Brick By Brick: Building A Dynasty
- John Gerbino
- May 7
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 1
People were pretty content with yesterday's post, so I'll just keep it going. It's also just really fun to learn about guys I'd otherwise never hear about.
Also, did you see Mike Soroka pitch today? He looked a lot like rookie Soroka until the 3rd time through the order, and K'd 8. Not too shabby.
Austin Martin
Martin garnered 257 plate appearances at the MLB level last year and flashed potential throughout the stint, so much so that I actually rostered him for a few weeks on a friend's recommendation. There were, however, a few holes in his game that made the Twins ultimately decide he wasn't quite ready for the job, so let's take a peek:
5th percentile barrel %
15th percentile average exit velo
15th percentile hard-hit % (and 7th percentile at AAA in 2024)
45th percentile BB % Although Martin was making contact with the ball consistently, and rocking a 95th percentile sweet-spot %, the power just wasn't there to drive the ball through the gaps. Has anything changed at AAA in 2025, in regards to any of these shortcomings? Yes.
11th percentile barrel% (marginally better)
22nd percentile exit velo ( a bit better)
70th percentile hard-hit % (significantly better than both AAA and MLB)
93rd percentile BB % (much better).
The main force driving Martin's AAA success are much improved hard-hit and BB percentiles, so much so that he currently rocks an absurd .438 BA, .539 OBP, and 1.007 OPS. His speed seems to be down slightly, which I'm willing to attribute to some increased muscle mass from offseason training. When he gets promoted to the MLB in the near future, I'm willing to bet we see a decent increase in bat speed to prove this true. Martin is going to be a good MLB player, hopefully in 2025.
T.J. Rumfield
The young Rumfield has some baseball pedigree, as his father Toby spent a whopping 12 years in the minor leagues after being selected in the 2nd round by the Reds. Yet, somehow, Toby never once appeared in an MLB game - a tragic story indeed. I don't believe the young Rumfield will have the same problem, though, which is great, because now his father can live vicariously through his son! T.J. stands at an imposing 6'5 with strong power potential, yet currently rocks the profile of a contact hitter. With strong Whiff, SwStr, Z-contact, and Z-Swing percentiles, T.J. is showing the Yankees he has excellent command of the zone and sees pitches as well as anyone in the organization. The power isn't non-existent, though, as a solid 67th percentile max exit velocity with middling hard-hit, barrel, and average exit velocity provide enough to launch the ball over the fence. When you have a solid launch angle and bat path, you don't need much more than this, and Rumfield has a technically solid swing. Check out the video below. Rumfield has actually spent time at the hot corner, which is something that absolutely has to happen for him to even have a shot at sniffing the MLB in the near future, as Ben Rice and Goldy have 1B absolutely locked up. Though I like Jorbit Vivas and his phenomenal plate discipline, he's really let his nerves get the best of him at the MLB level upon promotion. Where Vivas was a god in whiff and K % at AAA, he's suddenly lost his eye at the plate in the MLB. Rumfield, just by way of his size, offers more upside than most prospects in the Yankees organization, including Vivas, and should be monitored as he approaches his 25th birthday.
Ryan Vilade
Vilade, at first glance, seems somewhat whelming. A .287 BA, .360 OBP, and .795 OPS are all solid marks, yet none really stand out as being exemplary. But looking at the underlying metrics, there's a lot to like here. Vilade excels at every contact metric aside from one - Chase %. His 19th percentile Chase % might seem like a glaring issue, yet he's still managed to K at a very respectable 18.3 % rate. Still, though, if Vilade were to improve on the issue, we'd likely see his Barrel and Hard-Hit percentages shoot up, because it's just hard to really make good contact on pitches outside the zone. However, If Vilade does become an efficient bad ball hitter, that would be acceptable - guys who can turn bad pitches outside the zone into hits are typically all-star level guys, but we're getting ahead of ourselves here. But we still can't lose focus on the good: 87th percentile zone-contact 79th percentile SwStr % 89th percentile Whiff % 6th percnetile Z-swing % With Jordan Walker struggling mightily (.196 BA, .530 OPS, disgustingly blue statcast), Vilade has a strong case to be the next man up, and is 100% worth a roster spot in the event that it happens.
Anthony Seigler
After struggling for Somerset in 2024 to the point that the Yankees gave up on him, Seigler signed with the Brewers and is currently showing tremendous ability at AAA. Seigler currently boasts a .416 OBP to go with an .835 OPS and 8 SBs. He's a tremoundous athlete that plays both C and 2B (interesting combination of positions) and could see time at the MLB level if William Contreras' finger issue becomes something that causes him to miss a substantial period of time. And even aside from the Contreras injury, Joey Ortiz and Vinny Capra are hitting so poorly that we might see Seigler tried out at 3B, or at 2B with Turang shifted over to SS (where his defense would play extremely well.) With the Brewers relying on speed to generate runs ( 10th in runs scored and 3rd in stolen bases, but 25th in slugging), Seigler is seemingly the perfect fit for the Brewers' current offensive philosophy. In terms of the underlying metrics, Seigler has one of the more impressive statcasts in AAA, blistering red from top to bottom. His notable 97th BB % is exemplary for someone that's a SB threat each and every time he gets on base, and that's just the cherry on top of hitting abiluty that has him sitting at a stellar .477 xSLG. The Brewers really need to consider a promotion for the uber-athletic Seigler.
Eddys Leonard
The Braves have struggled to get any value out of Nick Allen and Orlando Arcia in 2025, and at this point, they're clearly not the answer at SS. And alth0ugh Eddys is currently hitting .223 with a .739 OPS, there's more than meets the eye here. We can immediately see his expected batting numbers are excellent, with a .283 xBA and .504 xSLG. He also has 9 dingers to show for the excellent power he's displayed through the 2025 campaign, which even bad luck can't take away. His 114.5 mph max exit velocity is phenomenal and something that can't be faked, and it pairs nicely with excellent contact metrics: 86th percentile z-swing % 65th percentile whiff % 86th percentile K % 65th percentile z-contact % With this much power and command of the zone, Eddys will eventually find his away into the excellent outcomes his expected stats suggest, and it very well may happen at the MLB level.
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