Baseball America Prospect Report — Aug. 20, 2020
Image credit: Casey Mize (Quinn Harris/Getty)
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Chicago Cubs
—No. 13 prospect Adbert Alzolay made his first start of the season, stifling Cardinals hitters over fine innings of one-run (none earned) ball, allowing two hits and a walk and striking out six. The 25-year-old righthander started with his fastball, which sat in the mid-90s, got sharp movement on his low-80s curveball to generate swings and misses and mixed in his changeup. Alzolay went 1-1, 7.30 in his big league debut in 2019, striking out 13 and walking nine in 12.1 innings.
Chicago White Sox
—No. 10 prospect Dane Dunning made his big league debut against the Tigers, pitching 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and walking one. The 25-year-old righthander earned his first big league strikeout on a 93 mph fastball against Niko Goodrum with no outs and a runner on second in the first inning. Dunning struck out six more batters in the outing while showing good command of his pitches—a fastball that sat at 91-93 mph and a slider and curveball that both showed plenty of movement and induced swings and misses. The righthander cruised until the fifth inning before giving up a single, a walk and a three-run home run before getting taken out of the game.
—No. 17 prospect Zack Collins picked up his second hit in 16 at-bats in the team’s win over the Tigers. The 25-year-old catcher and 2016 No. 10 overall pick doubled to right field in the fifth inning and later scored on a Tim Anderson single.
Cincinnati Reds
—No. 26 prospect Tejay Antone continues to carve out a solid role as a long reliever. The 26-year-old righthander made his third multi-inning relief appearance of the season in the team’s loss to the Royals in the first game of a doubleheader, striking out five in 2.2 scoreless innings while allowing two hits and walking one. Antone has struck out 18 in 13.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and seven walks.
Colorado Rockies
—No. 1 prospect Brendan Rodgers made his season debut and went 1-for-2 with a two-run single in the Rockies loss to the Astros. It was Rodgers’ first game action since he had season-ending shoulder surgery last year.
Detroit Tigers
—No. 2 prospect Casey Mize made his big league debut against the White Sox, striking out seven over 4.1 innings of three-run ball while allowing seven hits. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick earned his first big league strikeout in the first inning against Yoan Moncada with his signature splitter, a plus-plus pitch that showed late movement to fool Chicago’s hitters. Mize mixed in his plus mid-90s fastball, plus slider and above-average cutter. After giving up a solo home run and double in the second inning, Mize retired nine of the next 10 hitters but gave up two runs and three hits in the fifth.
Los Angeles Angels
—Lefthander Patrick Sandoval, the Angels No. 7 prospect at midseason, surrendered six hits and five runs in four innings against the Giants. The lefthander is still seeking his first major league win and fell to 0-3, 5.40 on the season.
Milwaukee Brewers
—No. 6 prospect Drew Rasmussen made his big league debut in the team’s win over the Twins, pitching two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out three. The 2018 sixth-round pick, who missed the 2018 season while recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, returned to the field in 2019 and pitched well between low Class A, high Class A and Double-A while showing a plus-plus mid-90s fastball that touches 99 mph with movement.
Oakland Athletics
—Lefthander Jesus Luzardo pitched 6.1 scoreless innings with four hits allowed, two walks and seven strikeouts in the A’s 4-1 win over the D-backs. The No. 1 prospect in Oakland’s system improved to 2-0, 3.67 on the year and leads all rookies with 27 strikeouts.
Philadelphia Phillies
—Third baseman Alec Bohm, the team’s No. 2 prospect behind righthander Spencer Howard, went 0-for-3 but drew a walk. In doing so, he continued his streak of six straight games on base to start his major league career.
—Righthander Connor Brogdon, Philly’s No. 28 prospect, rebounded from a rocky big league debut to throw a scoreless eighth inning—including a strikeout of Tzu-Wei Lin—in his team’s loss to the Red Sox.
San Diego Padres
—Second baseman Jake Cronenworth went 2-for-4 with a double in the Padres’ 6-3 win over the Rangers. The Padres No. 16 prospect is now batting .333 with a 1.011 OPS on the year and has become the favorite for National League Rookie of the Year.
Seattle Mariners
—Outfielder Kyle Lewis had another standout game, going 2-for-4 with a run scored in the Mariners’ 6-4 win over the Dodgers. Seattle’s No. 10 prospect is now tied for the American League lead with 33 hits.
—First baseman Evan White was removed from the game after fouling a ball off his kneecap. X-rays were negative and he is considered day-to-day.
St. Louis Cardinals
—No. 1 prospect Dylan Carlson went 1-for-4 and stole a base in the team’s win over the Cubs in the first game of a doubleheader. The 21-year-old outfielder beat out an infield single in the sixth inning, then stole his first base one batter later. Carlson went 0-for-2 with a walk and a run scored in the second game of the doubleheader to finish 1-for-6 on the day. The No. 10 prospect in baseball is hitting .148 in 27 at-bats.
—No. 9 prospect Andrew Knizner drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the second game of the doubleheader. The 25-year-old catcher, who is hitting .154 with two RBIs in 13 at-bats, went 0-for-2.
—No. 13 prospect Johan Oviedo made his big league debut, pitching five innings of two-run ball, allowing two hits and two walks and striking out four. The 22-year-old righthander has three pitches that have the potential to be above average or better, but he’s struggled with command and control issues. Oviedo went 7-8, 5.65 at Double-A in 2019 after dominating high Class A to start the season.
—No. 4 prospect Genesis Cabrera pitched his first scoreless appearance this season, striking out two batters in an inning of work. The 23-year-old lefthander struggled in his first two outings, allowing three runs on one hit and two walks in 2.1 innings.
Tampa Bay Rays
—First baseman Mike Brosseau, pinch-hitting for Ji-Man Choi (who had homered off Gerrit Cole earlier in the game), stroked a go-ahead, eighth-inning single in the Rays’ defeat of the Yankees. The offensive dramatics came just five days after Brosseau was called upon to pitch against the Blue Jays. In that game, Brosseau struck out Randal Grichuk.
Toronto Blue Jays
—Second baseman Santiago Espinal, acquired from the Red Sox in 2018 in exchange for Steve Pearce, notched his second straight two-hit day in the Blue Jays’ win over Baltimore. Espinal, the team’s No. 23 prospect, is now 5-for-19 to start his major league career.
—Righthander Thomas Hatch, a former Cubs prospect acquired by Toronto in last season’s David Phelps deal, continued a strong start to his big league career by collecting five outs on just 18 pitches without allowing a run. The outing was his first scoreless appearance of his four this month.
HITTERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Varsho, Daulton C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .150 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Hoerner, Nico PH-2B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .204 | |
| COL | MAJ | Hilliard, Sam CF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 | |
| COL | MAJ | Rodgers, Brendan 2B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .500 | |
| CWS | MAJ | Collins, Zack C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .050 | 2B (1) |
| CWS | MAJ | Mendick, Danny 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | |
| DET | MAJ | Paredes, Isaac 3B | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .111 | BB (2) |
| HOU | MAJ | Toro, Abraham PR-3B-1B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .162 | |
| LAD | MAJ | Ruiz, Keibert C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | |
| MIA | MAJ | Harrison, Monte PH-RF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 | |
| OAK | MAJ | Murphy, Sean C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .240 | 2B (3), BB (11) |
| PHI | MAJ | Bohm, Alec 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .300 | BB (4) |
| SD | MAJ | Cronenworth, Jake 2B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .333 | 2B (7), SB (1) |
| SEA | MAJ | Bishop, Braden RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| SEA | MAJ | Haggerty, Sam LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | 2 SB (2) |
| SEA | MAJ | Lewis, Kyle CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .351 | |
| SEA | MAJ | White, Evan 1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .133 | |
| SF | MAJ | Dubon, Mauricio CF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .262 | |
| STL | MAJ | Carlson, Dylan RF | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .148 | BB (2) |
| STL | MAJ | Knizner, Andrew C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .154 | |
| TEX | MAJ | Solak, Nick CF-LF | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .280 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Alford, Anthony LF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .154 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Espinal, Santiago SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .263 | 2B (1) |
| TOR | MAJ | McGuire, Reese C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .087 |
PITCHERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Ginkel, Kevin | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12.15 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Hart, Kyle | 3.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11.12 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Alzolay, Adbert | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0.00 | |
| CIN | MAJ | Antone, Tejay | 2.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2.03 | |
| COL | MAJ | Castellani, Ryan | 5.2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3.77 | L (0-1) |
| COL | MAJ | Goudeau, Ashton | 1.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5.40 | |
| CWS | MAJ | Dunning, Dane | 4.1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 6.23 | |
| DET | MAJ | Garcia, Bryan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.48 | |
| DET | MAJ | Mize, Casey | 4.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 6.23 | |
| KC | MAJ | Staumont, Josh | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.75 | |
| LAA | MAJ | Sandoval, Patrick | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5.40 | L (0-3) |
| LAD | MAJ | Gonzalez, Victor | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3.00 | |
| LAD | MAJ | Santana, Dennis | 0.2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5.25 | L (1-1) |
| MIL | MAJ | Rasmussen, Drew | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 | |
| MIN | MAJ | Thorpe, Lewis | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6.14 | |
| OAK | MAJ | Luzardo, Jesus | 6.1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3.00 | W (2-0) |
| PHI | MAJ | Brogdon, Connor | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 11.57 | |
| PIT | MAJ | Mears, Nick | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.86 | |
| SEA | MAJ | Misiewicz, Anthony | 0.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4.82 | |
| STL | MAJ | Cabrera, Genesis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8.10 | |
| STL | MAJ | Oviedo, Johan | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3.60 | |
| TB | MAJ | Fairbanks, Peter | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.97 | W (2-1) |
| TEX | MAJ | Hernandez, Jonathan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1.84 |
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