Baseball America Prospect Report — Aug. 4, 2020

Image credit: Chadwick Tromp (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty)

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Chicago Cubs

—Cubs No. 2 prospect Nico Hoerner went 0-for-2, walked once and scored a run in the team’s win over the Royals. Hoerner has reached base in seven of eight games he’s started, and has hit .269/.333/.308 with five RBIs.

Chicago White Sox

—Luis Robert went 1-for-3, walked twice, scored two runs and stole two bases in the team’s win over the Brewers. The No. 2 prospect in baseball is hitting .350 with two home runs, six RBIs and three stolen bases.

Cincinnati Reds

—Reds No. 8 prospect Shogo Akiyama collected a hit in the team’s win over the Indians, going 1-for-4 and scoring once. The outfielder, who has two RBIs, has tallied a hit in three of his last four games. 

 

Kansas City Royals

—Royals No. 25 prospect Josh Staumont continued to impress out of the bullpen in the team’s loss to the Cubs, striking out the side in the eighth inning while sitting 98-99 mph and touching 100 mph on his fastball and showing great movement on his curveball. Staumont has already appeared in five games, striking out nine batters and allowing one run in five innings of work.

 

Los Angeles Dodgers

—Brusdar Graterol hit 100 mph once again, but gave up two runs on two hits in in just two-thirds of an inning before getting taken out in the team’s loss to the Padres. The Dodgers No. 3 prospect has appeared in six games, striking out five batters in five innings while allowing three runs on five hits.

Minnesota Twins

—Lewis Thorpe made his first start against the Pirates, pitching four innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking four and striking out three. Thorpe struggled from the first pitch, allowing a leadoff home run to Cole Tucker to begin the game. He allowed three straight singles in the second inning to give up another run before walking three batters and allowing an RBI double in the fourth inning. The lefthander had trouble getting his pitches over the plate, especially his offspeed offerings, something that hurt him in 2019 when he allowed 38 hits and 10 walks in 27.2 big league innings. The Twins opted to give Thorpe the start after Rich Hill was scratched due to a back injury. The Twins No. 17 prospect made two previous appearances, both multi-inning outings in relief.

—Twins No. 18 prospect Jorge Alcala made his first appearance of the season with two innings of one-run (unearned) ball while allowing two hits and striking out two. The righthander showed off his electric fastball, which topped out at 98 mph. Alcala made 16 starts at the minor league level last year, but moved to the bullpen in two major league appearances.

New York Yankees

—Righthander Brooks Kriske made his second appearance since his promotion to the big league squad on July 26. Kriske, who pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two batters on July 29, walked the first two batters he faced, induced a flyout and gave up an RBI single before getting taken out of the game in the team’s win over the Phillies. 

Oakland Athletics

—Athletics No. 3 prospect Sean Murphy ended a 1-for-10 stretch dating back to July 27 with a single in the team’s win over the Mariners. Murphy in the fifth inning came to the plate twice, singling to load the bases and walking to load them again as part of an eight-run inning. Murphy is hitting .176 with a home run and one RBI in eight games.

San Diego Padres

—Padres No. 16 prospect Jake Cronenworth picked up a hit in four at-bats, knocked in a run and scored a run in the team’s win over the Dodgers. Cronenworth, who started at first base, has tallied a hit in three straight games as part of a 4-for-10 stretch.

San Francisco Giants

—One day after hitting the first home run of his big league career, Chadwick Tromp doubled his home run total with a solo shot to center field in the third inning of the team’s loss to the Rockies. Tromp, who went 0-for-4 in his first start on July 29, is since 4-for-11 with two home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored.

 

First career HR yesterday. Second career HR today. Chadwick Tromp 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TOVqXirdxK

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 4, 2020

Seattle Mariners

—Mariners No. 8 prospect Justus Sheffield allowed just two runners to reach base through his first four innings before losing his command and giving up four runs in the fifth inning in the team’s loss to the Athletics. Sheffield sat 90-92 mph on his sinker and mixed in his plus slider effectively early in the game, retiring seven straight batters he faced during one stretch. But in the fifth inning he was faced with bases loaded and two outs before giving up a two-run single to end his night. Sheffield struck out five batters, walked two and allowed four runs on four hits. 

—Kyle Lewis went hitless to end his hit streak at 10 games. The Mariners No. 10 prospect went 0-for-4 and struck out twice in the team’s loss to the Athletics.

HITTERS

TEAM	CLASS	PLAYER	AB	R	H	BI	AVG	NOTES
CHC	MAJ	Hoerner, Nico 2B	2	1	0	0	.269	BB (3)
CLE	MAJ	Johnson, Daniel RF	4	0	0	0	.083
CWS	MAJ	Madrigal, Nick 2B	3	0	0	0	.250	BB (1)
CWS	MAJ	Robert, Luis CF	3	2	1	0	.341	2 BB (4), 2 SB (3)
NYM	MAJ	Gimenez, Andres 3B-SS	3	0	0	0	.294	BB (1), SB (2)
OAK	MAJ	Brown, Seth PR-1B	0	0	0	0	.000
OAK	MAJ	Murphy, Sean C	3	2	1	0	.176	2 BB (5)
SD	MAJ	Cronenworth, Jake 1B	4	1	1	1	.357
SEA	MAJ	Lewis, Kyle CF	4	0	0	0	.386
SEA	MAJ	White, Evan 1B	4	0	0	0	.125

 

PITCHERS

TEAM	CLASS	PLAYER	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	ERA	NOTES
KC	MAJ	Staumont, Josh	1	0	0	0	0	3	1.80
LAD	MAJ	Graterol, Brusdar	0.2	2	2	2	0	1	5.40	L (0-2)
MIN	MAJ	Alcala, Jorge	2	2	1	0	0	2	0.00
MIN	MAJ	Thorpe, Lewis	4	6	3	3	4	3	3.12
PIT	MAJ	Burdi, Nick	0.1	2	1	1	1	0	3.86	L (0-1)
SEA	MAJ	Sheffield, Justus	4.2	4	4	4	2	5	9.39	L (0-2)