Phillips, Reed among 10 top prospect performers Wednesday
Astros No. 2 prospect goes 4-for-5; No. 8 prospect hits his Minor League-leading 28th homer
Top prospects from the Astros and Padres turned a game between Double-A Corpus Christi and San Antonio into an old-fashioned Texas shootout.
A.J. Reed -- No. 8 on Houston's recently updated Top 30 Prospects list -- extended his Minor League lead by swatting his 28th homer of the season in a narrow 7-6 win for the Hooks. Reed finished 3-for-4 with the opposite-field solo shot and three RBIs.
"That [opposite-field] approach kind of started my junior year of college, and that's the kind of hitter I am now," Reed told the Hooks' postgame radio show (via MiLB.com). "It really helps me here as the wind blows out that way. I try to look for something to drive the opposite way and adjust off that."
The first baseman has four homers in his past six games and five total since a promotion to Corpus Christi on July 12.
Reed got some help from No. 2 prospect (No. 39 overall) Brett Phillips, who scored two runs as part of a 4-for-5 day that included a double and RBI. Both he and Reed knocked in runs during a three-run eighth inning that helped the Hooks deliver a comeback victory.
"I'm just looking to get a good pitch to hit, and not trying to do too much," Phillips told MiLB.com of his go-ahead RBI single. "There's no need to hit a home run there. Luckily, I was able to shoot one out to right field."
While Hunter Renfroe couldn't save San Antonio from a loss, the Padres' No. 1 prospect (No. 85 overall) did connect for his 13th homer of the season. Renfroe has hit in four straight games and has three roundtrippers in the past six.
He's got a lot of work to do if he wants to catch Reed, who's currently ahead of Double-A Chattanooga's Adam Brett Walker by two roundtrippers on the year.
The rest of the 10 best performances from top Minor Leaguers
• Athletics No. 5 prospect Matt Chapman drilled his eighth homer in 16 games for Class A Advanced Stockton. The blast was his 22nd of the season and followed an 0-for-8 mini drought that dogged the third baseman over the past two contests. Despite the minor hiccup earlier this week, Chapman has had several big games for the Ports since July 10. In almost three weeks, he's notched eight multi-hit games.
• D-backs No. 7 prospect Brandon Drury and No. 9 prospect Peter O'Brien led Triple-A Reno to a 10-4 win over Fresno. Drury, a second baseman, finished 5-for-5 with three doubles, a homer and three RBIs in the best performance of his career. The 22-year-old is now hitting .352/.400/.500 with one tater and 11 RBIs in 33 games for the Aces. O'Brien, who is much more of a power threat, he showed off his strength with a three-run jack that came as part of a 2-for-4 night. The outfielder has been with Reno all season and is hitting .273/.320/.514 with 18 homers and 72 RBIs.
• Rays No. 2 prospect (No. 49 overall) Blake Snell sizzled for Triple-A Durham, striking out seven while allowing just one run on one hit in five innings of work. The lefty's second Triple-A outing marked his first 'W' as a Bull and brought his season record to 10-3 with a 1.28 ERA. Snell made headlines at the beginning of the year by not allowing any runs in his first 46 innings (49 total including the end of last season). He has kept up an impressive pace since as he has not given up more than one earned run in a contest since June 15.
• Royals No. 12 prospect Hunter Dozier had his first four-hit game since 2013, hitting a homer for the second straight game in the process. The Double-A Northwest Arkansas third baseman finished 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs, his first multi-hit game since July 16. While Dozier is working on improving his line (.223/.289/.377) he's shown plenty of pop this year, tallying 25 doubles, 10 homers and 42 RBIs for the Naturals.
• Twins No. 7 prospect Max Kepler was oh-so-close to playing the hero in Double-A Chattanooga's 10-9 loss to Pensacola in 10 innings. Down 5-4 entering the bottom of the eighth, Kepler swatted a two-run shot that gave the Lookouts a brief lead. But the Blue Wahoos stormed back to score three in the top of the ninth and tie the ballgame and added two more in the 10th. Kepler finished 2-for-5 with three RBIs on the day and is hitting .331/.414/.529 with four homers and 44 RBIs for Chattanooga this season.
• Yankees No. 1 prospect (No. 16 overall) Luis Severino made a memorable start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday, recording a career-high 10 strikeouts in the RailRiders' 9-4 win over Lehigh Valley. He allowed one run on just one hit and didn't walk any batters while reaching double-digit Ks. The 10-spot was a season high for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Severino is 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 11 starts for the RailRiders. A six-foot right-hander, the 2012 signee was promoted in late May after going 2-2 with a 3.32 ERA for Double-A Trenton to begin the year. His perfect mark in Pennsylvania is no fluke; he hasn't allowed more than three earned runs in any of his starts at the Triple-A level.