Baseball America Prospect Report — July 28, 2020
Image credit: Evan White (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
To get the prospect report delivered to your inbox every morning, sign up for our newsletter!
Cincinnati Reds
—Reds’ No. 22 prospect Tejay Antone on Monday made his major league debut in the team’s loss to the Cubs, pitching 4.1 innings in relief, walking one batter, allowing a run on one hit and striking out five. The righthander showed increased velocity on his fastball, sitting 94-97 mph on the pitch while mixing in his breaking ball. Antone did not allow a hit through his first four innings before giving up a solo home run to Anthony Rizzo, but he quickly retired Javier Baez one batter later to end the inning.
—Reds’ No. 4 prospect Tyler Stephenson appeared in his first major league game as a pinch hitter and immediately hit his first home run and later singled, scored again and collected a second RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the team’s loss to the Cubs. The Reds’ catcher of the future hit .285/.372/.410 in 89 games at Double-A Chattanooga in 2019.
First MLB AB, first MLB dinger!
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 28, 2020
Congratulations, @Tyler_Step22! ?? pic.twitter.com/5mMLnES18X
Detroit Tigers
—A pair of Tigers’ prospects got some relief work in Monday in the team’s loss to the Royals. No. 28 prospect Kyle Funkhouser pitched an inning, allowing five runs on four hits, walking two batters and striking out one. He was relieved by Tigers’ No. 15 prospect Beau Burrows, who allowed three runs on three hits and walked a batter in 2.1 innings.
Houston Astros
—Astros’ No. 15 prospect Brandon Bielak on Monday against the Mariners earned his first major league victory, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits and striking out four batters. Bielak sat 93-95 mph on his fastball while mixing in his changeup, curveball and cutter. The righthander spent most of the 2019 season at Triple-A Round Rock, where he pitched to a 8-4, 4.41 mark in 15 appearances (14 starts), while striking out just over nine batters per nine innings.
—Astros’ No. 28 prospect Enoli Paredes made his second appearance of the season, striking out two batters in 0.2 innings of relief after pitching a scoreless inning on July 24.
Kansas City Royals
—Royals’ No. 25 prospect Josh Staumont on Monday pitched an inning in relief in the team’s win over the Tigers, striking out three batters, giving up one run via home run and recording two pitches that reached at least 100 mph. The righthander on Saturday pitched a scoreless inning in his first appearance of the season, striking out a batter and walking one.
—Royals’ No. 29 prospect Foster Griffin on Monday made his first major league appearance, striking out a batter in 1.2 scoreless innings of work. Griffin also earned his first major league victory.
Milwaukee Brewers
—Brewers’ No. 15 prospect Devin Williams on Monday made his second appearance of the season, allowing three runs (one earned) on one hit in 1.1 innings, walking one and striking out three. Williams on July 25 pitched a scoreless inning, allowing a hit, walking a batter and striking out one.
Oakland Athletics
—Athletics’ No. 3 prospect Sean Murphy on Monday was hitless in three at-bats in the team’s win over the Angels. The catcher’s strength is primarily in his game-calling ability and defensive skills, but he still has enough thump in his bat to hit 20 home runs at the major league level.
San Diego Padres
—Two days after collecting his first major league hit via double, Padres’ No. 17 prospect Edward Olivares on Monday accomplished two more milestones—he drove in his first run with a single to center field and scored one batter later on a bases-clearing triple. Prior to his major league debut, the outfielder had one season of experience of the upper-level minors. In 2019, he hit .283/.349/.453 with 18 home runs and 35 stolen bases in 127 games at Double-A Amarillo. If Olivares can continue to improve his pitch selection he could become a dangerous hitter, with above-average power and a compact swing.
Seattle Mariners
—Mariners’ No. 3 prospect Evan White on Monday followed up an impressive Opening Day weekend with his first MLB home run in the team’s loss against the Astros. White hit a solo shot to left-center field and then followed it up with an RBI single in the seventh inning to score Kyle Lewis. White has started the season with four hits and three RBI in his first four MLB games.
—Kyle Lewis on Monday extended his hit streak to four games to start the season, collecting two hits and scoring once in the team’s loss to the Astros. The Mariners’ No. 10 prospect already has two home runs, four RBI and six hits to begin the 2020 season.
Tampa Bay Rays
—Rays’ No. 10 prospect Yoshitomo Tsutsugo on Monday scored the second run of his major league career in the team’s win over the Braves. The outfielder walked, then was brought home a batter later on a two-run home run. Tsutsugo also singled for his second hit of the season in 13 at-bats.
Toronto Blue Jays
—Righthander Jordan Romano on Monday appeared in his third game of the season, recording two outs in a relief role in the Blue Jays’ win over the Nationals. Romano, who appeared in 17 games at the major league level in 2019, won his first MLB game on July 24 while pitching an inning, walking two batters and striking out two.
HITTING STATS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| ATL | MAJ | Contreras, William C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .400 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Hoerner, Nico 2B-LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .364 | |
| CIN | MAJ | Stephenson, Tyler C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | HR (1), BB (1) |
| NYM | MAJ | Gimenez, Andres 2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| OAK | MAJ | Murphy, Sean C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .143 | |
| SD | MAJ | Olivares, Edward RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .333 | |
| SEA | MAJ | Lewis, Kyle CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | .400 | BB (3) |
| SEA | MAJ | White, Evan 1B | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .235 | HR (1) |
| TB | MAJ | Tsutsugo, Yoshitomo LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .154 | BB (2) |
| TOR | MAJ | Alford, Anthony RF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOR | MAJ | Espinal, Santiago SS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
PITCHING STATS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| CIN | MAJ | Antone, Tejay | 4.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2.08 | |
| DET | MAJ | Burrows, Beau | 2.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11.57 | |
| DET | MAJ | Castro, Anthony | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 18.00 | |
| DET | MAJ | Funkhouser, Kyle | 1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 45.00 | L (0-1) |
| HOU | MAJ | Bielak, Brandon | 3.1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2.70 | W (1-0) |
| HOU | MAJ | Paredes, Enoli | 0.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 | |
| KC | MAJ | Griffin, Foster | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | W (1-0) |
| KC | MAJ | Staumont, Josh | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4.50 | |
| MIL | MAJ | Williams, Devin | 1.1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3.86 |
Comments are closed.