Pair of Padres headline Prospect Team of the Week
Renfroe, Liriano combine for five homers, 18 RBIs at Triple-A El Paso
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 2015 Minor League regular season is just about over, meaning MLBPipeline.com is bringing you the final Prospect Team of the Week (Aug. 31-Sept. 6). This week, Padres prospects did their parent club proud (say that five times fast), with two of the three outfielders hailing from that organization. The third outfielder even started his career with the Padres.
For the season, every organization was honored at least once, but some systems stood out more than others. The Houston Astros led the way with 23 Prospects of the Week, followed by the Cubs (15), the Twins (14), the Dodgers (13), and the Rockies and Indians (each with 11) rounding out the organizations with double-digit honorees.
C: Chase Vallot, Royals (No. 9 prospect)
5 G, .353/.478/.765, 6 R, 1 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBIs, 4 BB, 6 SO
It's been a bit of a tough first full season of pro ball for the 2014 Competitive Balance Round A pick of the Royals, but the backstop can try to build off of a strong finish to his South Atlantic League regular season. He began the week with a home run -- his fourth in six games -- and four RBIs. Vallot added a three-hit day, with another home run, on Saturday.
1B: Jesus Aguilar, Indians (No. 25 prospect)
6 G, .458/.481/.958, 4 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBIs, 2 BB, 7 SO
Though Aguilar had an eight-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday, he still had four multihit games this past week. Aguilar homered in each of the first two games of the week, then had a three-hit (including a home run), six-RBI game on Friday. He leads the International League with 93 RBIs.
2B: Wendell Rijo, Red Sox (No. 15 prospect)
6 G, .360/.429/.680, 6 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBIs, 3 BB, 6 SO, 3 SB
Rijo hit just .236 in the first half of the season, but has hit .279 in the second half, just turning 20 years old over this past weekend while playing in the Class A Advanced Carolina League. Rijo had four two-hit games this past week, including homers in back-to-back contests. Not known as a run producer, Rijo had a five-RBI performance and two other games where he drove in two runs apiece.
3B: Renato Nunez, A's (No. 6 prospect)
6 G, .407/.488/.741, 4 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 12 RBIs, 1 BB, 5 SO
After missing all of April and struggling in May, Nunez has returned to being a productive corner infielder, slugging .547 in the second half of the Texas League season. Nunez did most of his damage at the end of this past week. On Saturday, he had five hits, including a home run, and six RBIs. He followed that up on Sunday with three more hits, another homer, and five more RBIs.
SS: Osvaldo Abreu, Nationals (No. 12 prospect)
7 G, .400/.471/.667, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 4 RBIs, 3 BB, 4 SO, 2 SB
After a rough August, Abreu is finishing his SAL season strongly. He had hits in his first six games last week, highlighted by seven hits on Friday and Saturday combined. He drove in runs in four straight games to end the week and his two stolen bases on Thursday gave him 30 for the year.
OF: Jordan Paroubeck, Dodgers (No. 25 prospect)
7 G, .500/.576/.929, 8 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBIs, 5 BB, 5 SO
It's been a bit of a roller coaster for Paroubeck, who has dealt with injuries and was traded twice. His Dodgers debut this summer has been a good one, as this past week pushed his season totals to a .331/.409/.551 line. He has an eight-game hitting streak going and had five multihit contests for the week.
OF: Rymer Liriano, Padres (No. 10 prospect)
8 G, .452/.514/.903, 9 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 5 RBIs, 4 BB, 4 SO, 1 SB
Liriano had an eight-game streak snapped on Sunday, but not before he reeled off six straight multihit games. He hit two homers on Tuesday and added another one on Thursday, continuing to show power-speed potential (14 homers, 18 steals on the season).
OF: Hunter Renfroe, Padres (No. 1 prospect)
8 G, .342/.359/.658, 6 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 13 RBIs, 1 BB, 8 SO
Renfroe has definitely shaken off a very slow start, hitting .341/.367/.659 in 20 games since his promotion to Triple-A. This past week saw Renfroe drive in multiple runs in five games. He homered in the first two games of the week en route to collecting six extra-base hits over his eight games.
LHP: Cody Reed, Reds (No. 9 prospect)
2 G, 2-0, 14 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 17 SO
Reed has certainly made a very solid first impression with his new organization, joining the Reds from the Royals via the Johnny Cueto trade. The lefty went 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts post-trade and this week was simply an exclamation point on his Reds debut. The southpaw went eight shutout innings on Monday, striking out eight in the process. He gave up two unearned runs on Sunday allowing just three hits and striking out nine. Reed is the only pitcher to be named to the Prospect Team of the Week three times this year.
RHP: Samuel Coonrod, Giants (No. 5 prospect)
2 G, 1-0, 11 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 17 SO
Talk about finishing the season on a strong note. Coonrod's August hadn't gone so well until he took the mound on the last day of the month and allowed just one run on two hits while striking out eight. He finished his regular season by whiffing nine over five innings. He walked just one in each of the two starts. He finished the year with a 9.2 K/9 rate to go along with a solid 2.7 BB/9 ratio.