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It's hard to believe that we're getting so close to the end of the season. We've got five more weeks until the end of the regular season, and I swear it feels like it should still be early July.
It's a shame though that we no longer see as large of a roster expansion in September anymore. That was always a great time to be able to take a look at some of the up-and-coming prospects, and start planning on who to target in the next season's draft. Now, we only get to see the rosters expand to 28 players, and while there will still be some prospects who get their chance to shine in September, it's not as certain who we'll get to see.
And so now let's take a look at who to watch for in Week 22. Maybe one of these players will get the chance at a September call-up? The first guy on this list seems to be a pretty good bet at getting a shot. Let's dive in.
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Rylan Bannon - 2B, Baltimore Orioles
Level: Triple-A
2021 stats: 58 G, .173/.277/.421, 14 HR, 7 SB, 33 RBI, 33 R
Simply put, Bannon has had a rough year at the plate. He's hitting .173 with a .698 OPS over 58 games, and at one point had a 12-game hitless streak across the end of July and beginning of August. However he has turned things around significantly this month, as over his last 13 games he's slashing .349/.440/1.000 with nine homers, two steals, 17 RBI and 10 runs scored, while also posting a 12:7 K:BB ratio. One interesting note is that despite his struggles at the plate, he's still managed to boost his walk rate from 9.4 percent in 2019 to 12.1 percent this season.
Bannon has shown potential to be a 20-homer, 10-steals threat in the future, and should be able to hit for a solid average. Obviously though, his poor showing through the first half of this year have raised some questions about his future potential. But given how he's clicking right now, it's very possible the slow start was just a result of getting back up to speed following the cancelled 2020 campaign. Given the fact that Baltimore is in the midst of a rebuild, there could be room for him to be competing for a spot on the Opening Day roster in 2022.
Jake McCarthy - OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Level: Triple-A
2021 stats: 82 G, .252/.333/.489, 13 HR, 29 SB, 48 RBI, 60 R
After spending all of 2019 at High-A, McCarthy has split time this year between Double-A and Triple-A and has consistently been putting up good numbers at the plate. While he looked solid at Double-A, he's been putting up even better numbers at Triple-A where he's raised his batting average 20 points to .261 and dropped his strikeout rate from 29.5 percent to 22.9 percent. Along with that, he's maintained the power and speed he showed at Double-A with seven homers and 12 steals in 47 games. Those numbers have been helped in part by a red-hot streak he's been riding in August, where he's slashing .314/.368/.686 with six homers, four steals, 18 RBI and 15 runs scored across 19 games.
There's no doubt McCarthy has some great speed potential. The main question is whether or not this power surge he's experiencing this year will last. With 13 homers and a .505 slugging percentage, he has completely shattered his previous career-bests of three home runs and a .443 slugging percentage. If he finishes out this year strong, and opens up 2022 with a similar performance, we could see him very quickly rise to the majors early on in the season. Managers should keep an eye on him, and potentially consider him as a late-round flyer in deeper drafts next year.
Connor Seabold - SP, Boston Red Sox
Level: Triple-A
2021 stats: 8 GS, 1-3, 3.65 ERA, 1.027 WHIP, 31.2 K%, 37 IP
Seabold has missed a large chunk of this season while dealing with elbow inflammation, but now that he's back on the mound he's back to putting up some nice numbers across the board. It took him a couple starts to shake the rust off, but he's been dominating now over his last four starts, posting a 2.35 ERA, 0.739 WHIP and 34.1 percent strikeout rate over 23 innings of work. And obviously we're dealing with a small sample size, but so far Seabold's 31.2 percent strikeout rate is his best mark since his pro debut in 2017 where he posted a 35.1 percent rate in 10 innings of work at Low-A Williamsport.
If the minor league season wasn't cancelled last year and if he hadn't missed so much time this season with the elbow injury, it's very possible we could've seen him in Boston by now. The biggest positive sign in his favor is the fact that despite all the missed time, he hasn't let that slow him down at all on the mound. Seabold has to be one of the better pitching prospects heading into 2022, and managers need to keep a close eye on him going forward.
CJ Alexander - 3B, Atlanta Braves
Level: Double-A
2021 stats: 76 G, .179/.241/.358, 10 HR, 13 SB, 27 RBI, 27 R
It's been a rough year for the former 20th round pick, but even with the poor numbers he's still put up better results than what he had in 2019. He's managed to raise his average 62 points from 2019, while also increasing his OPS from .425 to .599. There's no way to sugarcoat the rough numbers from the entire season, however he appears to finally be putting things together at the plate this month. Over 16 games in August, Alexander is slashing .294/.321/.627 with three homers, six steals, six RBI and and eight runs scored.
Alexander dealt with injury in 2019, and between that and the cancelled 2020 season, I'm willing to give Alexander a mulligan on this season if he can continue to put up good numbers down the stretch. He's a guy to keep an eye on in deeper formats, as he could become a decent power-speed combo at the majors.
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