Baseball America Prospect Report — Aug. 14, 2020
Image credit: Luis Patino (Denis Poroy/Getty)
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Boston Red Sox
— Infielder Jonathan Arauz, the Red Sox’s selection in last year’s Rule 5 draft, continued his hot streak on Thursday with two hits. The 22-year-old infielder is eight for his first 23 at-bats (.348) to start his big league career. He did, however, commit the first error of his career.
— Lefthander Kyle Hart made his big league debut and got hit around by the Rays. Hart, a 27-year-old whom the Red Sox selected in the 19th round in 2016 out of Indiana, gave up seven runs (five earned) in two innings while walking three and striking out four. His first two strikeouts were back-to-back punchouts of Hunter Renfroe and former all-star Brandon Lowe.
Chicago Cubs
—No. 2 prospect Nico Hoerner doubled and scored a run in the team’s win over the Brewers. The second baseman hit a leadoff double in the first inning and touched home two groundouts later. Hoerner, who is hitting .243 with two doubles and six RBIs, is in the midst of a 2-for-19 slump in his last seven games.
Cincinnati Reds
—Shogo Akiyama went 0-for-3 and was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of the team’s loss to the Pirates. The No. 8 prospect snapped his five game hitting streak, during which he was 5-for-15 with a double, triple, three walks and an RBI. Although Akiyama struggled with the bat, he stood out with his glove, making a leaping catch in the fifth inning to save an extra base hit that would have scored two. The outfielder, who had a .301/.376/.454 slash line in nine seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball League, is hitting .229/.327/.313 with three runs, three RBIs and a stolen base.
Los Angeles Dodgers
—No. 12 prospect Dennis Santana pitched 1.2 scoreless innings in the team’s win over the Padres. The righthander, who is 1-0, 2.89 with 11 strikeouts in 9.1 innings, allowed a hit and struck out one.
—No. 14 prospect Edwin Rios went 0-for-2 as a substitute for third baseman Justin Turner. Rios has made the most of his scant playing time, hitting three home runs and driving in six in 24 at-bats.
New York Mets
— No. 13 prospect David Peterson continued his stellar work in his rookie season. With five innings of one-run ball against the Nationals, the lefthander moved to 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA. One of his three strikeouts earned him a couple of spots on Pitching Ninja.
— Second baseman/shortstop Andres Gimenez went 1-for-3 with a run, a stolen base and a walk in the team’s win over the Nationals. The No. 6 prospect has put together a modest three-game hitting streak and has gone 6-for-20 over his last five games.
Philadelphia Phillies
— Third baseman Alec Bohm made his much anticipated big league debut and wasted no time getting himself in the hit column. The No. 2 prospect finished the day 1-for-4 with a whiff, but Thursday marked the beginning of what evaluators think could be an excellent career.
— Righthander Connor Brogdon also made his big league debut on Wednesday. He gave up a pair of longballs to Pedro Severino and Rio Ruiz in 1.1 innings before yielding to … Neil Walker. He also recorded his first two career strikeouts—Pat Valaika and Anthony Santander—in the Phillies’ loss to Baltimore. Brogdon, the Phillies’ 10th-round selection in 2017 out of Lewis-Clark (Idaho) State, worked to a 14-6, 2.50 mark with 230 strikeouts in 180 minor league innings.
San Diego Padres
— Jorge Mateo made his big league debut while starting in left field for the first time in his professional career. The No. 21 prospect, who was acquired from the Athletics for a player to be named later in late June, went 0-for-3 in the team’s loss to the Dodgers. Mateo has plenty of tools, highlighted by his 80-grade speed, but has battled inconsistency throughout his career. Mateo repeated Triple-A as a 24-year-old and showed improvement, raising his batting average by 59 points to .289, notching 62 extra-base hits (29 doubles, 14 triples, 19 home runs) compared to 36 in 2018 and increasing his RBI total by 33 from the year prior.
— No. 14 prospect Edward Olivares continued his slump with an 0-for-4 showing. The outfielder, who is hitting .179 with a home run, three RBIs and three runs, is 3-for-22 in his last seven games.
— No. 2 prospect Luis Patino pitched two scoreless innings in his third big league outing, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out two. The righthander, who is the No. 20 prospect in baseball, relied on his 70-grade fastball that sat 96-99 mph, his plus mid-80s slider and his above-average changeup. The 2016 international free agent from Colombia struggled in his first two outings, allowing five runs on five hits in 3.2 innings, walking four and striking out five.
Tampa Bay Rays
— Outfielder Yoshitomo Tsutsugo went 2-for-5 in the Rays’ mauling of the Red Sox, scored a run and drove in a pair. The 28-year-old Japanese import, in the first year of a two-year, $12 million deal, has started somewhat slowly but has three hits in his last two games. Overall, he’s gone .182/.281/.309 over his first 55 big league at-bats. Tsutsugo was lauded for his combination of hittability, plate discipline and power potential and posted a career .910 OPS over 10 seasons in the Nippon Professional League. He mashed 44 of his career 205 homers in 2016 and hit three more longballs in the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
— Outfielder Mike Brosseau, who hit his way to the big leagues after producing a .960 OPS at Triple-A Durham in 2019, went 1-for-4 with a pair of walks. He’s produced admirably over his first two big league seasons, going 46 for his first 160 (.288) with nine home runs. The Rays signed Brosseau as an undrafted free agent in 2016 out of Oakland University.
Washington Nationals
— No. 13 prospect Seth Romero made his big league debut and came away with a mixed outing. Yes, he allowed a grand slam to Tomas Nido and walked three hitters in 1.2 innings, but he also whiffed four hitters. The lefthander went through a bit of a rocky road to the big leagues. He was suspended in his sophomore year at Houston, then kicked off the team in his junior season, then missed the 2019 season with Tommy John surgery after the Nationals made him their first-round pick in 2017.
— No. 1 prospect Carter Kieboom continued to struggle. The third baseman struck out twice more in four at-bats. That brings his total for his first two seasons to 29 strikeouts in 73 plate appearances, which works out to a 39.7% strikeout rate. A small sample size, to be sure, but its concerning.
HITTERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| BAL | MAJ | Hays, Austin CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .200 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Hoerner, Nico 2B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .243 | 2B (2), BB (4) |
| LAD | MAJ | Rios, Edwin 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | |
| NYM | MAJ | Gimenez, Andres SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .286 | BB (2), SB (5) |
| PHI | MAJ | Bohm, Alec 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | 2B (1) |
| SD | MAJ | Cronenworth, Jake 3B-SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .325 | |
| SD | MAJ | Mateo, Jorge LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| SD | MAJ | Olivares, Edward CF-RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .179 | |
| TB | MAJ | Tsutsugo, Yoshitomo LF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .182 | |
| WAS | MAJ | Kieboom, Carter 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .240 |
PITCHERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| BOS | MAJ | Hart, Kyle | 2 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 22.50 | L (0-1) |
| LAD | MAJ | Santana, Dennis | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.89 | |
| NYM | MAJ | Peterson, David | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2.91 | W (3-1) |
| PHI | MAJ | Brogdon, Connor | 1.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 20.25 | |
| SD | MAJ | Patino, Luis | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7.94 | |
| TB | MAJ | Banda, Anthony | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9.00 | Sv (1) |
| WAS | MAJ | Romero, Seth | 1.2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 21.60 |
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