Juan Yepez – 50 Future Value, strong offensive player best suited for 1B/DH
Hit: 55
Game Pwr: 60
Raw Pwr: 70
Plate Discipline: 55
Speed: 30
Athleticism: 30
1st Base Defense: 40
Arm: 55
There’s a lot to love with Yepez. A big boy, he looks surprisingly fluid swinging the stick, blasting majestic home runs with loose, easy bat speed. He uses a modest leg kick early in counts with good timing, then with two strikes gets wider with a tiny toe tap. Quiet hands lead to explosive extension with a one or two-handed finish. Defensive/athletic limitations make him best suited for 1st base and DH.
Even when he’s out in front of a breaking ball, Yepez can let go with one hand and pull it 330 feet for a homer down the line. Has good adjustability in his swing when fooled on a slider away thigh or belt high: he can reach out without having his legs under him and still barrel it 290 feet down the right field line for a double, when most guys are whiffing or popping up. Does have some chase, be it sometimes expanding even in a 2-0 count to chase a low and away slider or just getting jammed 2-1 on an inside fastball he should take. But if a pitcher’s gotten two whiffs on a breaker and thinks he can just get an easy strikeout with it out of the zone, Yepez often adjusts and takes it to work back into the count. He can barrel even a good low and away fastball for impressive right field swings. This ability to get to power on any pitch in any location allowed him to blast 34 homers in 134 games. Can crush 400+ footers to center and launch fly balls over the right field wall. two-seamers in on the hands or lefty cutters like Nick Vespi’s for multiple Yepez whiffs are a good way to counter that pop.
Defensively, I don’t see Yepez playing third base in the Majors. His range is well below average and he doesn’t have the feel/instincts to make up for it. He’s not able to hinge at the hips and get low like you’d want on the infield, and putting a slower athlete in the outfield is going to cost his team lots of runs. It’s a 1B/DH profile, and for someone who’s gotten reps at first base since he was 17, there are a high number of failed picks, including letting a ball thrown in the air clank off his glove during infields. Frequently caught flat-footed, Yepez finds himself in awkward positions on not particularly difficult grounders.
That said, Yepez has fantastic makeup: great clubhouse guy, always upbeat, speaks very good English so nice bridge between Latin and American players. Puts in time getting reps at 1B and 3B: solid concentration, but not the laser focus in those reps that I saw from someone like Triston Casas.
I predict Yepez will have stretches of big offensive production in the Show when people get really excited about him, but then stretches of average hitting when they remember his defensive limitations. Still a formidable bat to have, especially with DH presumably coming to the NL.
Gregory Santos — high-leverage Big League reliever with closer upside
Fastball – 70, 98-100 mph
Slider – 60
Command – 45
No pitcher was as imposing as Santos in this year’s Fall League. He abused hitters with a triple-digit fastball and a slider he can start at a righty’s head then end all the way on the outside corner. At 22 years old, he already has the stuff of a wipeout major league setup man or closer. Has surprisingly solid command to his glove side against righties; didn’t see him come in with the fastball the way I’d want him to reach his closer’s ceiling. Still, he ably executes the game plan of pitching both righties and lefties away, including backdoor sliders to lefties for called strikes. Only nine walks in 35 A-Ball innings as a starter in 2019 sets Santos apart from big flamethrowers who’ve never had an idea where the ball is going.
A physical specimen who has already maxed out his broad frame with big shoulders and legs, he is actually an awkward, uncoordinated athlete. He makes it work on the mound with simple mechanics, using a short stride to drive off a powerful front leg. Clean, full arm action. Seems to have scrapped the changeup now that he’s a reliever.
It’s worth noting that Santos only punched out 30 in 31 innings in ’21, but he was also a 22-year-old pitching in Triple-A, MLB, & the AFL. I see premium bat-missing stuff, and while I’m not projecting more muscle or velo, he can absolutely become more effective as he hopefully gets some continuity going over a full season after the COVID 2020 and PED suspension in ’21. Developing either the inside or upstairs heater will unlock that closer upside, but Santos will be a valuable late-inning guy even if he can’t quite get the most out of his massive tools.
Jose Tena – 45 FV, below average everyday SS
Hit: 55
Game Pwr: 45
Raw Pwr: 50
Plate Discipline: 40
Speed: 55
Athleticism: 60
SS Defense: 50
(2B Defense: 60)
Arm: 55
There is a much wider range of outcomes for Tena than the four Fall League hitters I’ve written up the past few weeks (Bleday, O’Hoppe, Nootbaar, & now Yepez). His upside is average everyday SS, but it’s also easy to see him just being a utility player. His calling cards are fast-twitch actions and hand-eye coordination, while his Achilles heel is plate discipline.
Tena’s hands had to move a long way before contact in 2019, but he’s simplified them a lot while getting more muscular during the pandemic. His hands lift up to the top of his helmet as he loads into his back leg, but now they only need a small trigger backward before jolting through the zone with bat speed (he used to take them well back away from his torso). He keeps the lower body quiet with a small, early step from a crouched position. Sometimes follows through with a wild one-handed finish behind his head.
Tena has lean strength and longer levers for only being listed 5'10", and that's a good thing because he can create more loft and power than you’d expect from a crouched, smaller guy. Legit pull power with 16 homers in just 106 games at High-A despite being two and a half years younger than the avg player and never having played above rookie ball before. Can drop the barrel for a snappy golf swing homer on down and in fastballs. Occasional home run power to right center, mostly doubles power to left.
The awful pitching and ridiculous league-wide walk rate of around 15% masked Tena's pitch recognition/discipline issues. He batted an impressive .387 with 10/10 K/BB (in a very small 18 game sample), but his 27 BB to 117 K in 447 High-A PA are more indicative of who he is. He’s a jumpy hitter, chasing 3-1 fastballs inside for whiffs or foul balls. He gets long and uppercutty, but in the Fall League did a decent job reigning it back in for simple line drives to all fields.
Tena’s biggest issue is a tendency to bend a lot on his front knee and lunge at tough pitches knee high or lower when it's not a two-strike count. Would love to see his ground ball rate because I fear in the Bigs too many grounders will bring him down to earth. That .387 AVG was buoyed by infield hits on weak choppers. Seems like less a mechanics issue than a pitch recognition issue. Tena hasn't learned something Triston Casas articulated: "There's a difference between the strike zone and my hitting zone." If Tena thinks he sees a strike, he's swinging, and at the moment the pitch recognition is below average so he ends up chasing balls. I think falling behind in the count will keep him from reaching 50 grade game power. He doesn't turn 21 till March, though, and the swing adjustments he’s made show some aptitude that will help him polish his approach somewhat.
I mostly just saw Tena play 2B, where he is very good. Makes plays look easy with range, athleticism around the bag, good mobility hinging down to field grounders. Tena has the arm to play shortstop and gets rid of the ball really quickly with fast transfers and a short catcher-like slot behind his head. It’s a stronger, more efficient version of Ozzie Ablies’ distinct arm action. Tena is athleticism over speed—the wheels play more as a baserunner than stealer.
Puts in his work and got along with teammates.
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(Photo Credit: Allison Rhoades/Peoria Chiefs PR)