MLB Pipeline's Prospect Team of the Week

June 17th, 2019

MLB Pipeline's Prospect Team of the Week honors the best performances in the Minors from the previous seven days. Any player on an organization Top 30 Prospects list on our Prospect Watch is eligible.

Short-season leagues started up this past week, which will give us at MLB Pipeline an even bigger pool of players to choose from when selecting the Prospect Team of the Week, including members of the 2019 Draft class soon enough. But this week’s squad has a decided advanced-level feel to it.

Every player this week did his damage in Double-A or Triple-A, with seven of the 11 honorees playing at the highest level of the Minors. Four of those players have big league time this year, with their performances this week serving notice that they’d very much like to get back there. One player on this week’s roster who hasn’t made it up this season is Astros outfield prospect Kyle Tucker, who is a four-time member of PTOW in 2019, just one behind teammate Yordan Alvarez.

Here is this week’s PTOW, based on games from June 10-16.

C: Will Smith, Oklahoma City Dodgers (Triple-A)
(Dodgers' No. 5 prospect)
5 G, .353/.478/1.118, 7 R, 1 2B, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 5 BB, 3 SO

Smith hit in all five games he played with Oklahoma City and homered in the last four, nearly matching his Minor League home run total in May (five). He has a 1.132 OPS since being sent down, making many Dodgers fans wonder when he’ll return to Los Angeles.

1B: Bobby Bradley, Columbus Clippers (Triple-A)
(Indians' No. 6 prospect)
6 G, .360/.385/1.04, 7 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 9 SO

Bradley had three two-hit games and two of those were two-homer performances. He now leads the International League with 22 homers and is second with his .627 SLG.

2B: Trent Giambrone, Iowa Cubs (Triple-A)
(Cubs' No. 20 prospect)
5 G, .412/.444/.941, 4 R, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 4 SO, 3 SB

From Friday to Sunday, Giambrone went 6-for-13 with a home run in each of the three games he played to go along with six RBIs total. He now has 13 homers for the year, just four shy of his career high set a year ago.

3B: Ty France, El Paso Chihuahuas (Triple-A)
(Padres' No. 29 prospect)
6 G, .476/.577/1.333, 10 R, 6 HR, 9 RBI, 3 BB, 1 SB

France was sent back down to Triple-A after a nice stay with San Diego and got back to punishing Pacific Coast League pitchers. He had hits in five of six games, at least one homer in those five, and drove in at least one run in all six. In 28 games with El Paso, he’s now hitting .427/.515/.945 with 15 homers and 42 RBIs.

SS: Owen Miller, Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A)
(Padres' No. 23 prospect)
6 G, .565/.615/.739, 4 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SO

Miller has a nifty six-game hit streak going, highlighted by a 4-for-5 game on Saturday that included a homer and three RBIs in what was the third of his four straight multihit games. His .317 average now places him third in the Texas League.

OF: Kyle Tucker, Round Rock Express (Triple-A)
(Astros' No. 2 prospect/MLB No. 9 prospect)
6 G, .458/.517/.917, 6 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 BB, 6 SO, 1 SB

This is Tucker’s fourth appearance on PTOW, and for good reason. He now has an eight-game hitting streak going and raised his average for the year 20 points this past week. His standout game was on Saturday, when he went 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and 5 RBIs. He’s now tied with organization-mate Yordan Alvarez (now in the big leagues) atop the PCL leaderboard with 23 homers. It's the 11th career PTOW appearance for Tucker, which is four more than any other player.

OF: Drew Waters, Mississippi Braves (Double-A)
(Braves' No. 5 prospect/MLB No. 59 prospect)
9 G, .444/.459/.722, 3 R, 4 3B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB, 7 SO

Waters has a 10-game hitting streak going now after a week that saw him play in two double-headers. He had five multi-hit performances, led by a 4-for-5 game on Friday that included a home run. The 20-year-old now leads the Southern League with a .338 average and .916 OPS.

OF: Yusniel Diaz, Bowie Baysox (Double-A)
(Orioles' No. 2 prospect)/MLB No. 76 prospect)
6 G, .364/.444/.864, 7 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 4 BB, 7 SO

After a sluggish April, Diaz missed more than a month with a hamstring injury. He’s performed much better since his return to the Eastern League on June 5. This past week certainly helped as the outfielder homered in three straight games, Tuesday through Thursday, had three multihit games and four multi-RBI performances.

LHP: Ben Braymer, Harrisburg Senators (Double-A)
(Nationals' No. 23 prospect)
0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 8 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 0.13 WHIP

He didn’t get a decision, and Harrisburg lost the game in extra innings, but that does nothing to detract from Braymer’s gem on Wednesday. He retired the last 20 batters he faced as he put up eight no-hit innings, allowing just one walk. The lefty is now ninth in the Eastern League in ERA (2.55) and fifth in WHIP (0.95) while holding hitters to a .190 batting average.

RHP: Kyle Wright, Gwinnett Stripers (Triple-A)
(Braves' No. 2 prospect/MLB No. 26 prospect)
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 7 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO, 0.52 WHIP

Wright has ridden the Gwinnett-Atlanta shuttle a few times this year and hasn’t been able to get in a rhythm in either place. Perhaps his start on Friday will help as he went deeper than he has in any start this season and reached double-digit strikeouts for just the second time in his career.

RP: Joe Harvey, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A)
(Yankees' No. 28 prospect)
0-0, 2 SV, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, 2 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 SO, 0.00 WHIP

Harvey has spent three stints in New York already this year and if he keeps pitching like he did last week, he should see more time in the big league bullpen soon. He converted two four-out save opportunities and retired all eight batters he faced, six by strikeout. He’s a perfect 5-for-5 in saves in the IL this season.