With the minor league season delayed until early May, these Monday Morning write-ups will be MLB focused this month, but normally they will be a mix between MLB and MiLB with a heavy lean toward prospects. Other content I’m planning this month for my Patreon members are FYPD rankings and updates to my Dynasty Baseball rankings (as well as these Dynasty Rundowns every day of the week). Here is the Monday Morning Dynasty Baseball Rundown:

Ian Anderson ATL, RHP, 22.11 – My #3 ranked pre-season prospect (I have an updated Top 100 Prospects Rankings on my Patreon), Anderson did what he does in his first outing, going 5 IP with 4 hits, 1 earned, and a 7/2 K/BB. His much maligned breaking ball put up a 50% whiff% and his celebrated changeup matched that 50% mark. He also ripped a 92.8 MPH double and dove head first into 2B. There is a certain present moment nostalgia with pitchers hitting, and I think we will look back at this time fondly, but add the NL DH already.

Shohei Ohtani LAA, RHP/DH, 26.9 – Now this is what Abner Doubleday had in mind when he “invented baseball” (he didn’t invent baseball), and wanted pitchers to also hit, as Ohtani crushed a 115.2 MPH dinger and also threw fire with a fastball that reached 101.1 MPH. His overall pitching line still wasn’t great (4.2 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 7/5 K/BB), but let’s not nitpick and just enjoy the greatness.

Zach Eflin PHI, LHP, 27.0 – Went against a tough Braves lineup and he dominated by going 7 IP with 4 hits, 1 earned, and an 8/1 K/BB. He continued the increased usage of his sinker which he found success with in 2020, and his 35% overall whiff% was better than his 2020 mark of 24%. On the downside, his velocity was down on all of his pitches (down 1.3 MPH to 92.4 MPH on the sinker), but that is merely something to watch so early in the season.

Tarik Skubal DET, LHP, 24.4 – Showed off his new pitch mix (he morphed his changeup into a splitter), but some things never change with him as he still relied heavily on his 4 seamer (60% usage vs. 58.9% in 2020). It resulted in a decent outing (5.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 4/2 K/BB), and his value holds serve, but it would have been nice for him to come out with a statement game.

Vlad Guerrero Jr. TOR, 1B, 22.0 – You want launch angle? You got launch angle as Vlad launched a 23 degree, 106.9 MPH opposite field bomb off Domingo German. His season launch angle is now sitting at 16.1 degrees. He’s about to torture everyone who sold low on him for the next decade.

Julian Merryweather TOR, Closer, 29.6 – Sure looks like Merryweather is the man to own in Toronto as he picked up his 2nd save of the season. He fired his fastball at 98.9 MPH yesterday which is up 2.2 MPH from 2020.

Nomar Mazara DET, OF, 25.11 – Rocketed a 391 foot, 105.5 MPH homer off Aaron Civale. He’s now 4 for 11 with a 3/0 K/BB on the season. The Nomar Mazara story has not been completely written quite yet, but I’m still hesitant to buy in.

Akil Baddoo DET, OF, 22.7 – The feel good story of spring kept it going in his MLB debut with an impressive opposite field shot off Civale. He also struck out once in 3 at-bats, which will be the number to watch.

Jeff Hoffman CIN, RHP, 28.3 – Nothing like that getting out of Coors Certified Pre-Owned new car smell, as Hoffman made some adjustments to his mechanics this off-season and they were working for him in his season debut by going 5 IP with 3 hits, 1 earned and a 6/0 K/BB. His fastball was down 1.5 MPH to 92.9 MPH, so I’m not exactly jumping in head first, but he isn’t a bad deep league flier.

Nate Lowe TEX, 1B, 25.9 – All the spring tea leaves pointed to Ronald Guzman winning the 1B job, but Texas rope a doped us and stuck with Lowe. It’s working out like gangbusters so far with him absolutely crushing a 465 foot, 113.9 MPH homer that landed in the 2nd deck of the CF waterfall. He’s now 5 for 14 with a 5/0 K/BB.

Brady Singer KC, RHP, 24.9 – Got roughed up in 3.1 IP with 5 hits, 5 earned and a 5/3 K/BB. Silver lining is that his velocity was up 1.5 MPH on the sinker and 2.3 MPH on the slider.

JD Martinez BOS, OF, 33.7 – Early season returns lean towards 2020 being a down year rather than the start of a decline with Martinez crushing a 429 foot homer. He is now 6 for 12 with a 3/0 K/BB.

Cedric Mullins BAL, OF, 26.6 – Mullins is representing the entire Baltimore Orioles lineup here as they dropped 11 runs on Boston. Mullins went 5 for 5 with 3 doubles and all of his hits were hit hard, ranging from 94.9 MPH to 100.6 MPH. Mancini, Santander and Ruiz all had multi hit games as well.

Julio Urias LAD, LHP, 24.8 – Went into Coors and killed it in 7 IP with 6 hits, 1 earned and a 6/1 K/BB. He put up a 30% whiff% which is nice to see (26% in 2020). Threw his changeup 2.1 MPH faster and it worked wonders as it notched a 47% whiff%. He still doesn’t seem to get the love he deserves.

Will Smith LAD, C, 26.0 – The small sample breakout in 2020 is carrying over to 2021 as he went deep yesterday on a 438 foot blast. He’s now 4 for 7 with a 1/1 K/BB, and the only thing holding him back is how smart the Dodgers are to keep him fresh for October.

Ian Happ CHC, OF, 26.8 – Took Mitch Keller deep to dead center on a 108.2 MPH, 428 foot bomb for his first hit of the season in 6 at-bats. He also walked twice giving him a .444 OBP on the season.

Kris Bryant CHC, 3B, 29.3 – Early signs look positive for a bounce back with Bryant hitting the ball hard. He ripped a 107.5 MPH single and a 99.9 MPH double in 3 at-bats yesterday, and now has a 96.1 MPH average exit velocity on the year.

Keston Hiura MIL, 2B, 24.8 – Is not inspiring confidence for a bounce back with another tough day (0 for 4 with 2 K’s). He is now 0 for 11 with a 6/0 K/BB

Brandon Bielak HOU, RHP, 25.0 – Pitched 4.2 perfect innings with 4 K’s in relief of Urquidy on the back of his 93.4 MPH fastball that he threw 66% of the time. His changeup is an above average pitch (.252 xwOBA in 2020), so if he can make improvements to his slider he has a chance to be an impact starter. He’s just a flier in deeper leagues right now, but keep an eye out.

Kyle Tucker HOU, OF, 23.4 – Cracked his first homer of the season with a 407 foot shot off Sean Manaea. It’s been a slow start otherwise as he is 3 for 17, but he hasn’t been striking out with only 2 K’s.

Taylor Widener ARI, RHP, 26.5 – Results were solid (6 IP, 3 hits, 0 ER, 5/3 K/BB), but the fastball sat only 92.8 MPH and he threw it 72% of the time. The slider and changeup were dominant when he went to them, but I would still tread lightly here.

Chris Paddack SD, RHP, 25.3 – 4 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 3/3 K/BB. The fastball problems don’t seem to be fixed as his 4-seamer got rocked with a .382 xwOBA. He also only threw two pitches (fastball, changeup).

Dylan Cease CHW, RHP, 25.3 – The Cease breakout will also have to wait as he was back to his wild ways with a 3/3 K/BB in 4.1 IP (5 hits with 3 ER). The stuff is still nasty, so if you bought in hoping for things to click, you gotta just hold tight.

Geraldo Perdomo ARI, SS, 20.5 – Called up to the majors but it is only supposed to be for a week or two. He made a sweet diving play in the field, and it is always nice to see baseball’s most talented young players on the biggest stage even if they are not 100% ready. Baseball needs more of that.

 Jared Walsh LAA, 1B, 27.8 – In a surprise to no one except his manager I guess, Walsh is a breakout waiting to happen if he gets the playing time as he launched a pair of dingers last night at 103.1 MPH and 103.3 MPH. Just play the man.

Fernando Tatis Jr. SD, SS, 22.3 – Demolished a 465 foot, 112.6 MPH homer off Chris Devenski for his first of the year. My hard hitting analysis: he is really fucking good. If I am going to nitpick, he does have a 31.6% K% in 4 games, and while it is obviously a very small sample, it is the one area of his game with risk.

By Michael Halpern (@MichaelCHalpern)
Email: michaelhalpern@imaginarybrickwall.com
Twitter: Imaginary Brick Wall (@DynastyHalp)