Welcome back to the Prospect Review! In case you missed the first entry on second baseman, you can check that out here! Third base has been a question mark for the Diamondbacks all offseason. Now that the season has started, plenty of fans have even more questions. I think the answer to that question lies in this article, although I did expect the Diamondbacks to take a flyer on someone like Jonathan Villar or Maikel Franco. I think they looked within and liked their options.
My personal favorite resource when taking a look at prospects is Fangraphs, an awesome website that's probably the best free baseball resource on the internet. Their details and of prospects are unique for a free website that let's you get a better idea of the player than just the stat sheet. I won't be ranking these players, just an overview of the options in the system.
I'll be using two main tools when looking at these guys: the scouting report and Future Value. For the scouting report, there are five values: Hit, Game Power, Raw Power, Speed, and Fielding. Each of these are on a 20-80 scale where 40 is average. Hit is a rating of the player's ability to make effective contact, game power is a rating of how many homers a player can be expected to hit in game situations, raw power is based on how far the player can hit the ball, fielding speed is rated based on 60-yard dash or home to first times. Fielding is a big eye-test rating and is just one of those things that you know when you see.
Finally, there's Future Value, which corresponds to brackets of WAR estimates. They're on that same 20 to 80 scale where 40 is average, but unlike the other grades, they can be matched with a plus, which can signal they might be on the cusp of exceeding the value provided. If you want more info on Fangraphs scouting process, particularly Future Value, I highly recommend you check out the Fangraphs Scouting Primer! With all that being said, let's take a look at the prospects!
Frisco RoughRiders v Amarillo Sod Poodles / John E. Moore III/GettyImages
Buddy Kennedy
Scouting Report: Hit: 45, Game Power: 45, Raw Power: 50, Speed: 50, Fielding: 40, FV: 35+ ETA: 2022 Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 47th best prospect. MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 22nd best prospect. Venom Strikes Ranking: Diamondbacks 22nd best prospect
I personally think that Future Value sells him super short. I think he's substantially better than that. Kennedy came off an excellent AA season in 2021 where he slashed .278 / .384 / .536 in Amarillo. I was super impressed with his play and saw highlights of his all the time. He had a solid stint in the Arizona Fall League and earned a Hitter of the Week award there, getting a special shout-out from his good friend, Mike Trout. I thought there was a decent shot for him to make the opening day roster if his spring training performance was anything better than "fine." Unfortunately, Kennedy wound up going 2-13, struck out five times, and didn't walk. The bright point there is that both of those hits were for extra bases; one was a double and another was a home run. He started 2022 in Reno where he's got a triple slash of .189 / .286 / .270 at time of writing. I still like Buddy a lot, but it's clear he needs some more time to refine his game. I'd definitely expect to see him sometime this year.
Midland RockHounds v Amarillo Sod Poodles / John E. Moore III/GettyImages
Blaze Alexander
Scouting Report: Hit: 30, Game Power: 40, Raw Power: 55, Speed: 40, Fielding: 50, FV: 35+ ETA: 2023 Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 48th best prospect. MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 25th best prospect. Venom Strikes Ranking: Diamondbacks 19th best prospect
Hey, I've seen this one before! Yes, Blaze is on this list too. Blaze easily fits that mold of "utility" players where he's capable of playing all over the infield. He's been playing a lot of shortstop, and that fielding grade indicates he's range-y enough to play there effectively, but a big reason I think he fits here is his arm strength. Fangraphs lumps all fielding ratings into one category, but MLB Pipeline's scouting grades break it up, and Blaze has an excellent arm grade of 70. For reference, that's the grade Carlos Correa got from Baseball Prospectus when he was in the minors. With the bat in his hand, Blaze has been solid. 2021 was a bit of a down year for him, where he slashed .218 / .316 / .372 at High-A Hillsboro. The unnerving thing for me was his strikeout rate of 32.4%, substantially higher than his previous average of around 22%. He started off his 2022 season at AA Amarillo where he's played a whole two games at the time of writing, but he's off to a very hot start where he's gone 3-7 with a double and a homer.
Diamondbacks prospect Deyvison De Los Santos goes deep to right field for his first homer of 2022. pic.twitter.com/abEAB4h9uH
Scouting Report: Hit: 40, Game Power: 60, Raw Power: 70, Speed: 30, Fielding: 40, FV: 45 ETA: 2024 Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 9th best prospect. MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 14th best prospect. Venom Strikes Ranking: Diamondbacks 13th best prospect
As you can see from the Tweet above, Deyvison is a power threat, through and through. His Raw Power is tied for the highest on this list, and Game Power is the highest on this list. He's been an extra-base hit machine in the minors, with 37.5% of his hits in 2021 being for extra bases. His isolated power in 2021 was an uncharacteristic .145, compared to his complex ISO of .280. 2022 has been different for him thus far, where he's slashing .263 / .282 / .474, good for an ISO of .211 in AA Amarillo at the time of writing. This is a bit of a slow start for him, but I'd expect him to pick up more rather quickly. Oh, and did I mention Deyvison is 18? Yeah, he's a super young player who's expected to arrive in his age 21 season! Definitely keep your eyes on him as he progresses.
Scouting Report: Hit: 45, Game Power: 55, Raw Power: 70, Speed: 20, Fielding: 45, FV: 40+ ETA: 2025 Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 15th best prospect. MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 9th best prospect. Venom Strikes Rankings: Diamondbacks 10th best prospect
Now for the other big power threat. Vukovich has the same Raw Power grade as Devyson, but a slightly lower Game Power grade. The fourth-rounder has had a decent enough start to his pro career, where he's been about average so far, with his 2021 wRC+ in Low-A and High-A both being 99. He slashed a cool .298 / .315 / .438 at High-A Hillsboro. I'm a fan of high averages, so no complaints there. My big concern with Vukovich is his walk rate. His walk rate at Hillsboro in 2021 was 2.4% and has started 2022 with a 3.1% walk rate, also at Hillsboro. That looks like the missing piece of the puzzle to me, because a .298 average and a .438 slugging percentage is pretty darn good. He's off to a bit of a slow start in 2022 through eight games, where he's got a triple slash of .233 / .281 / .267 at the time of writing. He'll be picking that up soon, I'm sure. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in AA this season.
Scouting Report: Hit: 50, Game Power: 55, Raw Power: 60, Speed: 40, Fielding: 50, FV: 40+ ETA: 2026 Fangraphs Ranking: Diamondbacks 15th best prospect. MLB Pipeline Ranking: Diamondbacks 29th best prospect. Venom Strikes Ranking: Diamondbacks 35th best prospect
Peña was the big get for the Diamondbacks out of their 2021 international class. He's another super young guy who just turned 18 back in December. His pro ball experience is limited to the Dominican Summer League, where he slashed .253 / .342 / .361. Good enough for me. I don't have any complaints about his 20.7 K%, or his 11.7 BB%, which are both around where I'd expect them to be, especially for someone so young. He has yet to play in 2022, and doesn't appear to have been assigned to a minor league team yet. I'd expect him to appear in Low-A Visalia sometime this season, possibly after more DSL experience.
And that's all I've got! Is there anyone I missed? Are you really excited about a certain name on this list? Let me know in the comments or tweet them at me @xwOBAplus!
