Brinson homers, leads top prospect performers

April 19th, 2017

Any lingering concerns regarding 's health were quashed by his performance on Tuesday night. Playing in just his fifth game since returning from a dislocated pinky finger, the Brewers' No. 1 prospect recorded four hits, including his second home run, and five RBIs to pace Triple-A Colorado Springs in a 14-4 win over Memphis.
Brinson, ranked 16th on MLBPipeline.com'sTop 100 Prospects list, flied out in his first at-bat before giving the Sky Sox the lead with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the second inning. He connected on a three-run home run to left field off of Redbirds right-hander Chris Ellis (Cardinals' No. 28 prospect) in the following frame and then tacked on a pair of singles in the seventh and eighth innings to finish 4-for-6 at the plate.

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The four-hit performance pushed Brinson's average from .273 to .357, his OPS from .804 to 1.058 and he's now collected a hit in each of his six games for Colorado Springs.
It's also worth noting that the 22-year-old Brinson, a natural center fielder, made his first start of the season in right field, a position he's played just 15 times in 455 career games in the outfield.
The rest of the best performances from top prospects Tuesday
• No. 1 overall prospect (White Sox No. 1) hit a leadoff homer in Triple-A Charlotte's victory over Pawtucket. He's now gone deep three times in 11 games, during which he's batting .318 with eight runs scored. Right-hander (White Sox No. 5, No. 67 overall) took care of business on the mound for the Knights, giving up just one earned run on five hits over six strong innings to record his second win, and flame-thrower Zack Burdi (White Sox No. 7) struck out the side to earn his third save.

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• No. 50 overall prospect Kolby Allard (Braves' No. 3) pitched well in his third start for Double-A Mississippi, allowing one earned run (coming on a home run) on four hits over six innings in a no-decision against Mobile. The 19-year-old southpaw, a first-round Draft pick in 2015, has pitched to a 1.69 ERA through 16 innings for the M-Braves.

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• No. 54 overall prospect Triston McKenzie (Indians' No. 3) gave up one unearned run on three hits in five innings as Class A Lynchburg defeated Carolina in game one of a doubleheader. The projectable 19-year-old righty walked two and struck out eight while throwing 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. He's now 2-1 with a 1.72 ERA through three starts (15 2/3 innings) for the Hillcats.
Cardinals' No. 22 prospect Connor Jones, whom St. Louis drafted last June in the second round, worked six scoreless frames, allowing just two hits, in his second turn for Class A Advanced Palm Beach. He threw 59 of his 92 pitches for strikes, with three walks and two strikeouts, and generated another 11 outs on the ground.
Mets' No. 23 prospect tossed six scoreless innings, with three hits and six strikeouts, to lower his ERA to 2.12 for Double-A Binghamton. Portland right-hander Teddy Stankiewicz also threw the ball well, striking out five and scattering three hits over six scoreless frames. Neither hurler factored in the outcome, as Binghamton defeated the Sea Dogs, 2-0, in 10 innings.

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Nationals' No. 5 prospect collected five hits for a second straight game, going 5-for-5 out of the leadoff spot for Double-A Harrisburg one night after he went 5-for-7. He's notched a hit in eight straight at-bats -- and reached base in nine straight plate appearances -- dating back to the eighth inning of Monday's contest. While going 10-for-12 between the two games, Stevenson has improved his average from .314 to .447.

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"I'm just getting pitches that are good pitches to hit and I'm putting pretty good swings on them and finding holes," Stevenson said. "Definitely feeling pretty good. I've had a few instances in my career where it's felt like this, so I'm just riding it out, trying to get as many at-bats as I can."
Rangers' No. 6 prospect Joe Palumbo dominated over 4 2/3 innings for Class A Advanced Down East. The 22-year-old righty faced just two over the minimum in that span, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out seven. He owns a 0.66 ERA through 13 2/3 frames (three starts) for the Wood Ducks, during which he's piled up 22 strikeouts against four walks and allowed just four hits (.087 batting average against).
Rays' No. 30 prospect Ryan Boldt enjoyed a career night at the night plate for Class A Advanced Charlotte, going 4-for-5 with six RBIs to help propel the Stone Crabs past Daytona, 10-1. The 2016 second-rounder plated a run in the sixth inning with a double, connected on a grand slam as part of Charlotte's eight-run seventh inning -- his second homer in 54 professional games -- and then added an RBI single in the eighth.
"That was big," Boldt told MiLB.com about his grand slam. "It just kind of put the game out of reach at that point. They were kind of hanging around and getting baserunners, but our pitching staff did really well to shut them down and it was nice to put the game away."
• White Sox No. 10 prospect allowed four hits in six scoreless frames to lead Class A Kannapolis past Asheville and record his first win of the season. The 22-year-old righty, acquired from Washington in December as part of the trade, issued one walk and struck out five to improve his strikeout-to-walk ratio to 26-to-1 through 20 frames (three starts), all the while lowering his ERA to 0.45.
Yankees' No. 30 prospect Taylor Widener set a career high with seven strikeouts as he tossed five scoreless innings in a no-decision for Class A Advanced Tampa. The 22-year-old righty found the zone with 51 of his 64 pitches, allowing two hits without issuing a walk.