Crooked number signals progress for Potts

Admittedly, it took Hudson Potts some time to gain his footing in the Midwest League, but he stuck with his gameplan. That patience and dedication to the process is beginning to produce some serious results. 
San Diego's No. 23 prospect hit a pair of long balls and drove in a career-high seven runs to lead Class A Fort Wayne to a 7-5 victory over Great Lakes on Wednesday. It was the first multi-homer game of Potts' career.

Gameday box score
Through the first four months of the season, the 18-year-old sported a .223/.261/.367 slash line with 11 homers and 41 RBIs. Since then, Potts has hit .350/.396/.670 with eight homers and 22 RBIs in 26 games. 
"I haven't changed much of anything from the beginning of the season," he said. "Everything is kind of just clicking now and I'm working hard to get better everyday."
Potts put the TinCaps ahead, 3-1, in the first inning. The third baseman jumped on a 2-2 fastball from right-hander Marshall Kasowski (1-1) and sent it over the fence in right-center field for his 18th homer of the year. 
"It was a fastball that he left up and I hit it pretty good," noted Potts, who has a 1.066 OPS in August. 
An inning later, Potts came up with the bases loaded against Melvin Jimenez. The Texas native fell behind the Great Lakes righty, 0-2, but clawed back to even the count at 2-2. Once again, Potts got something over the plate, and this time, he turned out on it and drove it deep to left for the first grand slam of his career. 

"He threw me a first-pitch curveball, but I stayed on the fastball. He threw me one up and in and there wasn't much to think about," the 2016 first-round pick said. "I just did with it what I try to every at-bat and hit the ball hard."
Potts, who has produced a .724 OPS in 121 games this year, struggled with strikeouts in his first full season, but expects to develop a more disciplined approach with more games under his belt. Homering twice in two-strike counts was an encouraging sign for him.
"Even when I get down to two strikes, I'm not just trying to stay in the at-bat. I want to hit the ball hard and do damage," he said. "Getting two strikes against you isn't good, but it's going to happen a lot throughout a season. Earlier in the season, I tried a lot of different things with my two-strike approach, but I've matured a lot and found out what works for me."
In addition to developing at the plate, Potts sports a 96.4 fielding percentage, tops among all Midwest League third basemen. 
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"I've learned a lot. This is my first time playing a full season at third, and there's a lot of stuff I would have never thought about before," Potts added. "There's a lot of hard work that goes into learning the quickest and easiest ways to get to balls and getting familiar with all of the angles and how to read batters and certain counts."
Dodgers No. 9 prospectGavin Lux doubled twice and No. 27 Cristian Santana added three hits and two RBIs for the Loons.