Judge, Refsnyder among 10 top prospect performers Friday
Yankees No. 2 prospect hits his 6th homer for RailRiders, No. 6 breaks up a no-hit bid with a solo shot
Minnesota's top pitching prospect had his sights set on a no-hitter for Triple-A Rochester on Friday night, but two Yankees prospects had other plans in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's 5-3 win.
Twins No. 3 prospect Jose Berrios had a no-no going through six innings while the Red Wings built a 2-0 lead. But he unraveled in the top of the seventh, beginning with a home run from New York's No. 6 prospect, Robert Refsnyder.
That opened the floodgates and No. 2 prospect (No. 21 overall) Aaron Judge piled on with a three-run shot as the RailRiders completed a five-run inning. The first seven hitters Berrios faced reached base in the seventh.
"Once the sharks get swimming, it's hard to get them off sometimes," Rochester pitching coach Marty Mason told MiLB.com. "Every inning is different, every batter is different. That's why we play the game. You smell it out and you try to see if something is coming, if he's changed something or gets out of rhythm. It just got away from him."
Berrios fell to 3-2 and his ERA went from 3.02 to 3.38 in eight Triple-A starts since his promotion from Double-A Chattanooga.
Judge and Refsnyder have been raking in New York's farm system all year. The pair have combined for 47 doubles, 27 homers and 117 RBIs this season and Refsnyder was rewarded with a four-game stint for the big league club in July. He went 2-for-12 with a two-run homer before being sent back to Pennsylvania.
The rest of the 10 best performances from top Minor Leaguers
• Blue Jays No. 2 prospect (No. 92 overall) Jonathan Harris delivered his longest pro performance, going five shutout innings for Class A Short Season Vancouver. Selected 29th overall in the 2015 Draft, the 21-year-old Missouri native scattered four hits while striking out four Hillsboro hitters in a 3-0 win. Harris left with the game tied, 0-0, so he did not earn a win for Vancouver, but he was able to trim his ERA from 5.74 to 4.83 with the strong effort.
• Cardinals No. 1 prospect (No. 20 overall) Alex Reyes hit double digit strikeouts for the first time since joining Double-A Springfield. The right-hander fanned 10 batters while giving up just one hit in six innings against Frisco in a 7-2 win on Friday night. Promoted from Class A Advanced Palm Beach in late July, Reyes had not pitched past the 4 1/3-inning mark in four previous Double-A starts. He came into Friday's contest 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in those games, but found his groove early against the RoughRiders, striking out the side in the first inning. Reyes has had few bumps since signing in December 2012. The 20-year-old managed a 2.26 ERA for Palm Beach this year and has never finished a season with an ERA above 3.62.
• Giants No. 29 prospect Chase Johnson had a relief apperance for the ages with Class A Advanced San Jose. The 23-year-old entered in the fourth inning -- after Tim Hudson went 2 2/3 in a rehab start and Jeff Soptic finished off the third -- and proceeded to toss a career-high 14 strikeouts over the remaining half-dozen frames. The performance earned him his eighth win of the season and set a new team strikeout high mark this season. Johnson allowed just three hits and one walk during his dominant outing and his first seven outs of the night were strikeouts. While he's shown a penchant for Ks throughout his three-year career, he had never recorded more than nine in a pro game until Friday. The right-hander has 111 strikeouts against 34 walks this season and his ERA stands at 2.43 after 20 appearances.
• Nationals No. 1 prospect (No. 3 overall) Lucas Giolito was nearly perfect on Friday, setting down 17 straight batters in Double-A Harrisburg's 2-0 win over Bowie. The 6-foot-6 right-hander allowed one hit through seven innings of shutout work, striking out 11 batters on the night. Early on, Giolito recorded strikeouts on six straight outs between the second and third innings, while his only slip-ups were a single allowed to Bowie's Chance Sisco and a plunking of Mike Yastrzemski. The 21-year-old entered the game with an 0-1 record and a 5.94 ERA in three starts for the Senators, but left with a .500 mark and a reduced 4.18 ERA. "I had a little bit of a nice groove and everything was working," Giolito told MiLB.com. "I'm all about early contact; I was just trying to keep the ball down and get some good early contact and let the defense work, but I was able to get ahead of guys and put them away."
• Rays No. 3 prospect (No. 56 overall) Brent Honeywell was humming for Class A Advanced Charlotte. The 20-year-old right-hander tossed six one-hit innings while striking out three and keeping Bradenton off the board in a 3-1 win. The 'W' pushed Honeywell's record to 5-2 in nine starts for the Stone Crabs. He has not lost since July 2, over which time his ERA has dropped from 11.88 to 3.94. Honeywell is back displaying the stuff he had at Class A Bowling Green, where he finished 4-4 with a 2.91 ERA in 12 starts this season.
• Reds No. 1 prospect (No. 33 overall) Jesse Winker ripped a homer for the fourth straight night. The Double-A Pensacola slugger finished 1-for-2 with a walk and an important RBI as the Blue Wahoos took down Biloxi, 1-0. He's gone 8-for-15 with four home runs and seven RBIs in his past four contests, bumping his slugging percentage from .387 to .427 in the process. Winker has 12 dingers on the year, along with 18 doubles and 44 RBIs.
• Reds No. 3 prospect (No. 81 overall) Amir Garrett continued a strong stretch for Class A Advanced Daytona, allowing just three hits and striking out five over seven shutout innings for Class A Advanced Daytona. The southpaw still has not lost since July 8, a span of six starts. He stands at 8-6 with a 2.52 ERA for the Tortugas and has tossed 119 strikeouts against 51 free passes. Garrett began the season 2-5 through his first 11 starts, but has rebounded with a 6-1 record in his past 12. "My changeup, I was bringing it out a lot and locating my pitches," Garrett told MiLB.com after Friday's performance. "I don't know what it was, but I just felt really good tonight."
• Royals No. 1 prospect (No. 39 overall) Raul A. Mondesi broke out of a three-game slump to go 2-for-5 with a double and his sixth homer of the year for Double-A Northwest Arkansas. The solo blast came as part of an 8-1 blowout win over Corpus Christi and Mondesi snapped an 0-for-12 streak. It's been an up-and-down year for Mondesi, who has missed time due to two different injuries. But he's shown several signs of picking up the pace; he had an eight-game hitting streak before his mini-slump started earlier this week.