This Week In Baseball Debuts: The April Edition Welcome to the first issue of the This Week In Baseball Debuts newsletter. Inspired by a recent episode of Effectively Wild, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight the MLB debuts that have occurred in the past week. Our goal is to not only inform you about the top prospects you already know but give you some insight into some of the lesser know players who may only be up for a single cup of coffee. In putting this together we decided that we shouldn’t leave off any debuts that have occurred this year. In doing so we realized this would be to much for a single email. With that we decided the first issue will highlight all of the debuts that occurred in April and next week’s issue will highlight all debuts that occurred in the month of May. After that it will just be a weekly update that will be sent to your inbox every Sunday. In addition to this newsletter, a version of these profiles will also appear at Banished To The Pen. Adam Cimber, RP Team: San Diego Padres Debut: March 29, 2018 Adam Cimber is a right handed pitcher who was selected in the 9th round by the San Diego Padres in the 2013 MLB draft. Cimber is a righty side-arm pitcher. Cimber's pitches top out at around 90 mph. Debut Game Pitching: 1 IP | 3 H | 1 ER | 1 K | 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Ranking (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: NA / NA Fangraphs: NA / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Jordan Hicks, SP/RP Team: St. Louis Cardinals Debut: March 29, 2018 Jordan Hicks was a third round pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2015 MLB draft out of a Texas high school. He signed with the Cardinals for $600,000 bonus passing on a scholarship to Tulane. Hicks was a starting pitcher until he was promoted to High Palm Beach, where he made the first relief appearances of his professional career. He pitched 3 games in relief including getting a save. Until May 8, Hicks held the record for the fastest pitch of 2018. Unfortunately one of his 100+ mph was fouled off and severely injured Yadier Molina's testicles. Debut Game Pitching: 1 IP | 1 H | 0 ER | 1 K | 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 7 / NA Fangraphs: 11 / NA Baseball Prospectus: 6 / NA Tim Hill, RP Team: Kansas City Royals Debut: March 29, 2018 Tim Hill was drafted by the Kansas City Royals out of Bacone College in the 32nd round of the 2014 MLB draft. Hill missed the 2015 season after it was found that he had colon cancer during a routine checkup. He throws side arm because "I cannot really throw the ball overhand,” he said. Debut Game 0.1 IP 0 Hits 1 ER 0 K 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: NA / NA Fangraphs NA / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Yoshihisa Hirano, RP Team: Arizona Diamondbacks Debut: March 29, 2018 A 12 year professional in Japan, Yoshihisa Hirano was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017. Known for his three-quarters delivery, Hirano throws a mid-90s fastball and a forkball. He was the first overall pick of the 2005 NPB draft by the Orix Buffaloes. He was converted into a reliever in 2010 where he immediately found success. In 2011 he was named the NPB Middle Reliever of the Year and led the league in saves in 2014 and 2016. In 2017 he was a member of Japan’s World Baseball Classic team which lost in the semifinals. Debut Game Pitching: 0.1 IP | 1 H | 0 ER | 1 K | 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings MLB Pipeline: NA / NA Fangraphs: NA / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Brad Keller, RP Team: Kansas City Royals Debut: March 29, 2018 Brad Keller is a 6 foot 5 inch right handed pitcher from Georgia who was drafted out of high school in the 8th round by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2013. Taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2017 Rule 5 draft and then sold to the Kansas City Royals. In his MLB Debut on Opening Day, Keller struck out the very first batter he faced in the MLB, Adam Engel. Debut Game Pitching: 1 IP | 0 Hits | 0 ER | 1 K | 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team/Overall) MLB Pipeline: 30 / NA Fangraphs: NA / NA Baseball Reference: NA / NA Yairo Munoz, SS/3B Team: St. Louis Cardinals Debut: March 29, 2018 Acquired by St. Louis in the Stephen Piscotty trade this past winter, Munoz looks to be a utility bench bat for the Cardinals. While shortstop is his primary position, he has played second and third in the minors along with playing the outfield for the first time last year. Scouts have said he's had raw power but was more of a line drive hitter but after some changes in his mechanics he looks to become another swing change breakout player. He looks to only be with the big league club while Jedd Gyorko is on the DL. Debut Game Hitting: 1 PA | 1 AB | 0 H | 1 K Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 12 / NA Fangraphs: 6 / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Shohei Ohtani, SP/DH Team: Los Angeles Angels Debut: March 29, 2018 If you some how haven't heard of Shohei Ohtani yet I just have to assume you don't even know what baseball is. Already proving that he is both the best pitcher and the best hitter in Japan, Shohei Ohtani is attempting to become the first two way player in over a century. The Angels are letting him pitch once a week and DH all other games except for the day before, during, and after pitching. Debut Game Hitting: 5 PA | 5 AB | 1 H | 1 K Pitching: 6 IP | 3 H | 3 ER | 6 K | 1 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 1 / 1 Fangraphs: 1 / 1 Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Scott Kingery, SS/3B/OF Team: Philadelphia Phillies Debut: March 30, 2018 Scott Kingery was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 2015 MLB draft, he played in the 2017 Futures Game and for the season was the only player at the major or minor league level to have 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases. He signed a 6 year 24 million dollar contract extension before ever playing a MLB game. Kingery was a Louisville Slugger High School All-American, but was not offered a single NCAA D1 scholarship. He made the University of Arizona team as a walk-on. In his junior year, Kingery was named PAC-12 Player of the Year. Early in life Kingery tasted baseball success, his Little League team won the 2006 West Regional and made it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. Random Fact: Kingery has an identical twin, Sam, who also played college baseball. Debut Game Batting: 5 PA | 2 H | 1SB | 1K Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 2 / 34 Fangraphs: 2 / 25 Baseball Prospectus: 3 / 31 Braxton Lee, OF Team: Miami Marlins Debut: March 30, 2018 A 24 year old outfielder, Braxton Lee was selected in the 12th round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. Lee played his college ball at the University of Mississippi. The Rays traded him to the Miami Marlins in 2017 for Adeiny Hechavarria. Lee won the 2017 Southern League batting title and played in the 2017 Arizona Fall League All-Star game. Debut Game Hitting: 4 PA | 0 H Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 14 / NA Fangraphs: 13 / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Joey Lucchesi, SP Team: San Diego Padres Debut: March 30, 2018 Joey Lucchesi is a left handed pitcher who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres. Of 2016 MLB draftees, Lucchesi is the first pitcher to make it to the majors, and second player overall, Austin Hays was the first. Lucchesi's windup is referred to as "exhausting baseball yoga" by SBNation. Known to throw a change-up/curve hybrid he calls the "churve." Debut Game Pitching: 4.2 IP | 7 H | 3 ER | 1 K | 0 BB Player Pages Baseball Reference Fangraphs Prospect Rankings (Team / Overall) MLB Pipeline: 9 / NA Fangraphs: 7 / NA Baseball Prospectus: NA / NA Kazuhisa Makita, RP Team: San Diego Padres Debut: March 30, 2018 Kazuhisa Makita is a right handed pitcher who played 7 professional seasons in the NPB before signing a 2 year deal with the San Diego Padres in 2018. Makita was not drafted after college, so he played for the Nippon Express in the Japanese industrial leagues before being drafted by the Seibu Lions in the 2010 NPB draft. In 2011 Makita was named NPB Rookie of the Year after saving 22 games. He made the NPB All-Star game in both 2011 and 2013. Makita played for Japan in both the 2013 and 2017 World Baseball Classic. In 2014 he was part of a combined no-hitter by Samurai Japan, the Japanese national team, against an MLB All -Star team. Makita is a true submarine pitcher. His delivery has been compared to Chad Bradford. In 2016 he recorded what was the second slowest pitch in the NPB at 80 mph.