Starling Heredia

Heredia made his stateside debut in the AZL and 26 games later he had earned a promotion to the Midwest League. The story isn’t that he struggled in 26 games at Low-A, but rather that he did so much damage over five weeks in the AZL and Pioneer League that the only way the Dodgers could give him a challenge was to promote him to Great Lakes. Of course, the .562 BABIP he posted in his 124 plate appearances in rookie ball inflated his numbers, and he needed the dose of reality that Low-A pitchers provided. He can look overmatched when he gets into a pitcher’s count, but that is not unusual for 18-year-old power hitters. While he has sneaky speed now, his body is quite thick (6-foot-2, 200 pounds), so he won’t steal many bases when he reaches the majors in three or four years. It is a power/batting average profile that will only fit in an outfield corner. His plus power to all fields is not debatable, but we should find out a lot more about his hit tool this season.