Some scouts were down on Brendan Rodgers after his uneven, injury-laden pro debut last summer, when he hit .273/.340/.429 with three homers in 37 games after the Rockies selected him No. 3 overall in the 2015 draft.
What a difference a year makes.
Rodgers, the Rockies' No. 1 prospect (No. 10 overall), has been one of the best hitters in the Minors in his full season debut, with a robust .366/.438/.667 batting line and hits in 21 of his 24 games for Class A Asheville.
The 19-year-old shortstop's power has been on display early this season, as he connected on his sixth home run of the season Thursday to move into a three-way tie atop the South Atlantic League leaderboard. Rodgers is also pacing the circuit in OPS (1.105), slugging and total bases (62), and he's tied for second in both runs scored (23) and doubles (10).
The rest of the best performances from top prospects Thursday
• No. 9 overall prospect Trea Turner (Nationals' No. 2) did a little bit of everything in Triple-A Syracuse's win against Buffalo, going 3-for-6 with two doubles, two runs scored, two RBIs and his 11th stolen base. The 22-year-old shortstop has cooled off of late after a red-hot start, with a .238 average over his past 10 games, though he's still hitting an impressive .320/.398/.466 with 26 runs in 26 games.
• No. 27 overall prospect Jorge Mateo (Yankees' No. 1) collected multiple hits -- highlighted by his fourth triple -- for the sixth time in his past 10 games as Class A Advanced Tampa fell to Clearwater. After pacing the Minors with 82 steals in 2015, the 20-year-old shortstop is just 8-for-16 on the basepaths this season. He's still been plenty productive, though, hitting .354/.414/.556 in 25 games.
• No. 28 overall prospect Aaron Judge (Yankees' No. 2) and Gary Sanchez, the Yankees' No. 3 prospect and No. 55 on the Top 100, both went deep and drove in three runs as Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rolled past Lehigh Valley, 10-1. Judge's homer was his fifth of the season and second in as many games, while Sanchez connected on his fourth in 22 games for the RailRiders.

MILB Video - Title: Judge hits three-run homer - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=662187683

• No. 35 overall prospect Anderson Espinoza (Red Sox's No. 4) struck out a career-high 11 hitters in five innings for Class A Greenville in a win against Augusta. The 18-year-old flamethrower allowed one run on five hits and walked one in the outing, while matching his season high with 78 pitches (50 strikes). After striking out 40 hitters, in 40 innings, across three levels in his 2015 pro debut, Espinoza has already piled up 35 punchouts in 27 frames this season for Greenville.
• A's No. 16 prospect Raul Alcantara fired six no-hit innings to pace Double-A Midland in a two-hit shutout of Corpus Christi. He walked one batter and struck out four in the outing, throwing 58 of his 88 pitches for strikes. Pacing the RockHounds at the plate was No. 6 prospect Matt Chapman, who went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, while Ryon Healy (No. 17) and Jaycob Brugman (No. 21) both tripled as part of two-hit nights.
• Few pitchers have been more impressive than Diamondbacks No. 14 prospect Cody Reed, who has yet to give up a run this season for Class A Kane County. On Wednesday, the 19-year-old lefty struck out nine hitters -- after back-to-back 11-strikeout performances to begin his season -- over a season-high 6 2/3 innings in a win against Fort Wayne. Overall, Reed has allowed 10 hits in 17 2/3 scoreless innings for the Cougars, with 31 strikeouts and zero walks in that span.
• After he had his 10-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday, Giants No. 5 prospect Chris Shaw bounced back to hit a two-run home run in his first at-bat for Class A Advanced San Jose, who went on to defeat Stockton, 2-1. The Giants' 2015 first-round Draft pick has been anything but overmatched this season in the California League -- despite bypassing the Class A level -- where he's hitting .351 with a 1.064 OPS, six home runs and 23 RBIs in 24 games.
• Giants No. 18 prospectJarrett Parker's power surge continued Thursday when he connected on his sixth home run in the last five games for Triple-A Sacramento. The 27-year-old outfielder, who went deep six times for the Giants last year as a September callup, is tied for the Pacific Coast League lead with eight home runs in 24 games for the River Cats.
• Phillies No. 25 prospect Jose Pujols went 2-for-5 with a home run and a career-high five RBIs to lead Class A Lakewood's offense in a rout of Asheville. The 20-year-old outfielder extended his hitting streak to six games with the multi-hit effort, and has now gone deep five times in 24 games this season after hitting four in 66 games with Class A Short Season Williamsport in 2015.
"I wasn't [feeling anything particular] tonight," Pujols told MiLB.com. "I've been trying to hit the ball the other way and use the middle of the field more. I just always want to try my best to put the ball in play and give my team the best chance to win."
• Pirates No. 7 prospect Ke'Bryan Hayes homered for a second straight game for Class A West Virginia in a loss against Charleston. The 2015 first-rounder is making a statement with his bat in his full-season debut, hitting .341/.367/.512 with eight extra-base hits (3 HR) and 17 RBIs in 22 games for the Power.