Follow the Prospects: Yohandy Morales, 1B/3B

[nobleisthyname]

I'm not sure that purported hole makes him more vulnerable to MLB pitching than what House has shown.

Maybe the right thing is to give House a longer run, then give Morales his chance, then Wallace or perhaps Fitz-Gerald. However, I completely get that there a 40 man roster position squeeze right now so deferring adding Morales may make sense.

Fwiw Longenhagen never truly believed in House's bat either. So far he seems to have been right about that, which I think lends some credence to his Morales opinion as well.

[Slateman]

Not seeing the problem. Pitchers are throwing fewer four seamer today

[imref]

3-4, 2B, HR (#10) tonight playing 1st.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Interesting that Brian Daubach is the hitting coach for the Red Wings. His rep in the majors was that he had a slider speed bat. Iow, couldn't catch up with a good fastball. Still managed to have 3 or 4 20 HR years with the Red Sox either before or after Mo Vaughn. With the fastball knock on Morales, you wonder if Daubach is helping him around that.

[welch]

Spencer Nussbaum on YoYo in today's Athletic

Why not call up (third-base prospect Yohandy) Morales instead of Andrés Chaparro? — David G.
A few reasons.

One significant factor: They want to see him produce over a larger sample. His expected metrics, though very good, aren’t as strong as his surface-level numbers. He also hits a lot of baseballs into the ground, and the in-zone contact isn’t super high. They’re still working on his defense, same as they were for House. But I don’t want to sell his season short in any other way — there’s a lot of juice in his bat. The approach is a bit better this year, and he has a 1.056 OPS.

The most important detail here is that he isn’t on the 40-man roster. To make room, the Nationals would have to cut bait with someone or place them on the 60-day injured list. Chaparro is on the 40-man. So far, it seems like they’ve been careful not to add guys to the 40-man roster unless they have to, particularly on the position player side, because with that comes service time considerations.

Still, it might not be too far in the future that we see him.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7293593/2026/05/20/nationals-dylan-crews-brady-house/

[imref]

Grant Paulsen:

Had Yohandy Morales on Minors and Majors on @MLBNetworkRadio today.

⚾️ He credits the new Trajekt machines the Nats got at AAA for a lot of his success.

⚾️ He doesn't care if he plays 1B or 3B, whatever it takes to get to bigs. Has started at 1B since House came down.

⚾️ Gave Toboni love for the emphasis he and org puts on development.

[Lintyfresh85]

What was Rizzo doing/not doing with all the minor leagues that made them so awful all these years?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

What was Rizzo doing/not doing with all the minor leagues that made them so awful all these years?

generally, I think  they underinvested in the support equipment like Trajekt machines and the like so even when they drafted decent players, they didn't develop them completely. Add in some of the rushing of prospects, they probably burned through a lot of guys who could have been more than they ended up being. The Andrew Stevensons, Luis Garcias, maybe Victor Robles, etc...

[nobleisthyname]

The minor league coaching staff has also basically doubled I believe.

[blue911]

generally, I think  they underinvested in the support equipment like Trajekt machines and the like so even when they drafted decent players, they didn't develop them completely. Add in some of the rushing of prospects, they probably burned through a lot of guys who could have been more than they ended up being. The Andrew Stevensons, Luis Garcias, maybe Victor Robles, etc...

Simple misunderstanding of the word develop. After all one can develop both the disease and the cure.

[imref]

Guess who hit two more home runs tonight?

[GataNats]

Get this guy and House up. DFA both Vivas and Chgapparo

[IanRubbish]

Get this guy and House up. DFA both Vivas and Chgapparo

Could also DFA a couple relievers to make room for King and Morales on the 40 man.  Either way, someone's going to be the odd man out and these two can't stay in AAA all season.

[zimm_da_kid]

Gotta get him
Up soon. There’s no way he’s worse than Garcia, Tena, and vivas

[Slateman]

Gotta play the contracts

[welch]

Guess who hit two more home runs tonight?

Says the Red Wings page:

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and Rochester down to its final out, Morales delivered once again. The third baseman crushed his second home run of the night, a 426-foot blast with an exit velocity of 110.4 mph, tying the game at 8-8 and sending it to extra innings.

The Rochester Red Wings Player of the Game today is 3B Yohandys Morales. The former Miami Hurricane crushed two home runs and hit a double, going 3-for-5 Friday night. Morales improves his slashing line to .352/.428/.610 this season, with a team-leading 12 home runs and 33 RBI

[welch]

Nussbaum today:

Yohandy Morales (Triple-A Rochester, 24): Morales has a 1.027 OPS, but a lot of the underlying metrics are pretty similar to last year. He has increased his attack angle a bit, and is making harder contact when he lifts the ball. But he still needs to work on his in-zone whiff, chase rate and groundball rate before the Nationals feel comfortable with a promotion. (Unranked in the Nationals’ Top 20)

[imref]

#13

[Slateman]

Our prince's OPS dipped under 1.000 last night

[GataNats]

Hit another one.  It is to the point of criminality he isnt on the roster and Vivas is

[welch]

Hit another one.  It is to the point of criminality he isnt on the roster and Vivas is

Drop Tena from the 40-man. YoYo can DH, like Tena, and can field, unlike Tena. Nassim and Vivas are enough utility infielders.

[imref]

Morales is a RHB, if he comes up it means we've decided to DFA Chaparro.

Ortiz could come up as a primary LH/DH option, but he doesn't have the defensive flexibility of Vivas or Tena. His most likely path to the team is from trading Garcia Jr.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Fangraphs's Dan Szymborski runs one of their prominent projection systems, ZiPS. From his Thursday chat.

12:06    
crossedup: On the prospect side of the house; any prospects who’ve made significant projection gains this so far this year?

12:06    
Avatar Dan Szymborski: I can tell you in a minute, but it will be a couple weeks out of data since that was my first MEGA RUN

...

12:12    
Avatar Dan Szymborski: OK, as of 5/28

12:12    
Avatar Dan Szymborski: the most improved offensive wRC+ for guys 24 and under

12:12    
Avatar Dan Szymborski: Jordan walker, Jonah Cox, Victor Figueroa, Jason Schiavone, Mike Sirota, Luis Lara, Miguel Ugueto, Franklin Arias, Yohandy Morales

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/dan-szymborski-fangraphs-chat-6-11-26/

[welch]

Morales is a RHB, if he comes up it means we've decided to DFA Chaparro.

Ortiz could come up as a primary LH/DH option, but he doesn't have the defensive flexibility of Vivas or Tena. His most likely path to the team is from trading Garcia Jr.

Yes, I know. But Tena is "playing" DH, although he cannot hit.

[Slateman]

Morales could come up and DH full time, dumping Tena.