Jordan Lawlar Continues to Progress In Amarillo
As the second installment of the midseason farm system update, we move on to the Diamondbacks' Double-A affiliate Amarillo. Like Reno, Amarillo is an extreme offensive environment due to elevation, swirling winds, and a short right field fence. It is a tempting offensive environment for hitters to try to hit home runs and can be intimidating for pitchers to handle.
Hitters
Jordan Lawlar has had a very up-and-down season. After a hot start to the season in the first three weeks, he went through a lengthy slump between April 20th and May 21st. Over that stretch he hit .110 with a strikeout rate of nearly 40%. Since then, the strikeout rate has been under 15% while hitting .315 with a .951 OPS. His overall season numbers aren't great, hitting .242 with 11 home runs and a .799 OPS, but we have to look at the progression.
Ryan Bliss has been the biggest surprise, as his bat has come alive this year. He will be joining Lawlar for this year's Futures game. He got off to a hot start to the year, hitting over .360 with an OPS over 1.000 in both April and May, but cooled off a bit in June. Despite the average dropping to .274 for the month, the strikeouts decreased and the walks increased. He is an interesting prospect, depending on what type of value he may provide with the glove, but is currently blocked at second by Ketel Marte, who is in the second year of a five-year extension signed last month. He could be a prospect Arizona sells high on at the deadline.
Deyvison De Los Santos has struggled in his first year in Amarillo. The 20-year-old slugger has had trouble elevating the ball, with a 58.7% ground ball rate according to FanGraphs. The combination of a lot of pull-side ground balls along with below-average strikeout and walk rates, makes me skeptical that he'll pan out at the MLB level. However we also have to consider De Los Santos is well below the average age for the level and has one elite tool that could get him to the big leagues. He was brought back to the complex after struggling for three months, in order for him to take a more consistent approach. They'll have to make a decision on adding him to the 40-man roster in November.
A.J. Vukovich has had a solid season with Amarillo, hitting .272 with 15 home runs. The main concern is a 29% strikeout rate, which limits his ceiling as a power hitter, along with some pretty big home/road splits on the season. On this club, he is a potential right-handed DH/corner outfield option although he's hit righties harder than lefties in his minor league career so far. Despite those warts, Vukovich is a solid athlete who has enough range to handle the outfield.
Pitchers
Luke Albright is an interesting arm. His stuff could play in the big leagues, as evidenced by a solid 25% strikeout rate. He's had issues with walks (12.1%) which have ballooned his ERA up to 5.64 on the season. The key for Albright to stick in the rotation will be to limit the walks, otherwise he may be a bullpen conversion candidate next season. As a reliever he can focus on just the fastball and breaking ball.
