Gio Urshela

Urshela proved his out-of-nowhere 2019 breakthrough was not a fluke with a similarly productive performance last season. While his batting average took a slight dip (from .314 to a still-stellar .298), Urshela's xBA (.315) actually jumped 26 points, his walk rate (10.3%) was nearly double the 5.3% mark he posted the previous season and his strikeout rate dropped to a superb 14.4%. To boot, Urshela again ranked among the best defensive third basemen in the game, placing fourth among players at the hot corner with six defensive runs saved and posting the second-highest defensive runs above average among MLB third basemen. The 29-year-old has only moderate power and is not a threat on the basepaths, but he appears to have staked a claim as the everyday third baseman in a potent lineup, and his valuable on-base skills make him a viable selection in the middle rounds of mixed-league fantasy drafts.

In many ways Urshela was the unsung hero of the Yankees during the 2019 season, as he delivered a .314/.355/.534 slash line with 21 homers in 132 games. He provided some much-needed stability to a lineup that was ravaged by injuries throughout most of the year, and ended up starting 109 games at third base. He's a quality defender at the hot corner and represents a significant upgrade there over 2019 Opening Day third baseman Miguel Andujar (shoulder), who was limited to 12 games last season. Urshela entered the year with only eight home runs in 499 plate appearances for his career, but he posted a .219 ISO and 132 wRC+ in his first year with the Yankees. It's doubtful Urshela can fully replicate his breakout campaign, but he's now in position to secure a starting role in New York for 2020.

Urshela's performance last spring warranted a spot, but an injury suffered late in camp forced him to the disabled list to begin the season. After struggling at the plate during his rehab assignment, the Indians opted to designate him for assignment rather than put him on the big-league roster. The Blue Jays took a chance with him and he appeared in 19 games for the club, but his .233/.283/.326 slash line left much to be desired. As a result, Toronto also cast him off the 40-man roster before trading him to the Yankees in August. Urshela showed improvement at the plate with New York's Triple-A affiliate, but all in all, 2018 was a disappointing season. The 27-year-old makes pretty consistent contact (80.7% career contact rate), but he has middling power, a weak track record in the majors and no clear path back to the big leagues.

As his development as a minor-league player progressed to Triple-A for the first time in 2014, Urshela looked like a slick-fielding third baseman capable of exceeding the low expectations he brought to the table as a prospect, especially since he showed more power at the plate at Double-A and above. The Indians have turned to him in two of the last three seasons when injuries created a need for infield depth on their 25-man roster, but the results have been underwhelming to this point at the top level. Although he's done a nice job limiting strikeouts (17.7 percent K%), a .225/.273/.314 line over 453 plate appearances has left the door open for other players on the organizational depth chart to bypass him in the battle for leftover scraps of playing time. Additionally, Urshela didn't tear the cover off the ball during his time at Triple-A Columbus last year (.266/.321/.374), and increasingly, his future looks like that of a Quad-A player.

Urshela spent all of 2016 with Triple-A Columbus after playing 81 games for Cleveland in 2015 without much success at the plate. While he hit .274 against minor league pitching, Urshela didn't exactly light the world on fire, hitting just eight home runs and slugging .380 without stealing a single base. In addition, his 2016 numbers represented a decline from 2014 where he hit .276 while slugging .476 for Columbus. On the bright side, Urshela lowered his strikeout rate to 11.8 percent, down from 20.1 percent with the Indians. Still, his power numbers are headed in the wrong direction, a trend he'll need to reverse to put himself back on the club's radar as a potential big league starter. Meanwhile, 24-year-old third baseman Jose Ramirez broke out for a huge year for the Indians, and while Ramirez isn't an elite defender at third and could be moved in the future, Urshela will need to show more at the plate to earn another crack at the majors.

Urshela's bid to unseat Lonnie Chisenhall at the hot corner never got off the launch pad in spring due to a balky back and he opened the season at Triple-A Columbus. Chisenhall's slow start with both the bat and glove opened the door for Urshela, who was hitting .272/.298/.469 at Triple-A at the time of his recall in June. His inability to control the strikezone (18 walks, 58 strikeouts in 288 plate appearances) contributed to his offensive struggles with the Tribe as he posted a poor .608 OPS in 81 games for Cleveland. A nagging shoulder injury didn't help either but he, along with shortstop Francisco Lindor, helped solidify the Indians infield defense. After the Indians signed Juan Uribe to a one-year deal this offseason, Urshela will likely begin the year at Triple-A. He'll need to command the strikezone better and get himself into some good hitters' counts if he wants to take full advantage of his moderate power going forward. Unless Uribe gets hurt or struggles mightily, Urshela may have to wait until 2017 to get a crack at playing every day in the big leagues again.

Few third base prospects can match Urshela’s proximity to the big leagues. He played 24 games at Double-A Akron and 104 games at Triple-A Columbus last season, more than holding his own with the stick at both levels. He forced a promotion to Triple-A after slashing .300/.347/.567 with five home runs in just 24 games with Akron, and his numbers remained solid after moving up a level. Urshela hit .276/.331/.473 (.289 BABIP) with 13 home runs in 430 plate appearances with Columbus, and appears on the verge of making his big league debut. The incumbent at the hot corner, Lonnie Chisenhall, hit just .218 in the second half in 2014, and if he gets off to a slow start, Urshela figures to get the first crack at replacing him. While he will likely never put up elite power numbers for the position, he could settle in as a middling option there if he is playing every day.