Baseball America Prospect Report — Aug. 27, 2020
Image credit: Ian Anderson (Rich Von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire Via Getty)
Atlanta Braves
— A day later than expected, Ian Anderson, the Braves’ top pitching prospect, made his big league debut and was spectacular. Anderson, 22, limited the Yankees to just a pair of walks and a Luke Voit home run over six innings while striking out six. In fact, Anderson held the Yankees without a hit through five innings before Voit connected. Anderson racked up 12 swings and misses during the outing, including on the finishing pitches of five of his six strikeouts.
Baltimore Orioles
— Ryan Mountcastle, the Orioles’ No. 6 prospect, collected two more hits in his team’s loss to Tampa Bay. He’s 6 for his first 16 with a pair of runs and four walks over his first five games. One of his singles left the bat at 102.6 mph, marking the hardest-hit ball of his career. Perhaps more impressively, the hit was against Ryan Thompson, a funky, low-slot righty who presented Mountcastle with a difficult angle.
Chicago Cubs
—Nico Hoerner contributed his first three-hit game of the season with a 3-for-3 showing, scored twice and drove in one in the team’s loss to the Tigers. All three of the 23-year-old second baseman’s hits were singles—the first came in the fifth inning with a career-best exit velocity of 106.7 mph, the second exited the bat at 98.5 mph in the seventh and the third was hit 105.5 mph in the ninth. Hoerner raised his average to .250 to go along with 11 runs and nine RBIs.
Chicago White Sox
—Danny Mendick hit his third home run of the season—which had an exit velocity of 96.3 mph—in the second inning of the team’s win over the Pirates. The 26-year-old second baseman continues to hit the ball well in August, with a .288 average in 73 at-bats, three home runs and six RBIs.
Colorado Rockies
—No. 1 prospect Brendan Rodgers collected his second hit of the season, a double, against the Diamondbacks. The 24-year-old second baseman/shortstop was promoted to the big leagues on Aug. 19 after hitting .224 in 76 at-bats in 2019.
—No. 7 prospect Sam Hilliard collected two hits, hit his fourth home run and stole his third base of the season.
Detroit Tigers
—No. 22 prospect Bryan Garcia pitched two-thirds of an inning, striking out one and allowing a hit in the team’s win over the Cubs. The 25-year-old righthander is sporting a 2-0, 2.25 mark with six strikeouts and five walks in 12 innings.
Kansas City Royals
—Ryan McBroom crushed a pinch-hit go-ahead home run to left field at 107.1 mph in the eighth inning of the team’s loss to the Cardinals. The first baseman has four home runs, eight RBIs and a .302 average.
Miami Marlins
—First baseman Lewin Diaz collected the fourth hit of his career. The hit was significant because it came off of two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, who allowed just two hits and struck out 14 over seven innings.
St. Louis Cardinals
—Dylan Carlson collected his second double and drove in his third run in the team’s win over the Royals. The No. 10 prospect in baseball is hitting .180 in 50 at-bats since his promotion to the big leagues on Aug. 15.
Texas Rangers
—No. 4 prospect Nick Solak crushed a double with an exit velocity of 103.9 mph to right field in the team’s loss to the Athletics. The 25-year-old extended his hit streak to three games with a 1-for-4 effort, bringing his average to .269 in 104 at-bats to go with six doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs.
Toronto Blue Jays
—Righthander Julian Merryweather, making his first career start, spun two shutout innings with three strikeouts. Merryweather’s four-seam fastball topped out at 98 mph and he used the pitch to finish all of his strikeouts. He also got three swings and misses on changeups and one more on a slider. He has nine strikeouts over his first 9.1 major league innings.
—Second baseman Santiago Espinal continued his hot month of August by notching his second multi-hit game in as many days. He’s 5 for his last 7 and has four multi-hit games this month. In August, he’s gone 9-for-26.
Washington Nationals
—Another day, another hit for Luis Garcia. This time, the 20-year-old stroked a ninth-inning single that kept his team’s late rally going. The single clocked in with an exit velocity of 96.1 mph and came off a curveball from new Phillies reliever Brandon Workman. Garcia also stole his first career base.
HITTERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Varsho, Daulton PR | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .167 | SB (1) |
| BAL | MAJ | Mountcastle, Ryan LF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .375 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Hoerner, Nico 2B | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | .250 | BB (8) |
| COL | MAJ | Fuentes, Josh 1B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .273 | SB (1) |
| COL | MAJ | Hilliard, Sam LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .241 | HR (4), SB (3) |
| COL | MAJ | Rodgers, Brendan 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .100 | 2B (1) |
| CWS | MAJ | Mendick, Danny 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .256 | HR (3) |
| CWS | MAJ | Robert, Luis CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .275 | |
| DET | MAJ | Paredes, Isaac 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .269 | |
| MIA | MAJ | Diaz, Lewin 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .222 | |
| MIA | MAJ | Sanchez, Jesus PH-RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .048 | |
| MIN | MAJ | Wade, LaMonte CF-RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .273 | CS (1) |
| OAK | MAJ | Murphy, Sean C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .209 | |
| PHI | MAJ | Bohm, Alec 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .317 | |
| STL | MAJ | Carlson, Dylan CF-RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .180 | 2B (2), BB (5) |
| TB | MAJ | Tsutsugo, Yoshitomo 3B-LF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .160 | 2 BB (14) |
| TEX | MAJ | Solak, Nick 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .269 | 2B (6) |
| TEX | MAJ | Taveras, Leody CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .200 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Espinal, Santiago SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .270 | BB (2) |
| TOR | MAJ | McGuire, Reese C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .088 | |
| WAS | MAJ | Garcia, Luis 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .317 | SB (1) |
PITCHERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Ginkel, Kevin | 1.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7.84 | |
| ATL | MAJ | Anderson, Ian | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1.50 | W (1-0) |
| BAL | MAJ | Akin, Keegan | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | |
| DET | MAJ | Garcia, Bryan | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.46 | |
| KC | MAJ | Staumont, Josh | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.63 | |
| STL | MAJ | Cabrera, Genesis | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4.91 | |
| TB | MAJ | Fairbanks, Peter | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3.14 | |
| TEX | MAJ | Hernandez, Jonathan | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.08 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Yamaguchi, Shun | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4.15 | W (1-1) |
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