Brick By Brick: Building A Dynasty, Part 3
- John Gerbino
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
Follow me on bluesky at Gerbilsports. Just have some more prospects for ya, if you're into that type of thing. Also, I think Edward Cabrera (again, after failing initially) and Ryne Nelson will both be on my waiver piece on Sunday. See you then.
Henry Davis, C (Promoted) Mr. Henry Davis has been an absolute beast at AAA in 2025, and has already begun to flash the goods at the MLB level with a ton of room for improvement. Looking at his AAA metrics, we can immediately see he has some immense bat-to-ball skills. His 87th percentile zone-swing %, 97th percentile whiff rate, and 96th percentile zone-contact % led him to an absurd .309 xBA and .517 xSLG. Basically, this guy was making good contact with anything and everything in the zone, thanks to some excellent bat-speed and a free-swinging approach (more on that later). At the big league level, a lot has carried over - notably his K and whiff rates - which remain strong, but not quite elite. This is expected. The main issue holding him back against MLB pitching is simply his ability, or lack thereof, to make solid contact on pitches in the zone - something he thrived on at AAA and the main driver of his promotion. We can see he currently has a -2 run value on pitches in the heart of the zone despite swinging at a healthy 80% of them, and this lack of production on meatballs is a farcry from the guy who had an insane 96th percentile zone-contact % at AAA. One driving factor of this struggle is his approach to bad pitches - this guy is swinging at an absurd 21% of pitches in the wasteland, whereas the MLB average is 6%. At this point he's just putting himself behind in counts and doing opposing pitchers a favor, making it hard to do anything when he's actually getting pitches in the zone late in counts. That tiny bit of apprehension when you're behind in the count makes all the difference on a swing - milliseconds may as well be years in baseball.
Henry Davis is going to be good, there's little doubt in my mind. The kid just needs to continue seeing pitches at the MLB level to get that waste rate down and his zone-contact % up. It's not uncommon to see fresh players try to do a little to0 much at the plate and that's exactly what Davis is trying to do. Despite his awful discipline at the plate, Davis has still managed to post an extremely respectable .280 xBA and .464 xSLG. He also has surprisingly decent wheels with his sprint speed clocking in at the 75th perecentile, and could have stolen base upside if given the green light.
Daylen Lile, OF (Promoted) Getting promoted at age 22 aint' easy, but some kids are too good to leave at AAA. Daylen Lile is one of them. This right here is a 5-tool player with good potential to make a fantasy impact in the very near future, and has already flashed the goods in his very limited MLB sample size. But first we need to peek his AAA profile. .303 xBA. .439 xSLG. 63rd percentile barrel %. 60th percentile hard-hit %. Z-swing and z-contact both above the 80th percentile. 92nd percentile K rate, with a very respectable 52nd percentile BB%. I can go on and on about his statcast metrics, but you're not blind - we all see the sea of red from top to bottom. I don't need to bloat this with numbers. This kid dominated both AA and AAA to begin his 2025 campaign, and earned the promotion to the bigs. Now at the MLB, we already see some really good stuff beginning to emerge in the early goings of the season: 99th percentile whiff rate
99th percentile squared up %
75th avg. exit velo.
50th percentile hard-hit % (and bound to climb)
This kid is making contact with everything he swings at, and the ball is just flying off his bat. The power potential is pretty immense at only age 22, and it seems like the Nationals have a stud in the making here. All we need to do is sit back and watch as he adjusts to MLB pitching and begins to lift the ball.
Brett Harris, 3B
Harris played a brief stint at the MLB level in 2024 and did little with the opportunity. His .146 BA had him starting the 2025 camapaign in the minors in favor of Miguel Andujar. Still, there were some things we like about what he did even as he struggled, like his 98th percentile BB%, his 95th percentile chase %, and his 75th percentile squared up %. Basically, Harris was just fine at making contact with the ball and laying off bad pitches, but he struggled to hit the ball with any kind of power. This wasn't entirely unexpected, as even his AAA numbers suggested he didn't have much pop to go with the excellent bat-to-ball skills and plate vision.
Now it's 2025 and guess what - he's flashing significantly more power at AAA. So much so that the only thing preventing him from promotion is simply Miguel Andujar somehow hitting .300 in the year 2025. It kind of sucks because Harris is absolutely ready to make an MLB impact as he approaches his 27 birthday, with one of the sexiest AAA statcasts you'll see. There is hope though - Harris has seen reps at 2B, and Luis Urias seems to be falling back to earth after holding an .800ish OPS for the majority of the early part of the season. If Urias continues to struggle, it's entirely possible Harris sees the bigs soon. If he does, he's an easy add in deeper leagues.
----------------------------2024 time machineeeeeeeee----------------------------
Jacob Melton, OF
Now that...that's a fucking cute statcast boys. Wheel, snipe, celly - easy fucking call up, Astros. What are we doing here?
Melton approaches his 25th birthday with nothing left to prove at AAA, and frankly, the Astros need this kid. Melton is your prototypical 5-tool player and can succeed at every facet of the game. Jake Meyers is currently overachieving so his job is most likely safe. Cam's finally playing some decent baseball as of late, so he's safe. But Zack Dezenzo, who I like a lot, has simply been underwhelming when it comes to making contact with a baseball, and that's pretty important. Melton should be called up sooner rather than later and when he is, I'm adding without question. Not only does he have strong hitting ability, but the kid stole 30 bases between AA and AAA last year. This is league-winning upside.
Jesus Rodriguez, 3B Rodriguez has been making waves in the Yankees organization at a position that the Yankees desperately desire production from. Seriously, they're thinking about putting Jazz at 3B when he returns from injury. Jorbit Vivas has failed to carry over his awesome bat-t0-ball profile from AAA and Peraza continues to be Peraza, a bust by all means. Enter Jesus Rodriguez, who has come out of seemingly nowhere and is currently slashing .366 with a .900 OPS at AAA across 155 BAs. This kid has fantastic bat-to-ball skills with enough power to slap double after double. His launch angle is solid and you'll see that if you watch the video below, and he also has 8 SBs at AAA, rare speed for a 3B/C. He's built well, and there's potential for some pop in the future, but as it stands he's simply an excellent single/double machine with great OBP skills. Think Chase Meidroth, but in a much better Yankees lineup, if he gets promoted.
Chad Stevens
.302 BA .946 OPS
6 SB
9 HRs
If that sounds good, that's because it is. At the moment, this kid is easily the best Angel in their minor league system, and is approaching his 27th birthday no less. A promotion seems inevitable for an Angels team that is struggling to produce offense. Moncada has been surprisingly serviceable for the Halos, slashing to the tune of a .800+ OPS, but I don't believe he should be a roadblock to young upcoming Angels talent. But you know who really shouldn't be a roadblock? Jorge Soler, who has proven time and time again he can only hit LHP and is extremely underwhelming as far as DHs go. With Soler playing poorly and Moncada nursing a hand injury that keeps flaring up, it may be time to promote Stevens and let him rotate between 3B and DH.
