crawford-imagn-images.png
Imagn Images

July is just around the corner, making this the time of the year where teams and their fans start thinking about potential trades to shore up their rosters. 

For some contenders, though, the answer to their problems is contained within -- not in a zen sense, but in the personage of a prospect they employ in their minor-league system. In the last couple of weeks, the Seattle Mariners (Cole Young), Boston Red Sox (Marcelo Mayer), and Kansas City Royals (Jac Caglianone) have each brought up notable prospects in an attempt to boost their big-league rosters.

Just which contenders might be next -- and which prospects might they promote? Below, CBS Sports has focused on four potential answers. 

1. Bryce Eldridge, 1B, San Francisco Giants

Eldridge, the 16th pick in the 2023 draft, won't celebrate his 21st birthday until after the season. That hasn't stopped him from making a rapid ascent. He debuted in Triple-A last week after hitting .280/.350/.512 across 34 Double-A games. The promotion was merited, but the timing was interesting as it coincided with the Giants replacing one lefty-hitting first baseman (LaMonte Wade Jr.) with another (Dominic Smith). Eldridge is also a sinister first baseman. Just saying.

So yes, with due respect to Smith, it's only natural to wonder how long the Giants will give him before turning the cold corner over to Eldridge. My guess is a few weeks. Eldridge is always going to strike out a fair amount (he was around 28% in Double-A) on account of his 6-foot-7 frame. He has the on-base and power traits to atone for a lower average, but there's no harm in exposing him to Triple-A pitching a little more before pressing the button on his promotion.

2. Justin Crawford, CF, Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies haven't received much production from their outfield this season. Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas both have an OPS+ below 80, and perpetual breakout candidate Max Kepler isn't faring much better. Crawford, for his part, is hitting .349/.416/.448 with 23 steals in Triple-A. In theory, it makes sense for the Phillies to give Carl's son (yes, really) a look out there sooner than later. In practice, well … Crawford is a tough prospect to get a handle on beyond his surface-level stats.

The short version goes like this: Crawford's swing plane results in an extreme amount of ground-ball contact -- to the extent that he might immediately become the biggest worm killer in the majors upon his promotion. His average launch angle entering Monday was 0.5 degrees, which would be the lowest among qualified MLB hitters. Only four players with at least 100 plate appearances this season are lower than 1 degrees: Jake Mangum, José Tena, Jacob Young, and Jose Iglesias -- and half of them have an OPS+ in the 70s. (Mangum and Tena are both above 90 for now.) It's hard to be a successful big-league hitter when your power is limited to hustle extra-base hits.

Crawford is very fast and he does have actual strength (his average exit velocity is around 90 mph), but it's probably fair to wonder what, exactly, his game looks like in the majors until (and if) he makes some adjustments that allow him to better leverage his power.

3. Samuel Basallo, C/DH Baltimore Orioles

Don't look now, but the Orioles are on a bit of a tear. They entered Monday having won seven of their last nine games to improve their record to 26-38. That's still a far cry from where they were expected to be, and there's still a ton of work to be done if they want to salvage their season (they're 8 ½ games back of a playoff spot). But hey, it's a start, at least.

At some point this summer, the Orioles are going to unleash Basallo on big-league pitchers. He's regularly catching again after being limited earlier in the year by elbow and hamstring injuries. You wouldn't know he's dealt with any maladies based on how he's hit. Coming into Monday, he's batting .252/.365/.595 with 13 home runs and a 14.7% walk rate in 39 games. His average exit velocity is 93.8 mph and he's cleared the 95 mph mark on more than 57% of his batted balls.

There are nits to pick here, of course. Basallo's game features plenty of swing-and-miss and chase, and scouts have long questioned if it makes sense to continue attempting to make him into an everyday catcher. These Orioles wouldn't need to do that in order for Basallo to have a home in the lineup. As it stands, Baltimore has been rotating Adley Rutschman between catching and DH duty, resulting in Maverick Handley getting more action than he probably should. You don't need Rodrigo Fresán's creativity to figure out a way for Basallo and Rutschman to split catching duties.

That isn't to say the Orioles should do it. There are long-term considerations at play here. But if the Orioles want to sustain or even build upon their recent momentum, replacing Handley with Basallo might be one way to do it.

4. Harry Ford, C/OF, Seattle Mariners

The Mariners recently brought up one top prospect in an attempt to lengthen their lineup, inserting Cole Young as their everyday second baseman. Might they take to viewing Ford as a potential solution in right field? (Leody Taveras, claimed off waivers in May, has hit just .174/.198/.272 in 28 games with the Mariners.) I'm not so sure, but it's worth a thought.

Ford is in the midst of his first season at Triple-A, where he's hitting .315/.429/.464 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts. He's caught exclusively to date, but he did spend some time in the outfield last year. He's certainly athletic enough to make things work on the grass.

The dilemma here is that the Mariners likely don't want to disrupt Ford's development behind the plate for the short-term offensive boost he could offer. At the same time, Cal Raleigh isn't going anywhere -- both because he's having an MVP-caliber season and because he signed a long-term extension in the spring. If the Mariners view Ford as more than a trade chip, it stands to reason they're going to need to get creative to fit him into the lineup alongside Raleigh.

Having Ford take up the outfield, and perhaps sooner than later, is one such way to do it.