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Around the Minors: The week of Aug. 23

Sights and sounds from action across Minor League Baseball
August 30, 2021

Aug. 29

Aug. 29

There's something familiar about that
Third-ranked D-backs prospect Alek Thomas seems to be getting comfortable at posting four-hit games for the Triple-A Aces. In fact, he went 4-for-5 against the River Cats in back-to-back games. The main difference was that Friday's outing included a homer while the 21-year-old outfielder doubled twice in Sunday's edition. All that production has upped his slash line for Reno to .378/.465/.595.

It's clinching time
The Charleston RiverDogs became the first team in the Low-A East to clinch their division and a spot in the postseason. After Sunday's 8-5 victory, the Rays affiliate stands 40 games over .500 at 71-31 with a 20-game lead in the South Division, the largest lead in the Minors. The RiverDogs' success has been fueled by Diego Infante, who paces the circuit with 70 RBIs, ranks sixth with 91 total hits and seventh with 12 long balls. Heriberto Hernandez stands tied with Infante for the team lead in dingers.

Seeing double ... again
This is not a replay. For the second straight game, Rays prospect Dalton Kelly found the seats twice for Triple-A Durham. The 27-year-old mashed a solo shot in the eighth and a two-run blast in the night as part of a three-knock, four-RBI performance. Kelly has seven hits and nine RBIs over the past three games.

Fresh like a peppermint patty
The hits just keep coming for Nick Yorke. The fourth-ranked Red Sox prospect extended his hitting streak to 10 straight games with a three-knock performance -- his eighth over that span. Yorke blasted his second dinger since joining High-A Greenville and added a pair of doubles while driving in two runs. The 19-year-old is batting .435/.458/.826 over five games with the Drive.

A sight both welcome and familiar
In his first rehab game since landing on the injured list with a thumb injury on Aug. 9, Yankees shortstop Gleyber Torres blasted a solo shot for Double-A Somerset. The 24-year-old finished the night 1-for-2 and worked a pair of walks.

Getting it done on both sides
Marlins infield prospect Nic Ready gets all of an 0-1 fastball and sends a rocket to left-center for a game-tying solo blast for High-A Beloit with one out in the seventh inning. The long ball was his seventh with the Snappers and eighth of the year. Then, to add some style points to the flex, Ready flashes the leather at the hot corner on a slick diving stop and strong throw across the diamond for the out in the following frame to get Cedar Rapids' Anthony Prato.

Stop us if you heard this one before
It was another career effort for Nick Gonzales. The fourth-ranked Pirates prospect notched his first professional three-homer game while driving in a career-high eight runs and recording his fourth four-knock performance of the year. The 22-year-old nearly mashed for the dinger cycle as he clubbed a three-run shot, a grand slam and a solo homer -- while adding a base hit and scoring High-A Greensboro's first run in the opening frame. Gonzalez has amassed seven hits over his last three games with four of those finding the seats.

Not one, not two...
For the first time in his professional career, Eddys Leonard mashed a trio of home runs. The 18th-ranked Dodgers prospect crushed a two-run shot and a pair of solo dingers to drive in four runs as part of his second four-hit game of the season -- the first with High-A Great Lakes. The 20-year-old sports a .348/.442/.674 slash line with seven taters across 23 games for the Loons.

Aug. 28

Torkelson (unofficially) fuels wild night
Triple-A St. Paul and Toledo were in for a back-and-forth game as soon as the latter tied it in the second inning. But it wasn't until the bottom of the ninth when Spencer Torkelson drilled a game-tying jack that the game went into overdrive. Neither team could drive home the automatic runner from second in the 10th and 11th, then both teams converted the run in the 12th. The Mud Hens loaded the bases in the 13th, but left them stranded. And after a rain delay, 18 runs and just under five hours of baseball, the game reached its bedtime as a new inning cannot start after 12:50 a.m.. The marathon will resume at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Two Nolans aren't better than Juan
In a game in which two Top 100 prospects went yard, it was Juan Yepez who stole the show. The Cardinals' No. 27 prospect slugged a grand slam and a three-run homer to tie a career high with seven RBIs. And he almost hit another, but it soared just left of the pole for what one Triple-A Memphis broadcaster called "the foul ball of the year!" Teammate Nolan Gorman -- the No. 25 overall prospect -- ripped his 21st blast of the season for the Redbirds while Nolan Jones -- the No. 74 overall prospect -- went yard for the opposing Clippers.

We are Golden
While the Sod Poodles only spent one season in the Texas League, they certainly left an impression as they won the 2019 title. On Saturday, the club honored a franchise that brought championship baseball to Amarillo long before the first Sod Poodle poked its head out of the ground. The Gold Sox competed in the Texas town on-and-off from 1939 to 1982, winning their final of four titles in 1976.

Fork yeah!
With the tallest trophy in professional sports on the line, Rochester and Syracuse squared off as food alter-egos the Plates and Salt Potatoes, respectively. The upstate New York towns celebrate their local delicacies during a season-long best-of-3 competition to decide who wins the Golden Fork. Looking to clinch the competition, Rochester sent top Nationals pitching prospect Cade Cavalli to the mound for his Triple-A debut. MLB's No. 41 overall prospect retired eight of the first nine batters he faced, but Syracuse broke through in the third, posting a 5-spot. The big inning would prove to be enough as the Salt Potatoes forced a decisive Game 3 in the delectable debate.

Baz-gust
Shane Baz closed out a thrilling August with a 'W' for Triple-A Durham. The Rays' No. 1 prospect spun five two-hit frames with a walk and five strikeouts. Not only does Baz have a 1.50 ERA in 12 frames for the Bulls this month, but he also earned a silver medal for Team USA at the Olympics.

Aug. 27

Priester punches out first nine, 13 total
The Major League record for most consecutive strikeouts to begin a start is nine. No. 53 overall prospect Quinn Priester matched that to open his outing with High-A Greensboro on Friday and added four more K's to finish with a career high 13 over six scoreless innings. He now leads High-A qualifiers with a 2.86 ERA on the season.

Anything you can do...
Top 100 prospects and Triple-A Omaha teammates Bobby Witt Jr., Nick Pratto and MJ Melendez entered Friday ranked in the top four in the Minor Leagues in home runs. All three went deep for the Storm Chasers on the road in Iowa. Melendez cracked his 32nd and 33rd homers of the season while Witt and Pratto each went deep for the 28th time.

A nearly clean outing for Junk
No. 23 Angels prospect Janson Junk carried a perfect game all the way to the ninth inning for Double-A Rocket City on Friday before Tristen Lutz ended the bid with a single to left. Junk also allowed a walk and a home run in the final frame but carried the Trash Pandas to a 4-3 win over Biloxi. He finished with eight strikeouts and 100 pitches (73 strikes) in his 8 2/3 innings.

Going fourth
No. 16 Tigers prospect Daniel Cabrera went 4-for-5 on the road against Lansing, and the biggest of the four hits was the final one. Batting in the ninth inning of a 5-5 game, Cabrera launched a go-ahead grand slam for his ninth homer of the season. He finished with six RBIs in the 11-6 victory.

Gather 'round, everyone
Cardinals first-rounder Michael McGreevy made his Low-A debut Friday, and many members of the Palm Beach roster wanted to get a good look at the new guy. McGreevy developed a reputation at UC Santa Barbara for being a control artist with a good four-pitch mix. He struck out two and allowed one earned run on one hit and one walk over one frame.

Aug. 26

The actual dog day of summer
Minor Leagues like to play host to fans of the canine persuasion often. There are bat dogs handling some of the chores on the field and a wide array of teams host nights catering to puppies and their parents every month. So it's not like a National Dog Day is needed to spotlight our four-legged friends. But it also doesn't hurt to have that designation either. Here are a few of our favorite tweets from doggos' day out.

Picking it up on the fly
Although Connor Hollis has played most of his professional career as an infielder, the Tampa Bay prospect has been penciled in as the left fielder eight times this season for High-A Bowling Green. He looked like a seasoned veteran at the task in the second inning Thursday, when he left his feet to haul in a fly ball by Rome's Luke Waddell that looked like it would find a gap in left-center field at Bowling Green Ballpark.

In Dubin, indubitably
It appears Shawn Dubin really enjoys pitching in August. The No. 12 Astros prospect started the month off with 6 1/3 hitless innings over two outings for the Triple-A Skeeters. And he finished it off with 6 2/3 more frames without allowing a hit in two appearances. Granted, he gave up a pair of runs after walking three in his penultimate August outing. But on Thursday, Dubin put it all back together again. He matched his Aug. 3 season high with 10 strikeouts and didn't issue a walk in 4 1/3 innings against El Paso.

Stormin' around the bases
There are hot bats, and then there's the one Nick Pratto has been swinging. The fourth-ranked Royals prospect went yard in his second consecutive game for the Triple-A Storm Chasers. Pratto also has six in the past eight games and 12 of his 27 homers this year have been belted since he was bumped up to the Minors' highest level.

Wait 'til next year
We didn't get that much of a look at this year's sixth overall pick in the MLB Draft. Jordan Lawlar left his second pro game for the D-backs' Rookie-level Arizona Complex League team early with shoulder discomfort. Now the newly crowned top Arizona prospect requires season-ending surgery to repair a posterior labrum tear. In his brief inaugural stint, the five-tool Texas high-school product went 2-for-5 with a double.

Good to see you, Thor
The Mets' faithful were thrilled to have Noah Syndergaard back on the mound for the first time since late May in a rehab start for High-A Brooklyn. The right-hander gave up a leadoff homer to Aberdeen's Lamar Sparks and plunked Doran Turchin with a pitch, but he also got Baltimore's fourth-ranked prospect Gunnar Henderson to bounce out to first, struck out AJ Graffanino and induced another infield groundout from Maverick Handley to end his outing.

Aug. 25

Taking some healthy cuts
The seven days Patrick Bailey spent on the IL seemed to rejuvenate him both physically and mentally. The ninth-ranked Giants prospect amassed his second straight three-hit night Wednesday with a homer and two doubles and has gone 9-for-16 with three long balls, seven runs and six RBIs since returning to the field Friday. Bailey told MiLB.com's Rob Terranova the mandatory concussion protocol stint had a calming effect and slowed the game down for him.

Where are you comin' from, Spider-Man?
In the bottom of the sixth inning with one out, Triple-A Gwinnett's Cristian Pache literally steams in from out of camera sight, scales the wall and hauls in a long fly ball hit by Nashville's Jamie Westbrook. The camera tracks left fielder Travis Demeritte moving back on the play, and then all of a sudden, there's the top Braves prospect. Demeritte literally has his back, trying to brace Pache for impact when he comes back down to Earth.

A plethora of web gems
Any prospect would love to make one outstanding defensive play during a game, but three? Yep, three diving catches were made by Double-A Binghamton center fielder Jake Mangum at New Hampshire's expense, but even the Fisher Cats tweeted that they were impressed. The 25-year-old Mets prospect also got the job done at the plate, teeing off for the seventh time this season with a man aboard in the fourth.

The king welcomes Tork
Mike Hessman Home Run Alley in left-center field at Fifth Third Field in Toledo was waitin'. And the area reserved to honor the all-time American Minor League home run king wound up being the very place that the first Triple-A home run by Spencer Torkelson landed. The top Tigers prospect parked the 20th long ball of his career in the alley to give the Mud Hens an extra cushion in the victory over the Saints.

Falling by the waybackside
Coming into the seventh inning in the first game of a doubleheader, High-A West Michigan hurlers Austin Bergner and Chris Mauloni had allowed a run but not a hit against Lansing. But William Simoneit, the first batter in the bottom of the frame, stepped up to the plate and cranked his seventh homer to walk it off for the Lugnuts and deny the duo a place in the history books.

Shake, Rattler and roll
At the beginning of the season, Joe Gray Jr. was in his element. The ninth-ranked Brewers prospect scored back-to-back Low-A Offensive Player of the Week honors for the weeks of May 30 and June 6 while with the Mudcats. Following his promotion to High-A Wisconsin, Gray has batted .243 in 40 games, but his bat has been coming around of late. The 21-year-old has gone 6-for-16 over the past four games, and on Wednesday, he amassed the first two-homer game of his pro career.

Repeat performer
There's something so familiar about Keibert Ruiz belting a pair of home runs for Triple-A Rochester in the opening of Wednesday's doubleheader. Oh yeah, it's because he did the same thing in Tuesday's contest against Syracuse. The top Nationals prospect now has six multihomer games this season. The first four were accomplished for Triple-A Oklahoma City prior to the deal that sent Ruiz, Josiah Gray (starting tonight in the Majors), Gerardo Carrillo and Donovan Casey to Washington from Los Angeles.

Aug. 24

There's a first time for everything
In the course of one game, Zac Veen got a lot of his inaugural milestones out of the way -- his first career grand slam en route to his first pro cycle on a career-high seven-RBI night for Low-A Fresno. The top Colorado prospect started off with an RBI single in the first. He belted his 15th homer in the second with the bases loaded and doubled in the sixth. By racing for a triple in the eighth, he wrapped up the cycle -- the first such feat accomplished on the Grizzlies' home turf at Chukchansi Park.

Looney tunes
All was quiet in the Minor League home run race between Griffin Conine and MJ Melendez on Tuesday, but Great Lakes' competition for the High-A Central lead in long balls made quite a racket. Outfielder Ryan Ward moved into the lead with 24 after lofting a three-run homer in the second and a two-run shot in the fourth. But then Andy Pages -- the fifth-ranked Dodgers prospect -- raced around for an inside-the-parker in the fifth to match his teammate. And he overtook him with a more traditional dinger, a two-run homer in the sixth.

Frelick and easy
After going 7-for-15 in four games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, Milwaukee's first-round pick in the 2021 Draft -- 15th overall -- was promoted to Low-A Carolina. Sal Frelick continued making noise with his bat, even posting a five-hit night a week ago. On Tuesday against the FredNats, the speedy Boston College product showed what he could do with his glove by taking a home run away from Jake Randa.

Go see Cal
The previous two games had been kind of rough on Cal Mitchell, who went 0-for-6 with a walk at the end of Double-A Altoona's series with Somerset. But the opening of a new series with Richmond went very well for Pittsburgh's No. 18 prospect. Mitchell was 5-for-6 -- all singles -- with a career-high five RBIs and a run scored in the Curve's 16-5 victory.

Count on Mauricio
Doesn't matter if the count is 3-0 or 2-2, Ronny Mauricio can get the job done at the plate. Given the green light on 3-0 in the third inning for the High-A Cyclones, the Mets' No. 3 prospect teed off on his 17th homer of the season, a three-run shot. This after battling through a 2-2 count in the first for an RBI triple, his fifth.

If at first you succeed, try try again
Top Nationals prospect Keibert Ruiz likes to hit homers in bunches. With two for the Triple-A Red Wings on Tuesday, the 23-year-old catcher has racked up five multihomer games this season -- including a trifecta on July 23. The previous four came prior to the July 30 blockbuster trade that sent him to Washington, though. Ruiz has 19 long balls this season, 16 for Triple-A Oklahoma City and three for Rochester.

Some whiffs of the future
It's time for Cade Cavalli to level up again. Washington's No. 2 prospect has been promoted twice this season, and now he's moving up to Triple-A Rochester. The 23-year-old right-hander doesn't seem to have been affected by all the changes, he's leading the Minor Leagues with 151 strikeouts. Cavalli picked up 80 in 11 games at Double-A Harrisburg after fanning 71 in seven outings for High-A Wilmington.

Aug. 23

Making the most of the first one
In his third game since joining Triple-A Round Rock, Josh Jung connected on his first home run -- and it was a sight to behold. The second-ranked Rangers prospect sent a rocket to straightaway center for a solo blast that broke a 4-4 tie for the Express. It was the 11th long ball of the year for the 23-year-old.

Doubling down on jacks
In his first multihomer game of the season, Jake McCarthy extended his dinger streak to three straight contests with Triple-A Reno while posting his third performance of the year with five RBIs. The 23rd-ranked D-backs prospect has mashed 15 taters across two levels of the Minors this season.

No-no-no-no-no
Five Blue Jays pitching prospects combined to twirl a no-hitter in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League. Left-hander Yaifer Perdomo led the way with a career-best 11 strikeouts -- whiffing the side in the second and the fifth -- over five frames before Marc Civit, Kelvin Perez, Stephen Vargas and Brayan Mejia each tossed a hitless frame to close out the feat.

Bullish returns
It has not taken long for new top Red Sox prospect Marcelo Mayer to make his presence felt within the organization. The No. 4 overall selection in this year's Draft, who debuted in the Florida Complex League on Aug. 5, knocked the first two homers of his professional career in his last two games. Mayer also has posted a pair of multihit games with three knocks, five RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base over the past two outings.

The week that was
The updated MLB Pipeline prospect rankings featured a lot of movement, and the action on the field across the Minor Leagues bore that out. Meanwhile, the home run chase between Griffin Conine and MJ Melendez continued to escalate and some familiar faces produced in new places. Review the action here.

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