Red-hot bats headline Prospect Team of the Week

May 1st, 2017

MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Team of the Week honors the best performances from the previous seven days. Any player currently on an organization Top 30 Prospects list on our Prospect Watch is eligible, including big leaguers.
The latest edition of MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Team of the Week (April 24 -30) is loaded with hot hitters, including four from the Class A Advanced level. However, no hitter on this list capped his week quite like Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre's Dustin Fowler, who hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning on Sunday to complete the first cycle of his career in what also what his first-career five-hit performance.
Prospect Team of the Week
Here's our complete Prospect Team of the Week:
C: Garrett Stubbs, Corpus Christi Hooks (Double-A)
(Astros No. 11 prospect)
6 G, .455/.520/.955, 7 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBIs, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 SB
Stubbs had four multi-hit performances and hit in five of six games for the Hooks in his first full week back after a short stint on the disabled list. The 23-year-old catcher flexed his muscles over the weekend, too, hitting a solo homer on Saturday before going deep twice on Sunday en route to pacing all Top 30 backstops in total bases (21).

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Stubbs goes yard - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1341549783

1B: , Lake Elsinore Storm (Class A Advanced)
(Padres No. 13 prospect)
6 G, .480/.500/1.000, 9 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 9 RBIs, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 SB
Naylor paced all first basemen with 12 hits last week, as he tallied at least one hit and an RBI in all six games for Lake Elsinore. Half of those knocks went for extra bases including three home runs, giving the 19-year-old slugger five homers and 23 RBIs in 23 games to begin his season. Naylor might have done even more damage had he not landed on the disabled list on Sunday.

2B: , Carolina Mudcats (Class A Advanced)
(Brewers No. 5 prospect)
7 G, .393/.438/.607, 2 R, 3 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBIs, 3 BB, 3 K, 2 SB
Ranked 58th on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, Diaz gets the nod as our second baseman after the 20-year-old started three of his seven games last week at the keystone. He recorded a hit in all seven games last week to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, during which he's batting .350/.400/.650 with three homers and 11 RBIs. What's more, Diaz has improved his average to .273 from .208 in that span.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Diaz doubles in 2 runs - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1331536083

3B: Zac Shepherd, Lakeland Flying Tigers (Class A Advanced)
(Tigers No. 21 prospect)
6 G, .375/.464/.875, 7 R, 4 HR, 9 RBIs, 3 BB, 9 K
The reigning Florida State League player of the week, Shepherd, 21, continued to swing a hot bat for Lakeland as he paced all Top 30 third basemen in home runs, RBIs and total bases (21). He's hitting .429 during his current eight-game hitting streak, with a 1.471 OPS, six home runs and 16 RBIs. Overall, Shepherd leads the Florida State League in RBIs (21) and owns a share of second place in the home run (six) column.

SS: Paul DeJong, Memphis Redbirds (Triple-A)
(Cardinals No. 11 prospect)
5 G, .353/.389/1.000, 4 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 K
DeJong capped his first month in Triple-A with a two-homer performance on Sunday, the third multi-homer game of his career. In total, DeJong had five of his six hits go for extra bases on the week to push his season slash line to .304/.329/.544 through 23 games.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: De Jong, Cards go back-to-back-to-back - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1340257083

OF: Yanio Perez, Hickory Crawdads (Class A)
(Rangers No. 15 prospect)
7 G, .609/.654/1.304, 7 R, 1 2B, 5 HR, 13 RBIs, 3 BB, 4 K
Perez's monstrous week in the South Atlantic League saw the 21-year-old Cuban outfielder -- who also can play both corner-infield positions -- pace all qualified Top 30 Prospects in OPS (1.958), hits (14), home runs, RBIs and total bases (30). He put up most of those numbers during Hickory's four-game weekend series against Columbia, going 10-for-14 with four homers and 12 RBIs.

OF: Dustin Fowler, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Triple-A)
(Yankees No. 8 prospect)
6 G, .417/.462/.917, 11 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 K, 2 SB
Fowler, 22, closed out his week with three straight multi-hit performances for the RailRiders, giving him hits in five straight games and 11 of his past 12. He's slashed .400/.455/.720 during those 12 contests after opening the season in a 4-for-32 (.125/.152/.344) funk.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Fowler completes cycle - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1340015183

OF: DJ Peters, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Class A Advanced)
(Dodgers No. 19 prospect)
7 G, .400/.545/.960, 10 R, 2 2B, 4 HR, 11 RBIs, 6 BB, 8 K
Peters has massive raw power, but he had yet to hit a home run in 16 games entering last week. That's no longer the case after the 6-foot-6, 225-pound outfielder erupted to hit four homers while notching an RBI in six of seven contests. The Dodgers elected to bump Peters, 21, straight to the California League this year after he led the Rookie-level Pioneer League in runs (63), total bases (161) and OPS (1.052) in his pro debut. He's rewarded them so far, hitting .309/.441/.543 in 23 games.

LHP: , Kane County Cougars (Class A)
(D-backs No. 19 prospect)
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K, 0.17 WHIP
Reed fired six no-hit innings and matched his career high with 11 strikeouts on Wednesday to pace Kane County in a Midwest League shutout. It marked the first win of the season for the 20-year-old lefty, who issued one walk while throwing 55 of his 81 pitches for strikes. The 2014 second-rounder has been excellent so far this season in his return to Kane County, posting a 1.35 ERA with 27 strikeouts 20 innings.

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Reed notches 11th K - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1326838483

RHP: , Biloxi Shuckers (Double-A)
(Brewers No. 13 prospect)
1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 GS, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K, 0.50 WHIP
Lopez worked six scoreless innings and matched his career high with 10 strikeouts on Friday for Double-A Biloxi. He allowed two hits and one walk in the outing, throwing 56 of his 88 pitches for strikes. With the performance, Lopez put a bow on a strong first month that saw him post a 1.73 ERA with a 0.89 WHIP and 30-for-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 26 innings (five starts).

MILB Video - Title: Watch: Lopez notches 10th K - Url: http://www.milb.com/r/video?content_id=1333556283

RP: Stephen Nogosek, Greenville Drive (Class A)
(Red Sox No. 23 prospect)
3 SV, 0.00 ERA, 3 G, 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0.50 WHIP
Nogosek leads the South Atlantic League with seven saves after successfully closing out three games in as many chances last week. The 22-year-old righty recorded at least four outs in two of those games -- something he's now done in five of his nine appearances -- and allowed just two of the 14 batters he faced to reach base.