Baseball America Prospect Report — Aug. 21
Image credit: Sam Hilliard (Justin Edmonds/Getty)
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Chicago White Sox
—No. 29 prospect Danny Mendick went 1-for-4 in the team’s win over the Tigers, collecting his third double of the season. The 26-year-old second baseman hit a line-drive double to left field to score James McCann in the third inning to raise his average to .262. Mendick, a 2015 22nd-round pick from Massachusetts-Lowell, also has three RBIs.
Cleveland Indians
—No. 18 prospect James Karinchak made his 12th appearance in the team’s win over the Pirates, pitching a scoreless inning, walking one and striking out two. The 24-year-old righthander has struck out 26 batters in 13.2 innings, walking six and allowing just one run.
Colorado Rockies
—No. 7 prospect Sam Hilliard posted the first four-hit game of his career in the team’s loss to the Astros. The 26-year-old outfielder has started off slowly (.244, one home run in 41 at-bats) after hitting .273 with seven home runs in 77 at-bats in a late-season promotion.
Detroit Tigers
—No. 13 prospect Willi Castro went 1-for-3 with his first career double in the team’s loss to the White Sox. The 23-year-old Puerto Rican shortstop/third baseman is 5-for-21 with a double, a home run and three RBIs since his promotion on Aug. 11.
Houston Astros
—No. 6 prospect Abraham Toro collected a hit in his second consecutive game for the first time this season, going 1-for-4 with a three-run home run to center field in the fifth inning of the team’s win over the Rockies. The 23-year-old third baseman is hitting .171 with two home runs and six RBIs in 41 at-bats.
—No. 20 prospect Enoli Paredes pitched a scoreless inning to earn his first big league victory. The 24-year-old flame-throwing righthander has a 2.45 ERA in 10 appearances while striking out 12 and walking seven in 11 innings.
Los Angeles Angels
—Jo Adell collected a hit and a walk in the team’s loss to the Giants. The No. 3 prospect in baseball has eight hits in 38 at-bats since his promotion on Aug. 4.
Minnesota Twins
—No. 7 prospect Ryan Jeffers made his big league debut, tallying two hits in three at-bats in the team’s win over the Brewers. Jeffers, who scored once and drove in a run with a single, impressed in summer camp and hit .264/.341/.421 with 14 home runs between high Class A and Double-A in 2019.
Philadelphia Phillies
— No. 1 prospect Spencer Howard took another turn in the rotation, this time in the hitter-friendly confines of Buffalo’s Sahlen Field, where the Blue Jays are calling home for the remainder of the season. Howard’s first few starts have been uneven, but the righthander has shown plenty of flashes of why he is so highly regarded.
The game was by far Howard’s best in the big leagues. He whiffed five over 3.2 innings of one-run ball on five hits and a pair of walks. His fastball topped at 97 mph and he got three swings and misses in 67 pitches—one apiece on his fastball, slider and changeup. For reference, Howard got 10 swings and misses on 81 pitches in his debut, then seven more in 69 pitches in his second start.
—Though his career-opening on-base streak was snapped in the first game of the doubleheader, third baseman Alec Bohm rebounded in the nightcap. Philadelphia’s No. 2 prospect went 2-for-3 with a walk, an RBI and a run in the Phillies’ crushing, late loss. Bohm is hitting .308 to begin his season, with an .842 OPS.
San Diego Padres
—No. 2 prospect Luis Patino gave up a run on two hits in 1.1 innings while striking out two in the team’s win over the Rangers. The 20-year-old righthander has struck out 10 in eight innings and given up six runs on nine hits and eight walks.
San Francisco Giants
—No. 2 prospect Joey Bart went 1-for-4 with a double, crushing the ball at 109.5 mph to left field in his major league debut hours after receiving his promotion. The catcher, who was the 2018 No. 2 overall pick, hit .278/.328/.495 with 16 home runs between high Class A and Double-A in 2019.
—No. 11 prospect Mauricio Dubon tallied a hit and scored twice in the team’s win over the Angels. Dubon is hitting .266 with a home run and six RBIs while splitting his time as a second baseman, shortstop and center fielder.
Seattle Mariners
—No. 10 prospect Kyle Lewis extended his hit streak to five games with a single in three at-bats in the team’s loss to the Dodgers. The 25-year-old outfielder remains the frontrunner in a loaded AL Rookie of the Year Race, with a .351 average, five home runs and 17 RBIs.
St. Louis Cardinals
—No. 30 prospect Seth Elledge earned his first big league victory, pitching a scoreless inning, allowing a hit, walking three and striking out one.
Tampa Bay Rays
—Utilityman Mike Brosseau went 1-for-4 in the leadoff spot. The hit continued a string of seven straight games in which he’d made a plate appearance (he had two games of 0-for-0 mixed in) with at least one base knock.
Texas Rangers
—No. 4 prospect Nick Solak hit his second home run of the season against the Padres. The outfielder is hitting .278 with nine RBIs and 13 runs scored.
Toronto Blue Jays
— Righthander Jordan Romano, the Blue Jays’ dynamite rookie reliever, bounced back from the first loss of his season by vulturing his way to a win in the first game of his team’s doubleheader with the Phillies. He struck out the side on 18 pitches, including a pair of 97-98 mph fastballs and a 90 mph slider.
— Romano was the last pitcher out of Toronto’s pen. The first was righthander Julian Merryweather, an Indians farmhand acquired in a deal for Josh Donaldson, who was making his big league debut. Merryweather threw 12 four-seamers in his outing, none slower than 96 mph. Overall, he worked 1.1 scoreless innings and struck out three.
—Righthander Shun Yamaguchi tied a career high with four strikeouts over 2.2 innings in the second game of the Jays’ doubleheader with the Phillies.
HITTERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| BAL | MAJ | Urias, Ramon PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| COL | MAJ | Fuentes, Josh PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| COL | MAJ | Hilliard, Sam CF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | .244 | 3B (1) |
| COL | MAJ | Rodgers, Brendan 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .143 | |
| CWS | MAJ | Mendick, Danny 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .250 | 2B (3) |
| DET | MAJ | Castro, Willi 3B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .238 | 2B (1) |
| HOU | MAJ | Toro, Abraham 3B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .171 | HR (2) |
| LAA | MAJ | Adell, Jo RF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .211 | BB (3) |
| MIN | MAJ | Jeffers, Ryan C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .667 | |
| OAK | MAJ | Murphy, Sean C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .226 | |
| PHI | MAJ | Bohm, Alec 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .308 | 2B (3), BB (5) |
| SD | MAJ | Cronenworth, Jake 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .323 | |
| SEA | MAJ | Bishop, Braden CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |
| SEA | MAJ | Haggerty, Sam LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | 2B (1) |
| SEA | MAJ | Lewis, Kyle DH | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .351 | BB (14) |
| SF | MAJ | Bart, Joey C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | 2B (1) |
| SF | MAJ | Dubon, Mauricio CF | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .266 | BB (3) |
| STL | MAJ | Carlson, Dylan CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .129 | |
| TEX | MAJ | Solak, Nick LF | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .278 | HR (2), BB (12) |
| TOR | MAJ | Espinal, Santiago SS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | |
| TOR | MAJ | McGuire, Reese C | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .120 |
PITCHERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| BAL | MAJ | Tate, Dillon | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3.86 | |
| CLE | MAJ | Karinchak, James | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0.66 | |
| DET | MAJ | Funkhouser, Kyle | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8.38 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Javier, Cristian | 3.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3.55 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Paredes, Enoli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.45 | W (1-0) |
| PHI | MAJ | Brogdon, Connor | 0.1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16.88 | |
| PHI | MAJ | Howard, Spencer | 3.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 6.61 | |
| SD | MAJ | Baez, Michel | 0.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 81.00 | |
| SD | MAJ | Patino, Luis | 1.1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6.75 | |
| STL | MAJ | Elledge, Seth | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4.50 | W (1-0) |
| TEX | MAJ | Hearn, Taylor | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4.91 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Kay, Anthony | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.61 | W (2-0) |
| TOR | MAJ | Yamaguchi, Shun | 2.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5.00 |
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