Chapman, Frazier among top prospect performers Saturday

A's slugger continues to show off power; No. 1 Yankees prospect hits first Triple-A homer

August 7th, 2016

Few hitters have the ability to impact a game at the plate like Matt Chapman.
The A's No. 4 prospect was the driving force behind Double-A Midland's 7-2 victory over Corpus Christi on Saturday night as he went 3-for-4 and matched his career highs by hitting two home runs and tallying six RBIs.
Chapman connected on a three-run homer to center field in the bottom of the first before adding a solo shot to his pull side in his second trip to the plate in the third inning. After grounding out in his third at-bat, Chapman tacked on two more RBIs with a two-out triple in the seventh inning.

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The two-homer performance increased Chapman's Texas League-best total to 26 through 110 games, and he's now pacing the circuit with 75 RBIs. The 23-year-old third baseman has been red-hot since the calendar flipped to August, hitting a robust .423/.464/.885 with seven extra-base hits and seven RBIs over his last six games.
All together, Chapman has posted a .243/.333/.507 slash line for the RockHounds, though he does sit atop the Texas League leaderboard with 139 strikeouts.
The rest of the best performances from top prospects Saturday
No. 9 overall prospect Alex Reyes (Cardinals' No. 1) got back on track with six innings of one-run ball for Triple-A Memphis against Omaha. The 21-year-old righty scattered six hits and walked two in the outing, with 67 of his 105 pitches going for strikes. He also struck out eight, giving him 93 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings for the season.
No. 14 overall prospect belted his 21st home run -- a solo shot off of No. 41 overall prospect Jose De Leon -- as Triple-A Round Rock edged Oklahoma City in 15 innings, 5-4. The Rangers' No. 1 prospect has five homers and 12 RBIs in his last 10 games.

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• It was a memorable day for No. 22 overall prospect, who hit his first Triple-A homer and first as a member of the Yankees to help power Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre past Syracuse, 4-2. After striking out in his first two at-bats against No. 4 overall prospect, Frazier, the Yankees' No. 1 prospect, got the best of the right-hander when he connected on a solo shot in the fourth inning. Overall, the 21-year-old outfielder is hitting .267/.342/.455 with 14 homers through 99 games.
No. 53 overall prospect Nick Senzel (Reds' No. 1) went 3-for-4 and hit a home run for a second straight game for Class A Dayton. The 2016 No. 2 overall Draft pick has been an offensive force since arriving in the Midwest League, hitting .333/.443/.579 with five home runs, 20 RBIs and 12 steals in 33 games. "He's been outstanding since he got here," Dragons hitting coach Luis Bolivar told MiLB.com. "He has a good work ethic. He keeps his routine down. He looks very, very mature when he's at the plate, taking good pitches. He's not rushing. The game isn't too fast for him at all. He made a big adjustment coming from school to the professionals. He gets it."
No. 70 overall prospect Tyler O'Neill's (Mariners' No. 2) bat proved the difference in Double-A Jackson's 7-6 win against Birmingham, as he went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run. The 21-year-old outfielder is pacing the Southern League with 83 RBIs, ranks second in home runs (20), slugging (.527) and OPS (.907) and is third in on-base percentage (.380).

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No. 85 overall prospect Mitch Keller (Pirates' No. 5) was dominant in a no-decision for Class A West Virginia as he struck out nine batters in six scoreless innings. The 20-year-old righty scattered four hits and did not issue a walk in the outing, giving him a 112-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio -- as well as a 2.85 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP -- in 107 1/3 innings (20 starts) for the season. "I had a really good bullpen leading up to the start and just had a good feeling coming in," Keller told MiLB.com. "I felt really powerful throughout the whole game. "I was just getting ahead with fastballs. I didn't throw a curveball or any off-speed pitches until the fourth inning. They were pretty late on the fastball, and later in the game, I was just going with my putaway pitch, which is my curveball."
Mets No. 8 prospect Thomas Szapucki allowed two earned runs in a start for the first time this season as he took the loss for Class A Short Season Brooklyn. The 2015 fifth-rounder was excellent otherwise, yielding just one hit and four walks in 5 1/3 frames while piling up 11 strikeouts. With the performance, Szapucki, 20, now has posted double-digit strikeouts in his first two starts for Brooklyn, giving him 65 strikeouts in 41 1/3 innings (seven starts) for the season. He also boasts a 0.44 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP, while opposing hitters have mustered a .152 clip against him.
• Ariel Jurado hurled five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits for Double-A Frisco. The Rangers' No. 8 prospect issued one walk while fanning six in the outing, throwing 37 of his 61 pitches for strikes. The 20-year-old righty has registered a 1.59 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP over 17 innings (three starts) since being promoted from Class A Advanced High Desert, where he had gone 7-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 16 starts.
Phillies No. 13 prospect Rhys Hoskins connected on his Minor League-leading 34th home run, though it wasn't enough to keep Double-A Reading from falling to Altoona in 10 innings, 2-1. The 23-year-old first baseman has gone deep four times in his past four games for the Fightin Phils, and he now has an even 100 RBIs in 107 games for the season. Meanwhile, Ricardo Pinto (Phillies' No. 16 ) was excellent on the bump for Reading as he allowed an unearned run on three hits in eight-plus innings, walking one and striking out six. The righty has yielded just two earned runs on nine hits in his last 19 innings (three starts).

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Rangers No. 13 prospect Jairo Beras homered in his first two trips to the plate as part of a big night at the plate for Class A Advanced High Desert. The 21-year-old outfielder delivered a two-run homer in the first inning and then tacked on a three-run shot in the subsequent frame to finish 2-for-5. With 17 homers through 82 games, Beras already has blown past his previous career of nine, which he achieved over 88 games in his second tour of the South Atlantic League in 2015.
Yankees No. 14 prospect Chance Adams improved to 13-0 in 22 starts as he fired six scoreless innings to pace Double-A Trenton in a 6-0 shutout of Harrisburg. The 21-year-old right-hander -- the Yankees' fifth-round Draft pick in 2015 -- scattered four hits, fanned a pair and generated eight ground-ball outs in the game, which saw him find the zone with 44 of his 69 pitches. In what has been a breakout campaign, Adams has pitched to a 2.28 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP across 114 1/3 innings, with 125 strikeouts and 33 walks. Opposing hitters, meanwhile, have posted a paltry .167 average against him. Pacing the Thunder at the plate was outfielder Dustin Fowler (Yankees' No. 13), who hit his seventh home run and tallied three RBIs as part of a 3-for-5 performance.
Mariners No. 14 prospect Zack Littell matched his career high with 10 strikeouts but allowed three earned runs in five innings to suffer his first loss for Class A Advanced Bakersfield. An 11th-round Draft pick in 2013, the 20-year-old right-hander has logged a 2.56 ERA with a 134-27 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 140 2/3 innings between the Midwest and California Leagues.
• In the same game that saw Jairo Beras hit a pair of homers, Dodgers No. 24 prospect Johan Mieses hit a grand slam and a double en route to driving in five runs for Class A Rancho Cucamonga. The home run was the 21-year-old outfielder's 22nd of the season and ninth in his last 13 games for the Quakes.