MLB Summer Camp 2020: Latest Buzz on Angels' Jo Adell, Red Sox Injuries, More

MLB Summer Camp will provide the Los Angeles Angels with a firsthand look at top prospect Jo Adell.

The outfielder is the No. 6 overall prospect, according to MLB.com, and he has a chance to break into the Angels roster at some point in 2020 on a crowded outfield depth chart.

However, the next few weeks could be crucial for him with no minor-league season.

It will be an uphill battle with outfield positions controlled by Mike Trout, Justin Upton and others, but Angels general manager Billy Eppler is excited to see Adell face major-league pitching, per Maria Torres of the Los Angeles Times. 

"That's what we're hopeful for … There's some upside to the intrasquad format," Eppler said. "We'll just have to keep getting him at-bats. There's going to be talented pitchers over there for him to face and we'll go from there."

Adell needs to prove he can perform well against the top arms inside the franchise since he struggled a bit at Triple-A in 2019.

After hitting .308 with a .944 OPS at Double-A Mobile, the franchise's top prospect recorded a .264 batting average and .676 OPS in 131 plate appearances at Triple-A Salt Lake. 

If a normal season was in place, Adell would have had the chance to improve his Triple-A numbers and an opportunity to be called up at some point in the season.

Now he is one of eight outfielders in the 60-man player pool for the 60-game regular season, and he will have to outperform a handful of players to just earn the chance at playing alongside Trout and Upton at some point.

Alex Verdugo "Should Be Ready" To Partake In Workouts

The main piece of Boston's return haul in the Mookie Betts trade should be ready to participate at Summer Camp.

Alex Verdugo was dealing with a stress fracture in his lower back. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said the outfielder should be ready to go, per MassLive's Christopher Smith:

"He should be all systems go. The only limitation on him at this point is what we've been able to do by virtue of the fact that we've been shut down. He's handled everything great. He should be ready to roll as we get him ramped up. This applies to everybody but it certainly applies to him given what he's been through. We're not going to cut corners. But we're optimistic that he's going to be ready to roll."

Verdugo hit 12 home runs and recorded a .294 batting average in his first full major-league season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019.

Ideally, the Red Sox would pair Verdugo with Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. in the outfield, but veteran Kevin Pillar could earn some starts as well if Verdugo is not 100 percent for some games. 

Bloom also commented that the Red Sox "don't know yet" for an exact timetable on a return for pitcher Collin McHugh, who is recovering from offseason surgery.

Tigers Top Prospects Could Be On Taxi Squad

Casey Mize, Matt Manning and other top prospects in the Detroit Tigers organization were supposed to use 2020 as the latest step toward making the major-league roster.

Instead of going through a full minor-league campaign, Mize, Manning, Tarik Skubal and Alex Faedo will be part of the franchise's taxi squad, as manager Ron Gardenhire told Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. 

"They are part of our 60," Gardenhire said. "We want them working. As we go along, they might end up on the taxi squad. We have a lot of plans and they go in a lot of different ways. But the organization hasn't drafted these guys and brought them to this point to all of a sudden say, 'OK, go home.'"

Mize and Manning are the No. 7 and No. 24 overall prospects in baseball, while Skubal is 46th and Faedo is the team's ninth-best prospect.

Each member of the quartet has not played above Double-A, so it could be hard to justify them making the jump to the majors in July.

If the Tigers struggle and Gardenhire wants to get a look at those players, there is always the possibility of them playing in September, similar to what may have happened if they received a full season at Triple-A.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Statistics obtained from Baseball Reference