5 Hot MLB Prospects Turning Themselves into Coveted Trade Bait

It's late May, which means that although the first quarter of the season is complete, the July 31 trade deadline is still a good two full months away.

While the latter part means there likely won't be any major deals coming for several weeks still, it's never too early to start speculating about potential trade chips.

In this case, the focus is on a handful of prospects whose strong starts to 2015 have turned them into intriguing, coveted pieces whom contending clubs might dangle to land an in-season upgrade to fill a need or address an injury.

Because promising prospects are very valuable currency on the trade market.

Dan Vogelbach, 1B, Chicago Cubs

Dan Vogelbach is a divisive prospect for many reasons, namely because he's an all-hit, no-field slugger who fits best at designated hitter and yet plays for the Chicago Cubs, who are, as you probably know, in the NL.

That puts this 22-year-old 2011 second-rounder in a tough spot, because the Cubs happen to have one of the best all-around first basemen in the sport in Anthony Rizzo. It also puts a heck of a lot of pressure on Vogelbach to hit the you-know-what out of the ball in order to make his way to the majors.

Good thing he's been doing that this year, then. The lefty swinger is batting .326/.447/.519 with 16 extra-base hits and nearly as many walks (29) as whiffs (30) in 37 games at Double-A. It's Vogelbach's first shot at the level, too.

Because of the non-DH factor and Rizzo's presence, a case can be made that Vogelbach has more value to the Cubs as a trade chip than anything else. Should Chicago, which looks like a legitimate contender after five losing seasons, want to make a move this summer, Vogelbach could be part of a package to get something done.

Steven Matz, LHP, New York Mets

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Following a breakthrough 2014 in which he threw a career-high 140 innings and stayed fully healthy in reaching Double-A, Steven Matz is at it again.

The left-hander, who was a second-round selection back in 2009 but missed multiple seasons due to injury before debuting as a pro in 2012, has been tearing through Triple-A. Matz, who turns 24 on May 29, currently owns a 1.80 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 9.7 K/9 over 50 frames across his first eight games for Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League, which doesn't exactly boast pitcher-friendly conditions.

The New York Mets rotation already is full with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Bartolo Colon, Jon Niese and Noah Syndergaard, a fellow top prospect who made his debut earlier in May. That doesn't even include Dillon Gee, Rafael Montero and Zack Wheeler, three others out with injury at the moment.

In other words, New York is loaded with arms, making one or more of them available. The club has yet to find many (any?) interested parties for Niese, Colon or Gee, so Matz might be the Mets' best bet for a quality return given his youth, salary and upside. The club is in need of a hitter or two to pump up a .659 OPS—third-worst in MLB—and Matz could help bring a bat back.

Edwin Diaz, RHP, Seattle Mariners

Outside of ace Felix Hernandez, the Seattle Mariners' pitching hasn't been quite as productive as expected, including an injury to Hisashi Iwakuma and the ineffectiveness of Taijuan Walker.

Perhaps, then, trading away arguably their top young arm isn't something quite as likely as it might have seemed at the outset of the season. But this is a club in win-now mode that needs all the help it can get to start, you know, winning after an underwhelming 17-21 record so far.

With Edwin Diaz off to a blazing beginning in the wake of 2014's overall strong campaign, he would be a prospect other organizations would want included in a deal.

Having conquered the hitter-friendly High-A California League with a 1.70 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 42 strikeouts in 37 innings, the right-handed Puerto Rico native earned a promotion to Double-A in mid-May. If he holds his own there over the next few weeks at age 21, his trade value will skyrocket.

Deven Marrero, SS, Boston Red Sox

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox have opened the season with a disappointing 19-20 record through the first seven weeks, but this team has high expectations, so a trade or two to improve the roster is almost certainly in the future. Good thing Boston has a number of chips to play.

While many of those chips are pitchers, the Sox need arms more than anything else, so don't look for them to jettison any of their three nearly big-league-ready left-handers—Eduardo Rodriguez, Henry Owens and Brian Johnson. Instead, they could dangle shortstop Deven Marrero.

Given the dearth of talent at the position, a young, cost-controlled shortstop with a first-round pedigree who is performing well at Triple-A (.263/.338/.407) is going to have quite a bit of value on the trade market. Besides, the Red Sox already have Xander Bogaerts as their shortstop of the present and future, and the rest of their infield is locked up long term.

Jose De Leon, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

Jose De Leon is carrying forward his 2014 breakout into 2015. The 22-year-old struck out a ridiculous 119 over 77 innings last year, but that came in rookie and A-ball. What he's doing at High-A and now Double-A, to which he was just promoted, is even more impressive.

The right-hander ripped through the Cal League with a 1.67 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 58 strikeouts in 37.2 frames. While De Leon is not quite the same caliber as fellow pitching prospect Julio Urias, he's not far off, either. That might make him borderline untouchable when the Los Angeles Dodgers engage other clubs in trade talks.

On the other hand, though, logic says the Dodgers soon may start getting desperate for some healthy starting pitchers, which could force the club to make a move or two. Injuries to Brandon McCarthy (Tommy John surgery) and Hyun-Jin Ryu—who is deciding whether to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, per Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times—have left LA's rotation lacking.

"Any time you potentially lose two starters, you're always mindful of your depth," president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, according to Hernandez. "Just like in the offseason, the focus is on adding starting pitching depth."

Plus, there's a chance they'll need another arm in 2016, too, in the event that Zack Greinke opts out of his contract, which seems more and more likely with each passing day.

De Leon isn't a piece the Dodgers would want to move, but he might be a piece they'll need to move to acquire an impact pitcher for their stretched-thin rotation going forward.

Statistics are accurate as of Tuesday, May 19 and courtesy of MLB.com, MiLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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