Freshly traded prospect hits his way onto Team of the Week
A young player making a Prospect Team of the Week should be reason to celebrate for his respective team, since they're one of the hottest players in the Minor Leagues.
That is, unless it's Trade Deadline season and one of those top performers gets traded. Outfielder Enddy Azocar is one such case after the Red Sox traded him as part of the return for 2019 first overall pick Adley Rutschman. After playing last week as Boston's No. 5 prospect, he now ranks as the Orioles' No. 7 prospect.
Azocar is joined in the rankings by a pair of Top 100 prospects who are both making their first appearances -- No. 1 overall prospect Jesús Made and No. 84 Cooper Ingle.
To be eligible for the Pipeline Prospect Team of the Week, Minor League players must be ranked among their club's Top 30 prospects on Pipeline's lists. (Those in the Majors do not qualify.)
This is the Prospect Team of the Week for July 27-Aug. 2:
C: Cooper Ingle, Columbus Clippers (Triple-A)
Guardians No. 3/MLB No. 84
.520/.552/.960, 6 G, 13-for-25, 3 HR, 2 2B, 10 RBI, 9 R, 3 BB, 5 K
Ingle has been a hitting machine since returning to the Minors following his big league debut. The left-handed hitter has reached safely in all but one of his 18 games, with 13 multihit performances, including all six contests last week and seven overall. Add it all up and Ingle is slashing .327/.436/.606 and leads the International League in OPS (1.042) by a comfortable margin. The 109-point difference between him and second-place Kameron Misner (Royals) is the same as the gap between Misner and 30th-place Eduardo Valencia (DET No. 13).
1B: Xavier Isaac, Montgomery Biscuits (Double-A)
Rays No. 15
.529/.654/1.294, 5 G, 9-for-17, 4 HR, 1 2B, 11 RBI, 8 R, 8 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
Isaac's 2026 season has quite the personal-interest angle after his comeback from a "life-saving" brain surgery, but he's also hit well in his return to the Southern League. The lefty slugger delivered his second multihomer game of the year last week and went deep four times overall, helping him close in on his first 20/20 season (19 homers, 16 steals). Strikeouts have been an issue, but it's notable that he walked twice as much as he K'd last week. Isaac has been named to four Prospect Team of the Weeks, once in 2023-2024 and then again this past April.
2B: Colby Shelton, Birmingham Barons (Double-A)
White Sox No. 27
.400/.455/1.000, 5 G, 8-for-20, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 SB
A new addition to the White Sox Top 30 Prospects list, Shelton has been on fire the past two weeks, tapping into the power that made him a record-setting slugger in college at Alabama and Florida. He's 17-for-42 (.405) over that span with 10 extra-base hits, including a three-homer game last week. The left-handed hitter is fourth among qualified White Sox Minor Leaguers in full-season ball in OPS (.850) and has the lowest strikeout rate (22.3 percent) among among the top nine names on that list.
3B: Eric Bitonti, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (High-A)
Brewers No. 19
.409/.480/.909, 6 G, 9-for-22, 2 HR, 5 2B, 4 RBI, 9 R, 3 BB, 7 K
Bitonti has shown lately why he's one of six ranked Brewers prospects with 60-grade power. Seven of his nine hits last series went for extra bases, which helped raise his OPS to .908, eighth highest in the Midwest League. Originally drafted as a shortstop, the 2023 third-rounder is back to splitting his time at the infield corners after solely starting at first last season. Strikeouts remain an issue (career-high 34.9 percent K rate), but there are a lot of positive developments in the rest of his game in his age-20 season.
SS: Jesús Made, Biloxi Shuckers (Double-A)
Brewers No. 1/MLB No. 1
.429/.467/.857, 6 G, 12-for-28, 3 HR, 3 2B, 10 RBI, 10 R, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 CS
Made has been so consistent that it's easy to forget how impressive his season has been as the youngest player at Double-A. The 19-year-old phenom has reached safely twice in eight of his past nine games -- and also homered twice in his first career five-hit game on Friday. Made has 31 multihit performances already this season, including 13 with three or more knocks. Better yet, he's slashed his strikeout rate from 20.6 percent last year to just 13.8 percent in 2026, the sixth-lowest mark at Double-A.
OF: Conor Essenburg, Augusta GreenJackets (Single-A)
Braves No. 11
.571/.667/1.500, 4 G, 8-for-14, 3 HR, 1 3B, 2 2B, 11 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 2 K
A two-way prospect in high school, Essenburg has taken off as a power hitter since giving up pitching. The 2025 fifth-rounder leads all qualified Braves Minor Leaguers by a wide margin with a .954 OPS and is fifth in home runs despite missing six weeks with a reported oblique issue. After ending last week by going deep in back-to-back games, the Illinois native delivered his second three-homer game as a pro, including one shot that hit five stories up on an apartment building beyond the left-field fence.
OF: Zac Veen, Albuquerque Isotopes (Triple-A)
Rockies No. 7
.448/.515/1.069, 6 G, 13-for-29, 4 HR, 1 3B, 4 2B, 14 RBI, 11 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 SB
Veen has long been a toolsy player, and he's getting some of his best production yet in his age-24 season. After adding a ton of strength over the offseason, the 2020 ninth overall pick has crossed the 20-homer threshold for the first time as a pro. Four of those long balls came last week when he picked up extra bases on nine of his 13 hits. This is Veen's fourth time on a Prospect Team of the Week after previously earning nods in July 2021, August 2021 and June 2025.
OF: Enddy Azocar, Greenville Drive (High-A)
Orioles No. 7
.560/.577/1.040, 5 G, 14-for-25, 3 HR, 3 2B, 10 RBI, 10 R, 1 BB, 4 K
The 19-year-old Venezuela native is fitting in at High-A just fine after earning a promotion in late May. He's been hitting especially well lately, carrying a 14-game hitting streak that includes multiple knocks in all five games last series. Azocar has raised his OPS more than 200 points to .885 during his streak, which is fourth among qualified full-season players in the system. He departed the Red Sox as the organization's Minor League leader in a number of categories, including hits (105), runs (76), RBIs (63) and triples (6) while his 18 homers are tied for second.
LHP: Caden Hunter, Chesapeake Baysox (Double-A)
Orioles No. 14
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K, 0.40 WHIP
What's the best way to follow up your first appearance on the Prospect Team of the Week? How about a career-best start the very next time out in your Double-A debut? Hunter tossed seven scoreless innings for the first time as a pro and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts along the way. The 2025 sixth-rounder raised his K rate to 38.4 percent, which ranks behind only Kade Anderson (40.5) among pitchers with at least 75 innings. He has given up multiple runs in just two outings this year, contributing to a 1.32 ERA that ranks only behind, you guessed it, Anderson (1.20).
RHP: Jesus A. Castro, Lake Elsinore Storm (Single-A)
Padres No. 20
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 G, 1 GS, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, 0.14 WHIP
Castro has been a nice find for the Padres since signing for $10,000 in 2025. The 5-foot-11 hurler picks up plenty of ground balls with a fastball-slider-changeup combination that gets a ton of horizontal movement. His last start represented a big step forward, as the 19-year-old tossed seven innings for the first time and allowed just two baserunners along the way. The Mexico native's 3.31 ERA this season and 0.13 HR/9 are both lowest among Padres pitchers (min. 70 IP), and he ranks second with a 17.3 percent K-BB%.
RP: Eric Reyzelman, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A)
Yankees No. 29
0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 3 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 0.30 WHIP
After missing the final two months of 2025 with a mild back strain, Reyzelman has had positive results in his age-25 season if you look beyond his bloated 5.29 ERA. Poor BABIP (.364) and strand rate (53.7 percent) luck is a big factor there, and the good news is his strikeouts are way up (39.5 percent) while his walks are way down (11.6 percent). In fact, after punching out seven of the 10 batters he faced last week, his strikeout rate is up to 18th best in the Minors among pitchers with at least 30 innings.