This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Despite the “graduations” of Corbin Carroll, Ryne Nelson, Drey Jameson, Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy, there is still plenty of talent in the D-backs Minor League system and we’re going to do the best we can to keep you up to date on their progress throughout the summer.

Here’s a look at what’s going on down on the farm:

Triple-A Reno

The good news is that shortstop Blaze Alexander picked up right where he left off in Spring Training, getting off to a red-hot start for the Aces.

In his first 24 at-bats, Alexander had a slash line of .458/.618/.792. That included three doubles, a triple and a homer.

The bad news is that Alexander was hit on the right thumb by a pitch Thursday and suffered a broken thumb.

Farm director Josh Barfield said that the extent of Alexander’s injury was still being determined.

“We’ll know more soon, but he’s going to be out for a little while,” Barfield said.

The pitching numbers in Reno were a little rough over the first couple weeks of the season, but they usually are in the Pacific Coast League. Because of that, the D-backs look at other metrics when deciding how a pitcher is throwing.

“We try and tease out the conditions as best as we can,” Barfield said. “If guys are able to command the ball, it's going to translate when they go to the big leagues, same with guys missing bats. At that elevation, there are going to be some cheap home runs and they’ll have inflated ERAs so we try and look at the expected numbers, the quality of contact against them and the shape of their pitches.”

Double-A Amarillo

Second baseman Ryan Bliss is off to a hot start for the Sod Poodles, slashing .464/.464/.714 in his first six games.

Last year was a tough one for Bliss, who hit .214 in 110 games for High-A Hillsboro, but the D-backs were confident that their second-round pick from the 2021 Draft would figure it out at the plate.

“He's on fire right now,” Barfield said. “He finished the year really strong last year right before he got hurt, he had a great spring and that’s carried over. He’s driving the ball, looks so much more confident and he’s in a better place. He’s hitting balls to all parts of the ballpark right now.”

Top prospect, shortstop Jordan Lawlar, is not surprisingly off to a good start as well.

“He looks like he always does,” Barfield said. “Controlling at-bats, driving balls gap to gap and electric on the bases. His defense is continuing to improve.”

High-A Hillsboro

Right-hander Dylan Ray, who the D-backs took in the fourth round last year out of Alabama, had a good first couple of starts for the Hops.

“He's a guy that I got see for just a short time last year coming out of Draft,’ Barfield said. “He had a full offseason under his belt and he came back bigger, stronger and his stuff was sharper. He had a great Spring Training and he's carried that over into the season. He had a dominant second outing after a pretty solid first outing.”

Class A Visalia

Right-hander Brock Jones gave up three hits and a pair of runs to the first three batters he faced in his first start of the year, but then the 21-year-old settled in and didn’t allow another hit as he went four innings.

“Three hits to start the game and he came back and after that threw the ball really well,” Barfield said. “A lot of strikes. It was really good to see. He’s a younger guy that’s done a good job of continuing to improve, so I was good to see him get off to a good start.”