Frelick smacks first two homers for Sounds

It took Sal Frelick 36 games to hit his first home run at the Triple-A level. It didn’t take him nearly as long to hit the second.

MLB’s No. 49 overall prospect went deep twice and plated four runs in Nashville’s 12-4 win over Jacksonville, swatting a go-ahead dinger in the second and a solo jack in the seventh, both to right field.

Frelick is not a power hitter -- it’s his lowest graded tool at 45 -- but his plus contact skills allow for the occasional home run to jump off the bat. The lefty slugger has 144 professional games under his belt, and Wednesday’s effort was his first multihomer performance.

Stepping up to the plate with two on and his team down a run, the 22-year-old attacked an 0-1 pitch from lefty Matthew Kent and sent it soaring over the right-field fence in a hurry, giving the Sounds a lead they would never relinquish.

The outfielder’s second dinger came with Nashville leading by five. After falling behind in the count 0-2, he took a ball and fouled off a hanger in the middle of the zone. He wouldn’t make that same mistake twice, jumping over the next offering and lining it to almost the exact same spot he belted the first homer.

It’s been quite the journey in 2022 for the Brewers’ second-ranked prospect, and throughout the year, he's only gotten better. He started the season at High-A, hitting a respectable .291 with an .847 OPS and eight extra-base hits. He jumped to Double-A after just 21 games and posted a .317 average over 52 games before earning his second promotion of the year.

Since joining the Minors’ highest level, the Boston College product has hit a blistering .363/.440/.486 with more RBIs (16), walks (17) and multihit games (17) than strikeouts (11) in 146 at-bats. For Frelick, it's safe to say that everything is clicking.