Yankees trio among Saturday's top 10 prospects
Judge, Sanchez homers lead RailRiders; Kaprielian flourishes in Staten Island debut
Nursing a two-run lead in the seventh inning, Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre got two big insurance homers from top prospects to earn an 11-5 win over Rochester.
In the bottom of the frame, Yankees No. 2 prospect (No. 20 overall) Aaron Judge rocked his fifth homer in the past 13 contests. The slugger finished 3-for-3 with a double and two RBIs to bring his line to .251/.335/.439 with the RailRiders.
Yankees No. 7 prospect Gary Sanchez added a three-run bomb in the eighth to put the game completely out of reach.
That blast was the first since Aug. 4 for Sanchez, who finished 1-for-5 and is now hitting .271/.333/.458 since a promotion from Double-A Trenton. He got off to a hot start for the RailRiders, hitting .357 through his first 20 games. But he's only had one multi-hit contest in his past 11.
At Staten Island, the Yankees' top 2015 Draft pick, James Kaprielian, tossed three innings of no-hit ball in his debut for New York's Class A Short Season squad. The 16th overall pick out of UCLA had made two appearances in the Gulf Coast League, allowing three earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. But Saturday was a different story. The 6-foot-4 right-hander struck out four hitters in his three frames, needing only 35 pitches (24 strikes) to get the job done. The only batter to reach against Kaprielian did so via an error.
Other notable performances from around the Minor Leagues on Saturday
Astros No. 1 prospect (No. 25 overall) Alex Bregman fell a homer short of the cycle during a 3-for-4 night for Class A Advanced Lancaster that included a double, triple, walk, stolen base and three RBIs. The No. 2 overall pick in this June's Draft, Bregman is on a nine-game hitting streak that's included five multi-hit performances. He's hit safely in 18 of his past 19 games and is hitting .317/.365/.433 for Lancaster after a 2-for-23 start with the JetHawks in late July. He has five doubles, two triples, one homer and eight stolen bases to his name in 25 games with the Astros' Class A Advanced affiliate.
Brewers No. 27 prospect David Denson ripped two homers in a game for the second time this season. The 20-year-old third-year pro, who earlier in the week became the first active player affiliated with a Major League organization to come out publicly as gay, finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs as Rookie Level Helena defeated Great Falls, 8-4. He'd previously gone yard twice for Helena on July 12 against Orem and is now hitting .246 with six homers and 25 RBIs in 50 games since being demoted from Class A Wisconsin, where he'd hit .195/.264/.305 in 24 games.
Mariners No. 5 prospect Edwin Diaz still hasn't won since July 6, but he turned in one of his best starts of the season for Double-A Jackson. The 6-foot-3 righty allowed just two hits while striking out four in six shutout innings. Saturday marked the fourth time during his winless streak that Diaz allowed one earned run or fewer. The 21-year-old cut his ERA to 4.28 and improved his K-to-BB ratio to 89/37 in a Generals uniform.
Mariners No. 7 prospect Tyler O'Neill is positioned to make a run at the Minor League home run title after tying Cincinnati's Adam Duvall at 30. O'Neill went 2-for-4 with a two-run blast for Class A Advanced Bakersfield to match Triple-A Louisville's Duvall, and he's now gone deep in four straight games. The 20-year-old has 14 home runs in less than a month since returning from the Pan-Am Games, and he's put together two different four-game home run streaks in that time. O'Neill boosted his average to .257 and also has 17 doubles and 80 RBIs in 92 games this season.
Padres No. 1 prospect (No. 81 overall) Hunter Renfroe homered again for Triple-A El Paso, his second blast in four games since joining the team on Wednesday. The center fielder went 2-for-6 with three RBIs, helping the Chihuahuas take down Memphis, 9-3. Drafted No. 13 overall by San Diego in 2013, Renfroe got a promotion after hitting .259/.313/.425 with 14 homers and 54 RBIs in 112 games for Double-A San Antonio.
Pirates No. 1 prospect (No. 8 overall) Tyler Glasnow picked up his first Triple-A win on Saturday afternoon, going 6 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out nine hitters as Indianapolis took down Charlotte, 6-0. The 6-foot-8 righty now boasts a 0.99 ERA in five starts for the Indians after allowing just four hits and two walks against the Knights. He's been with Indianapolis since Aug. 1, over which time he's allowed three earned runs -- none of which have come in his past two outings (11 total innings). Glasnow returned from an ankle injury in mid-June, firing off a couple inconsistent rehab starts for Class A Short Season West Virginia before going 3-1 with a 2.14 ERA over six starts for Double-A Altoona.
Tigers No. 1 prospect Steven Moya homered for the third time in six games. The Triple-A Toledo slugger went 2-for-4 with a double and bumped his average to .245, his highest number since July 7. Moya, 24, now has 18 homers and 63 RBIs in 109 games for the Mud Hens, and is hitting .433 (13-for-30) with seven RBIs over his past seven outings. He's also hit five doubles in that time, bringing his season total to 25.