Prospect Notebook: 4/21-4/26

Aaron Lichstrahl
7 minutes ago
5 min read

Enmanuel Tejeda

Line: 24 PA, 7 H, 2 2B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB, 6 K, 2 SB, .368/.478/.474 .952 OPS

Enmanuel Tejeda is a nifty player that has been on my radar for quite some time. Offensively, he has shown really good swing decisions, with above average contact. The main area lacking in his game has been his power. After a very rough first week of the season, Tejeda has had a much more normal two weeks. I watched some of his at-bats this week to see what has been going on.

Tejeda isn’t an intimidating figure at the plate. He stands roughly 5’10”, though his frame is already well filled out. This means that his power ability is just about maxed out, making him more of a projected 10 home run guy most likely. What stuck out most in his at bats were his swing decisions. While there are plenty of waste pitches seen in Low-A, he had some impressive takes. During his third at bat of the 4/22 game, Tejeda fell behind 0-2. After taking a waste pitch, he laid off two very competitive sliders to bring the count full, before working a walk. While I did witness a few bad chases, he did a good job of not expanding the zone. His ability to spit on pitches will give him a high floor because of an excellent walk rate.

What I wanted to see more of was his swing. Tejeda likes to bounce the bat off his shoulder pre-pitch, but has a nice, compact swing. In the games I saw, there were a few occasions where he took aggressive hacks in the zone early in counts. In the first game of the week, he fouled off two hittable pitches to begin the at-bat. While it ended in a groundout two pitches alter, I do love when a batter takes hacks in the zone.

I think the next step of Tejeda’s development is to swing more in zone. He has one of the lowest swing rates at the level, and while his zone swing rate is average, I’d like to see him hack more. It is a very similar story to George Lombard Jr. While Tejeda won’t have the power Lombard has, they very well might have the same quality of eye and zone contact ability. If Tejeda can start pulling balls on pitches In the middle of the zone instead of taking for strikes, we will see Tejeda blossom further at the plate.

Kaeden Kent

Line: 28 PA, 11 H, 1 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 3 SB, .423/.464/.692 1.156 OPS

Kaeden Kent struggled in his first taste of pro baseball at the end of the 2025 season. Part of this may have been the exhaustion coming off a long college season, but he did not perform to his scouting report. In the early weeks of the 2026 season, we have seen a more composed Kent.

Kent’s standout skill is he is an absolute grinder. He was fouling off so many pitches, both in the heart of the zone and the shadow. He worked several 6+ pitch counts, even getting into 8+ pitch at bats. While I don’t think his swing decisions are more than average, there were some chases on breaking pitches down and in as well as fastballs up, his ability to get bat to ball so effectively allows him to grind at bats to full counts and walk a respectable amount. He also avoids striking out too much since he is hardly whiffing. Of the three strikeouts I saw, 2 were chasing pitches down and in while one was a whiff in the zone.

Where Kent needs to improve is his bat path. His home runs this week were to deep center and right-center field, plus a roped liner to the right-center gap. This is what I hope to see more from Kent. A lot of his well-struck foul balls are going to left field. When he was pulling the ball, it was primarily on the ground to the 2^nd or 1^st baseman. Kent doesn’t project as a power hitter, profiling more as a 10-15 home run bat. The best way for him to get the most out of his bat is to start elevating it more. As things stand, he has a ground ball rate of ~45% and his split between pull and opposite field is nearly identical at ~ 42%. The next step for Kent in his development is to start turning some of those opposite field batted balls to center and right, as well as get the ball off the ground more when pulling it.

As things stand, I was clearly watching a hitter with an above average hit tool, average swing decisions, and below average power. Kent offers a lot of versatility defensively due to his ability to play just about every infield position, besides catcher. I’d be very curious if Kent could get some reps in corner outfield roles to further expand his versatility. If he can do this, as well as either tighten up the swing decisions or max out his power, Kent could project as a Ben Zobrist type utility player.

Eric Reyzelman

Line: 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 3 K, .00 ERA, 0.10 FIP

Eric Reyzelman was a promising relief prospect heading into the 2025 season, but things did not go according to plan. After positing a 22.3% BB rate in AAA, it was clear something was not working for the reliever. Still 24 years old and possessing upper 90’s fastball, the Yankees have sent him back to AA to help him recapture the form that made him look like a key piece of future Yankee bullpens.

Reyzelman was exclusively Fastball/sweeper in the two outings I watched this week. Although he does have a changeup for lefties, it is seldom used to begin with. The fastball is the driver for Reyzelman. While his three-quarters arm slot doesn’t allow the pitch to get the best iVB on the pitch, the horizontal movement and 96+mph heat make it an overwhelming pitch. His command of the pitch was solid. While there were some waste pitches (including the wild pitch that contributed to the unearned run), He was either in the zone or the shadow of the zone, able to generate a few chases. In the two outings, he threw 20 fastballs. Of the 20, he generated 6 whiffs.

The sweeper didn’t impress me too much. There were a lot of uncompetitive sweepers thrown. Surprisingly, he tried opening up 3 of the hitters he faced with the sweeper, with only one of them in the zone. The pitch does have some strong horizontal movement and can be a weapon when thrown properly. The early going for Reyzelman has been good, as he owns a 48.5% K rate to only a 6.5% BB rate, a big drop from his disastrous 2025 rate. His 63% strike thrown rate is also encouraging, as it is even slightly better than his 2024 rate when he dominated AA. I think this reset has been good for Reyzelman, but the real test will be when he gets back to his AAA. Can he shape up his sweeper so he doesn’t have to be so fastball dependent? If so, we can start viewing Reyzelman as a potential bullpen piece again.

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