The best time of the year is officially here: We've reached the stretch run of the MLB season. All 162 games might mean the same in the grand scheme of things, but they certainly feel more important in August and September. For that reason, Milwaukee Brewers fans are on top of the world while New York Yankees fans are in shambles right now.
August and September are months where fans want to see the star players on their respective teams step up, but those are also months where we might see these four high-end prospects get their long-awaited call-ups and impact what project to be very close playoff races.
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4) Payton Tolle, Boston Red Sox
At 65-54, the Boston Red Sox hold the second Wild Card spot in the American League and are 4.0 games back of the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. They're sitting in a playoff spot fairly comfortably right now, but can still improve their standing over the final month and a half of the regular season. Promoting Payton Tolle could help them potentially steal the division away from Toronto and earn one of the top three seeds in the American League.
Tolle might not have generated many headlines outside of Boston ahead of the season, but his stock has soared rapidly to the point where he's now the No. 28 overall prospect on MLB Pipeline's updated top-100 list. The 22-year-old southpaw began the season in High-A but has worked his way up to Triple-A and has a 3.31 ERA with 119 strikeouts in 18 appearances and 81.2 innings overall. Oh yeah, and this season is his first taste of pro ball. He's been nothing short of dominant.
Promoting a player who began the year in High-A to the Majors would be pretty unheard of, but why not do it if you're Boston? The team has exceeded expectations in the minds of some, especially given the fact that Rafael Devers was traded away, and Tolle can give them one last jolt. Whether he's a premier late-game reliever or a starter would remain to be seen, but Tolle can excel in either role and help the Red Sox finish their season strongly.
3) Nolan McLean, New York Mets
The New York Mets excelled in the first half of the season largely because of their starting rotation, but that unit has struggled mightily for a couple of months now. David Peterson is the only starter capable of going beyond five innings, and the other four starters are struggling to even complete five frames at all. The Mets will and should bet on bounce backs from guys like Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes, but it's been time to remove Frankie Montas from their rotation.
Montas signed a two-year deal to be a starter for the Mets over the offseason, but he has a 6.38 ERA in eight appearances for New York so far and things haven't exactly gotten better for the right-hander.
Conversely, it feels like McLean is only getting better. The right-hander has a 2.78 ERA in 16 appearances for Triple-A Syracuse this season, and has a 2.45 ERA in 21 appearances overall. The 24-year-old has allowed two earned runs or fewer in all but two of his Triple-A appearances and has done so in each of his last four outings. He's been consistently dominant.
Sure, the jump from Triple-A to the Majors might be large, but McLean cannot be much worse than Montas. At this point, the reeling Mets have nothing to lose. McLean should be in the Majors and replace Montas in the rotation as soon as this upcoming Friday. The Mets need wins, and McLean gives them the best chance to win in Montas' spot right now.
2) Trey Yesavage, Toronto Blue Jays
Trey Yesavage is another 2024 draftee who began his professional career this season and has gone all the way from Single-A to Triple-A. Yesavage has a 3.01 ERA in 19 appearances (18 starts), and fanned 134 batters in 80.2 innings of work. Yesavage has also struck out 15 batters per nine, which is unfathomable for a starting pitcher.
What's most intriguing about Yesavage is that his last appearance came out of the bullpen, and he delivered five innings outstanding innings before immediately getting promoted to Triple-A. Might the Toronto Blue Jays, a team that could use more firepower in its 'pen, use Yesavage, a dynamic right-hander, in relief down the stretch?
Yesavage would immediately become one of MLB's elite strikeout artists the second he steps foot in the Majors, and working out of the bullpen might allow his already premier stuff to perk up a bit. The Jays are leading their division, and if they think Yesavage is ready to pitch against big-league competition, they shouldn't be shy when it comes to pulling the trigger.
1) JJ Wetherholt, St. Louis Cardinals
Yes, the St. Louis Cardinals sold at the deadline, but they're still just 3.5 games back of a playoff spot as of this writing. The odds are obviously against them to make it, but they're absolutely in the race given the Mets' struggles. Promoting a guy like JJ Wetherholt, MLB Pipeline's No. 6 overall prospect, could give them the boost they need to steal the final Wild Card spot in the NL.
Wetherholt is slashing .299/.417/.505 with 13 home runs, 47 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 83 games this season, the last 21 of which have come for Triple-A Memphis. Wetherholt looked great in Double-A, and as his 1.009 OPS and six home runs (in just 78 at-bats) so far at the level would suggest, he's only been better in Triple-A.
Whether inserting him into the lineup means benching a veteran like Nolan Arenado or a young player like Jordan Walker remains to be seen, but it would not be shocking to see the Cardinals give Wetherholt, a potential franchise cornerstone, a chance to contribute in a pennant race sooner rather than later given how he's played.