Inbox: Farms with the best corner infielders

I’m taking a quick break from my Florida Spring Training travels to answer some of your questions. With Minor Leaguers preparing in earnest for the 2022 season and the college season well under way, I’ve decided to split things up, going half pro prospects, half Draft guys.

Last week I asked about the best middle infield combos. This week what are the top orgs with corner infield prospects (has to be 3B and 1B)? -- @antman_92

Antman_92 kicked off Jim Callis’ Inbox last week, so I figured, why not? Let’s continue the series by looking at the best organizations based on corner infield talent. It’s not as deep a pool as the middle infielder group, but there’s still plenty to talk about. I’m going to rank the top five, looking mostly at whoever the top duo is, but also adding who else is in the system. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Rangers: Josh Jung and Dustin Harris
The Rangers get bonus points for having one really good player at each corner, even with Jung’s injury. And there’s depth here, with Ezequiel Duran quite likely ending up at third (I thought he looked really good there in the Arizona Fall League.) and Davis Wendzel, the 2019 draftee looking to have a bounce-back season.

2. Tigers: Spencer Torkelson and Colt Keith
Truth be told, Tork and anyone might be worthy of making the list, not to mention the fact that Torkelson can play both corners. The Tigers got Keith at the end of the five-round 2020 Draft when they took Torkelson No. 1 overall and went over slot to get him. The system also has Gage Workman, who can play a very good third base, 2021 second-round pick Izaac Pacheco, who most think will play third long-term and Andre Lipcius, their 2019 third-rounder, who can play all over the infield.

3. Cardinals: Jordan Walker and Juan Yepez
Another 3B/1B combo here. Walker is one of the more exciting hitting prospects in baseball right now and Yepez hit 27 homers in 2021 and had a huge AFL showing. St. Louis also has Luken Baker, Malcolm Nunez and Brendan Donovan as interesting corner guys.

4. Red Sox: Triston Casas and Blaze Jordan
This is a whole lot of power from two players, isn’t it? Casas reached Triple-A at age 21 last year and had an .877 OPS, then hit .372/.495/.487 in the AFL. Jordan played in just 28 games in 2021, but slugged .591 when he was on the field. There’s depth here, too, with Alex Binelas, Eddinson Paulino and Stephen Scott.

5. Royals: Nick Pratto and Vinnie Pasquantino
An all-first base tandem here, and a good one, with both in our Top 10 1B list at the end of the 2021 season. Can we push Bobby Witt Jr. over to third just to make this more interesting?

Others of note: Mets (led by Brett Baty and Mark Vientos); Rays (Curtis Mead, Austin Shenton, Jonathan Aranda); Rockies (including Elehuris Montero, Michael Toglia, Grant Lavigne and Colton Welker); A’s (Zach Gelof, Lawrence Butler); Pirates (Jared Triolo, Mason Martin)

After attending Pirates camp today, who stood out as someone who you predict will take a big step this year? Thomas, Mitchell, Martin, Hoffmann would be encouraging to see. -- @PiratesFanDan

It’s definitely been fun making the rounds here in Florida, though most teams were very much in early work phases of Spring Training. When I was in Pirates camp, there were a bunch of live BP sessions, and I did see Logan Hoffman and Tahnaj Thomas throw, and Cal Mitchell take BP. To be honest, I can’t extrapolate anything from what I saw into a breakout year projection. But based on my conversation with Pirates farm director John Baker, I think we all need to keep an eye on the pitchers who were a part of the Bradenton rotation. Luis Ortiz, in particular, intrigues me after he struck out 11.6 per nine (vs. 2.9 BB/9 in 2021). He’s now 23, so you could argue he’s a touch old for his level, but he was up to 98 and change in early bullpens and Baker loved how his changeup was progressing.

As for the guys you mentioned, Thomas still has as live an arm as anyone in the system and can touch triple digits. He was more around the plate during the bullpen session I saw in Pirate City, but there’s work to be done command-wise, even if he does end up as a reliever. Martin’s power is also legit, but he needs to rediscover his approach some. He’s always going to strike out, but if he can see more pitches and draw more walks again, that’ll let him get to his power more. And Mitchell can just hit. Nothing flashy, but of the group you brought up, I could see him putting together a very solid year in 2022.

Yet another elite college arm that is MLB Draft eligible gets dinged up. How does that impact Landon Sims’ draft status/stock? -- @Seventy7NB

With many of the top college arms getting hurt who do you think becomes the first college SP to be drafted? -- @JakeHobrock

There have been so many injuries befalling the college pitching crop, it’s hard to know what it’s going to look like once we get to the Draft. We entered the 2022 collegiate season with Alabama lefty Connor Prielipp, Arkansas right-hander Peyton Pallette and UConn southpaw Reggie Crawford already out with elbow injuries. Tennessee's Blade Tidwell hasn’t pitched yet because of a shoulder issue and while he’s not hurt, East Carolina’s Carson Whisenhunt was suspended.

That had left Sims as the only active college pitcher in the Top 40 of our Draft Top 100 we put out last winter. And the reliever-turned-starter was off to a very strong start (27/2 K/BB ratio and a 1.15 ERA in 15 2/3 IP) before walking off the mound shaking his pitching arm in his start last week. We don’t know how long Sims will be out. If he just misses a start or two and comes back and is healthy the rest of the way, then his stock will likely be just fine (pending physical information of course). If he’s out for a lengthy period of time, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. Teams take guys who’ve had elbow surgery, for example, pretty high, but keep in mind Sims had never started before this year.

As for who would be the first college pitcher taken, that might depend on if Tidwell comes back or Whisenhunt returns to action soon. Those would be the best bet (again, other than one of the TJ surgery guys going up high despite not pitching -- my vote there would be Prielipp). Keep an eye on Gabe Hughes at Gonzaga, who has a 14.2 K/9 rate over his first three starts of the year.

Is there a chance a college player goes 1.1? Are there guys with enough helium to eclipse the big 3 prep bats (Green, Johnson, Jones)? -- @RHouset

We’ll wrap this up with one more Draft question. In a word, yes. Right now, I’d say the frontrunner to jump over the big high school names would be LSU’s Jacob Berry, who has hit .340/.433/.700 with five homers and 14 RBIs over his first 12 games. I can’t say he has helium, since he was No. 4 on our list, but he’s the kind of special bat who could easily be in contention for the top spot. And keep an eye on Brooks Lee at Cal Poly. He was at No. 5, right behind Berry. I don’t think he has as much ceiling as Berry does, but man can he hit. After hitting .405 on the Cape last summer, he’s off to a .457/.576/.761 start, with 13 walks (vs. just ONE strikeout) in 12 games.