Dalton Wheat, Art Charles Top Loaded Indy Prospects List

Righty Danny Reynolds has touched 100 mph in the past and reguarly tops 95 mph. (Photo by Mike Janes)

The Baseball America Independent Leagues prospect list has entered its second decade. In its first 10 years, the list saw players like Daniel Nava and David Peralta go from unsigned indy ballers to big leaguers of some note. And as the 2016-2017 offseason begins, what is notable is how much talent now resides in independent ball.

The velocity jumps seen around baseball have filtered down to the independent leagues as well. In 2006, it was notable when an indy ball pitcher sat above 90 mph regularly. Nowadays there are whole bullpens filled with pitchers who can touch 95 or better.

This list was compiled in conversations with coaches around the independent leagues as well as scouts. Players who have already played in the big leagues are ineligible as are players who had signed with affiliated clubs by Oct. 1.

1. Dalton Wheat, of, Kansas City T-Bones (American Association)

Age: 22. B-T: L-R. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 185.

Wheat was an all-conference outfielder at Division II Emporia (Kan.) State, where he hit a team-best .391/.474/.613 with 19 steals in 25 attempts as a senior. Jumping straight from Emporia State to the T-Bones, Wheat then led Kansas City with a .335 batting average and a .414 on-base percentage. A lefthanded hitter, Wheat projects as a table-setter with plus-plus speed and solid plate discipline that should produce strong on-base numbers. He had an accurate arm with enough strength to play right field regularly for Kansas City but also played center. He can play all three outfield spots well enough to project as a potential fourth outfielder. Wheat has well below-average power despite size (6-foot-2, 185 pounds) and he hasn’t perfected bunting to utilize his speed.

2. Art Charles, 1b, New Jersey (Can-Am League)

Age: 25. B-T: L-L. Ht.: 6-6. Wt.: 260.

Charles was the best hitter in the Can-Am League by far. He won the triple crown, hitting .352 with 29 home runs and 101 RBIs, with a league-best .699 slugging percentage and a .461 on-base percentage that was second best in the league.

A big 6-foot-6, 230-pound lefthanded hitter with plus power, Charles had shown the ability to get to his power in affiliated ball. He finished second in the Florida State League in home runs in 2014 with 19 as a Phillies prospect, but his power always came with too many strikeouts and low batting averages.

But much like Balbino Fuenmayor before him, Charles improved the quality of his at-bats and saw his ability to hit for average improve in the Can-Am League. He’s a big target at first base who does a decent job of digging out low throws.

At 25, Charles is still young enough to at least serve as a solid upper-level organizational bat, with a chance to end up being something more thanks to his lefthanded power.

3. Jose Nivar, rhp, Laredo (American Association)

Age: 27. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-4. Wt.: 270.

Indy ball has never seen a bullpen like the one Laredo manager Pete Incaviglia put together in 2016.

At times, the Lemurs had four or five arms in their bullpen who could touch 95 mph or better.
None of them threw harder than Nivar. The 6-foot-4, 270-pound Dominican spent three seasons in the Orioles organization as an outfielder before being converted to a pitcher and spending three more seasons in Baltimore’s system. He made it to no further than low Class A before the Orioles released him in 2013 because of control troubles.

Nivar’s control still wavers, but he was around the zone much more consistently in Laredo this year with 76 strikeouts in 66 innings. Nivar’s extremely fast arm finishes with some recoil and his improved control is still below-average, but it’s hard to find pitchers who can touch 100 mph at their best, as Nivar did. He sits 96-98 mph regularly. His slider is still fringy although a move to the rotation did help improve it. In affiliated ball, he’s much more likely to be a reliever.

4. Chad Nading, rhp, Wichita (American Association)

Age: 29. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-6. Wt.: 235.

In the more than 50 years of the draft, only 20 players have been drafted from Alaska high schools. In 2006, Nading became one of those 20.

At stops both college (Oregon State, Nevada-Las Vegas) and minor league (Red Sox, Padres), Nading tried everything possible to find control. He toyed with different arm angles and different deliveries but nothing seemed to work. In 2015, Nading junked his submarine delivery and started taking advantage of his 6-foot-6 frame again by throwing over-the-top, but couldn’t get any team to sign him so he spent the year coaching high school and pitching in local men’s leagues.

Wichita gave him a chance this year and found he was 94-97 mph and around the zone for the first time. Nading went 0-1, 1.83 in the Wingnuts bullpen with 30 strikeouts and 17 walks in 39 innings.
Nading has no track record of success—this was the first time Nading posted an ERA under 8.90 in the U.S. since at least 2007. But he has a blazing fastball and for the first time threw enough strikes to make it work.

5. Jesse Beal RHP, Sussex (Can-Am)

Age: 26. B-T: B-R. Ht.: 6-6. Wt.: 245.

Beal hit minor league free agency at the worst possible time: he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. Understandably, Beal’s phone didn’t ring. So, he went to independent ball to show that his stuff had returned.

And it did. The former Orioles farmhand didn’t maintain his velocity as consistently as he would have liked, but he was back on the mound in July only 14 months after surgery. After being used with steady time off in July, Beal pitched on back-to-back days and then back-to-back-to-back days in August. He struck out 19 batters in his final 13 outings.

At his best Beal sat 91-94 mph and touched 97. He hasn’t fully regained the feel on his 12-to-6 curveball but it flashes average. He also has a fringy changeup.

6. Danny Reynolds, rhp, Laredo (American Association)

Age: 25. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-0. Wt.: 185.

A year ago, Reynolds was stuck in designated for assignment limbo. The Angels’ No. 14 prospect after the 2014 season, Reynolds was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers from the Angels, then by the Astros from the Dodgers and eventually by the Angels who got him back from the Astros.

But Reynolds went from pitching in big league spring training to out of affiliated ball when the Angels released him at the end of June. He signed with Laredo and immediately became one of the best relievers in the American Association. Reynolds struck out 27 and walked 3 in 16 innings with Laredo and posted a 1.69 ERA. He generally showed the same plus-plus fastball he showed with the Angels, where he had touched 100 mph in the past. With Laredo he sat 95-96 with run and sink and touched a little higher. Reynolds’ breaking ball needs work and until his brief stint in Laredo he was always wild, but arms like Reynolds usually get plenty of chances in affiliated ball.

7. Lindsey Caughel, rhp, Lincoln (American Association)

Age: 26. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-3. Wt.: 210.

Caughel pitched on the same staff as Jacob deGrom at Stetson and had a successful stint with the Dodgers, reaching Double-A, but he was released after throwing only one inning in 2015 because of labrum surgery. In his first exposure to indy ball, Caughel dominated with a variety of average offerings, all of which played up because of his ability to sequence and locate them.

Caughel’s fastball sat at 89-92 mph with above-average command. It lacks life but he does generate good angle on his heater. He uses the fastball to set up an average slider. He does a good job of making the slider look like his fastball out of the hand and commands it enough to throw it no matter if he is ahead or behind in the count. He mixes in a fringy overhand curveball that works as an early-count strike and adds in an average changeup that again plays up because of his command of it.

Caughel is the kind of strike-thrower who could follow a similar path to Patrick Johnson. Johnson was signed by the Pirates last offseason after a dominating season in Sioux City, then was picked by the Marlins in the minor league Rule 5 draft. He went 8-7, 3.37 for Double-A Jacksonville this year thanks to excellent control.

8. Austin Crutcher, of, Utica (United Shore Professional Baseball League)

Age: 23. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-2. Wt.: 200.

One of the impressive stories of the 2016 independent leagues season was the solid work of the first-year USPBL. The league said it would emphasize player development and scouts who cover independent leagues were impressed with how it lived up to its promises. The league used video and
development programs to increase pitchers’ velocities and tweak hitters swings.

Crutcher was one of the league’s success stories. Undrafted out of Division II Bellarmine (Ky.) College after he ranked among Division II national leaders in home runs (16) and stolen bases (29), Crutcher was the league’s co-MVP after he hit .301/.385/.624 with 15 home runs and 19 stolen bases. Crutcher is a plus runner but is limited to left field because of his arm.

9. Andrew Potter, rhp, Utica (USPBL)

Age: 22. B-T: R-R. Ht.: 6-1. Wt.: 210.

Potter was one of the USPBL’s best arms. A 31st-round pick of the Diamondbacks out of high school in 2012, he never had success at any of his four stops in the low minors before he was released because he didn’t throw strikes, which led to too many hittable fastballs in bad counts. He had similar problems with Southern Illinois and Evansville this year, walking 17 in 17 innings. But with Utica he walked only three in 18 innings, striking out 21 and posting a 0.98 ERA.

Potter sits at 93-94 mph with good life on his fastball and also works in an 83-85 mph slider. If he’s throwing strikes he has the stuff to be a useful reliever, although his long track record of wildness understandably leaves room for concern, no matter how good his 18 innings in Utica were.

10. Jordan Mills, lhp, Quebec (Can-Am)

Age: 24. B-T: L-L. Ht.: 6-5. Wt.: 210.

Mills was released by the Astros after pitching relatively effectively in three years split between short-season ball and low Class A. He was extremely effective in his first year with Quebec as a somewhat funky, tall lefty reliever. He went 6-0, 1.96 with 51 strikeouts and 20 walks in 55 innings.

Mills sits 88-92 mph with a plus changeup that generates the majority of his strikeouts. He’s likely a lefthanded reliever if he gets back to affiliated ball, the role he filled with the Astros.

BEST OF THE REST

11. Trevor Richards, rhp, Gateway (Frontier)
12. Nik Turley, lhp, Somerset (Atlantic)
13. Nolan Meadows, of, Normal (Frontier)
14. Torey Deshazier, rhp, Utica (USPBL)
15. T.J. Mittelstaedt, of, Wichita (American Association)
16. Randy Wynne, rhp, Birmingham (USPBL)
17. Chris Power, c/of, East Side (USPBL)
18. David Vidal, 3b, Somerset (Atlantic)
19. Corey Bass, c, Windy City (Frontier)
20. Kyle Simon, rhp, New Britain (Atlantic)
21. Mike Dowd, c, Long Island (Atlantic)
22. Jarret Leverett, lhp, New Britain/Long Island (Atlantic)
23. Harold Guerrero, lhp, Laredo (American Association)
24. Connor Crane, of, Trois Rivieres (Can-Am)
25. John Walter, rhp, New Jersey (Can-Am)
26.Daniel Cordero, rhp, Ottawa (Can-Am)
27. Tyler Alexander, lhp, Fargo-Moorhead (American Association).
28. Markus Solbach, rhp, Rockland (Can-Am).
29. Alex Gouin, rhp, Rockland (Can-Am).
30. Jon Pusateri, rhp, Gateway (Frontier).
31. Junior Arrojo, ss, Rockland (Can-Am).
32. Chris Jacobs, 1b/3b, Sussex (Can-Am).
33. Adam Eggnatz, rhp, Gateway (Frontier)
34. Brett Wiley, 2b, Kansas City (American Association).
35. Santiago Chirino, ss/2b, Normal (American Association).