K
Kevin Alcantara has always hit the ball hard and offered athleticism to dream on, but the biggest knock on him as he’s made his way through the Yankees and Cubs farm systems is that he doesn’t connect with the ball often enough or at the proper angles to get the most out of his impressive tools. Well, he’s addressed at least one of those shortfalls in a major way this year. His fly-ball rate, which normally sits in the 25-30 percent range, is all the way up to 50.8 percent this year, and not so coincidentally, he’s tied for the minor league lead with 12 home runs. His career high, set just last year, is only 17. The complication, though, is that he’s now striking out 35 percent of the time, which is also a career high (in a bad way). Still, it’s a step in the right direction for a long-time tease who is somehow still only 23.
Justin Gonzales, OF, Red Sox
2025 minors: .281 BA (359 AB), 4 HR, .753 OPS, 39 BB, 65 K
2026 minors: .284 BA (102 AB), 4 HR, .836 OPS, 8 BB, 20 K
If you’re looking for upside to dream on, the 6-foot-6 Gonzales offers it. He hits the ball as hard as you’d expect for a player that size, but has had little trouble connecting with it, striking out less than 15 percent of the time across 717 minor league plate appearances. The power production was nowhere to be found last year because he was putting the ball on the ground nearly 60 percent of the time, but he’s dropped that rate below 50 percent this year. There’s still room for improvement, but also plenty of time for it, seeing as he’s a 19-year-old in High-A. At least now we’re starting to see some evidence of the power.
