Minor Leaguers who will impact NL West

While most of the attention is on players already at the big league level, there’s no question that some Minor Leaguers will get the call to the Show at some point this season and will make a significant impact.

The Dodgers, winners of the last eight National League West titles, have gotten plenty of key contributions from players in the Minors during their run atop the division. The Padres, D-backs and Giants have some of the best farm systems in baseball and will surely utilize them to try and dethrone the Dodgers.

With that being said, let’s take a look at some Minor Leaguers who could make a big impact in the NL West division race this season.

D-backs: RHP Corbin Martin

Martin, the team’s No. 7 prospect, was the prized piece of the 2019 Trade Deadline deal that sent Zack Greinke to the Astros. The D-backs had actually talked to the Astros about Martin the previous December when Houston was looking to acquire Paul Goldschmidt. When he joined the D-backs, Martin was not that far removed from Tommy John surgery. He spent last summer building back up his arm strength at the alternate training site and the D-backs finally got to see him in game action this spring. With a rotation that has already experienced injuries, chances are the D-backs will be looking for help at some point this year and don’t be surprised if Martin gets the call. -- Steve Gilbert

Dodgers: C Keibert Ruiz

We’re cheating a little bit here because Ruiz just joined the big league club. But he only has two at-bats so far this season with his first one resulting in a home run. The Dodgers will need to figure out how to give Ruiz at-bats with Will Smith and Austin Barnes on the roster. Ruiz will likely bounce between Triple-A and the Majors this season, but he has shown that he could be an impact bat in a lineup that has surprisingly struggled so far this season. -- Juan Toribio

Giants: RHP Camilo Doval

The Giants’ bullpen is short on established back-end arms at the moment, so the club has been asking a lot from young relievers like Doval, who has already been thrust into quite a few high-leverage situations since making his Major League debut last month. Ranked the Giants’ No. 24 prospect by MLB Pipeline, the 23-year-old Doval has the pure stuff to be a future closer, but he never pitched above Class A ball in the Minors and is bound to experience some growing pains in his rookie season. Still, the Giants are confident Doval’s triple-digit fastball and nasty slider will play in the Majors and allow him to develop into a key piece of their bullpen this season. If Doval can continue to take steps forward and maintain his poise in the late innings, he could end up filling a big hole on the roster and give manager Gabe Kapler another dependable right-handed reliever behind Tyler Rogers. -- Maria Guardado

Padres: LHP MacKenzie Gore

Gore has yet to be called up this season despite a spate of pitching injuries, and the reasons behind that decision have been covered ad nauseum. That doesn’t mean Gore won’t make an impact this year. Quite the opposite, in fact. The Padres want Gore to find a groove in the Minors after spending 20 months without regular starts. If and when he does, he’s almost certainly going to be called upon for innings at the back of a Padres rotation that still has quite a few question marks. The Padres are going to treat Dinelson Lamet and Ryan Weathers with extreme caution this season for different reasons. Neither of those two is going to come anywhere close to 30 starts this year. If there’s one person those starts are most likely to fall to, it’ll be Gore. -- AJ Cassavell

Rockies: LHP Ryan Rolison

The Rockies have been purposeful in making sure Rolison, the top pick in 2018, checks off all the assignments. They brought him to Summer Camp and alternate camp last year, and made no move toward bringing him to the Majors -- even after the season was lost. An offseason of working on his body and honing his delivery so the various pitches came from the same arm motion and as similar spots as possible led to a Spring Training of more of the same. Rolison's assignment was to force his way into the Majors because he was ready, not because of need. Well, in his first start at Double-A Hartford, Rolison struck out seven and gave up just one run in five innings. There is time for him to meet the rest of the requirements, make it to Denver and show the polish the Rockies believe he can develop. -- Thomas Harding