Fantasy Baseball Prospect Tracker: Alonso, Gordon, and Laird

Eric StashinJun 28, 2010

It’s time to check in on three more prospects from around the minor leagues. Are any of them primed to make an impact in the not too distant future? Let’s take a look:

Yonder Alonso, Cincinnati Reds (1B)
AAA: .225 (40-178), 3 HR, 21 RBI, 14 R, 2 SB
He was decent at AA before being promoted (.267, 3 HR, 13 RBI), but it has been a struggle at AAA. Over his last 10 games he’s hit .186 with 1 HR, 3 RBI and 3 R. Amazingly, the lefty has actually hit better against lefties (.250) than against righties (.214), which spells out a lot of his troubles. He doesn’t strike out a ton (18.0 percent), but doesn’t walk, either (5.3 percent). While a lot of the trouble is luck based (.259 BABIP), he significantly needs to turn things around before the Reds give him an opportunity. As it is, as much as they talk about moving Joey Votto to the outfield, it’s not going to happen in 2010. What Alonso needs to do is turn things around and get scorching hot in the second half, forcing the Reds’ hand for 2011. As of now, I wouldn’t expect seeing him in the majors this season (outside of a cup of coffee in September) so those in yearly leagues can ignore him for now.

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Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals (OF)
AAA: .340 (67-197), 11 HR, 35 RBI, 45 R, 6 SB
As we’ve already discussed, it’s not his bat that is keeping Gordon in the minor leagues, but the fact that he is learning a new position. Sooner or later, however, he’s going to force things. The Royals really have nothing to lose, and maybe—just maybe—this hot streak is for real. We’ve never seen this type of success in the major leagues from him (.194 this season), but the Royals have always seemed to pull the plug on him before giving him a chance. This year, they gave him just 31 AB before demoting him. Really? Then again, his AAA success is based on a BABIP of .424, something that he is never going to replicate. Still, he’s better than he’s shown in the major leagues before, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on him moving forward.

Brandon Laird, New York Yankees (3B)
AA: .293 (84-287), 19 HR, 77 RBI, 58 R, 2 SB
A Yankees prospect not getting a lot of attention? That seems almost impossible, but that’s the situation with the 22-year-old Laird. A 27th round draft choice in 2007, Laird has exploded in 2010. It’s not like he was bad in previous seasons (.273 with 23 HR in 2008 at Low Single-A and .266 with 13 HR in 2009 at High Single-A), but it was nothing compared to this. He’s currently leading the Eastern League in homeruns and blowing out the field in RBI (second place has 55). One of the differences is his fly ball rate, currently at 45.9 percent (his career mark is at 40.4 percent). That isn’t such an unrealistic jump, however, given his age. It wouldn’t be a big surprise to see him continue adding strength as he matures. His BABIP (.310) is also extremely realistic. In other words, his success could easily continue, meaning he should be on all fantasy radars. With Alex Rodriguez entrenched at third base, it would appear Laird becomes a prime trade chip as the deadline approaches. Keep on eye out and see if he lands somewhere else. If he does, there’s a chance he quickly progresses to the majors.

What are your thoughts on these three? Who is going to make an impact in 2010? Who has the best long-term potential?

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