Here's a look at Friday’s top Minor League performers from each team's Top 30 Prospects list:
Cubs: Brennen Davis, OF (MLB No. 43), Double-A Tennessee
After Davis went on a tear in July, he found himself in a small slump in the early days of August. Across both games of Tennessee’s doubleheader, the powerful outfielder broke out by going 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, five RBIs, two runs scored and also reached on two hit by pitches. Davis has been a force at the plate all season, with 12 homers, 18 doubles, 36 RBIs, a .272/.386/.534 slash line and a .920 OPS across 211 plate appearances in High-A and Double-A. Cubs prospect stats »
Indians: Nolan Jones, 3B (MLB No. 24), Triple-A Columbus
Jhonkensy Noel, 1B (No. 27), Low-A Lynchburg
Jones has had a trying year at the plate, but has still shown glimpses of above-average power. The big lefty swatted his 10th dinger of the season in Columbus’ walk-off win over Omaha, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, a run scored and a strikeout. With big power, great patience and high strikeout totals, the 23-year-old falls under the category of a “three true outcomes” hitter. With 10 homers, 44 walks and 101 strikeouts on the year, 48.6 percent of the slugger’s 319 plate appearances have ended with one of the three true outcomes. That is slightly higher than his career rate of 46.9 percent over 1,772 plate appearances.
Noel has been raking ever since he joined Lynchburg, and Friday’s performance was no exception. The 20-year-old collected the first four-hit game of his career as he drove in three of the Hillcats’ eight runs. He ultimately finished a triple shy of the cycle, but he smacked two doubles for the second time this year and his two-run homer in the ninth was his 10th dinger of the season, tying the career high he set in his first season in 2018. Through 21 Low-A games, the Dominican Republic native is batting .400 with a 1.153 OPS. Indians prospect stats »
Athletics: Jordan Diaz, 3B (No. 10), High-A Lansing
Diaz has had his strongest showing in terms of hitting for power this season. He entered Friday with a career-best .469 slugging percentage and continued to hit for power by belting two homers and driving in four runs in Lansing’s 5-3 win over Lake County. Diaz’s two-homer day makes it his second straight game going deep and continues his strong August. The 20-year-old began his season with Lansing batting .243 through the first month of the season, but has since brought that mark up to .280 after slashing .326/.407/.495 in 95 at-bats in July. Athletics prospect stats »
Braves: Spencer Strider, RHP (No. 19), Double-A Mississippi
Coming off an outing in which he walked five batters and was unable to complete an inning, Strider tied a season-high in strikeouts with 12 and allowed four hits in his 6 1/3 scoreless innings against Birmingham. It was the 22-year-old’s fourth outing this season where he has struck out 10 or more batters in a game. The high strikeout performance comes after the right-hander gave up 10 runs in his last 4 1/3 innings with Mississippi. In his first Minor League season, Strider has collected 110 strikeouts in 64 1/3 innings across three levels. Braves prospect stats »
Cardinals: Nick Plummer, OF (No. 29), Double-A Springfield
Plummer continued his strong offensive season with a three-hit performance at the plate that included hitting his 11th homer of the season in Springfield’s 6-5 loss to Tulsa. In the 25-year-old’s last full season in the Minors, he batted .176 with High-A Palm Beach in 2019. This year, he is batting .307 with a .927 OPS in 76 games with Springfield. Since June 29, Plummer has batted .316 (40-for-119) and driven in 23 runs. Cardinals prospect stats »
Mariners: Brandon Williamson, LHP (No. 7), Double-A Arkansas
Williamson cruised through six innings, allowing one unearned run and striking out nine on two hits and two walks for Arkansas. It was the sixth time this season the left-hander punched out nine or more batters, and his second time reaching that mark at the Double-A level. Since his promotion to Arkansas on June 18, it has been an up-and-down experience for Williamson. He’s shown flashes of dominance with high strikeout totals (41 K’s in 35 2/3 Double-A innings) but is also prone to giving up runs (5.05 ERA). With a big frame and great movement on his fastball and curveball, Williamson has the tools to be a dominant starter. Mariners prospect stats »
Mets: Josh Walker, LHP (No. 22), Triple-A Syracuse
The lefty’s first start for Syracuse on July 23 was a rough one as he gave up eight runs in 4 1/3 innings, but he’s turned things around since. On Friday, Walker allowed one hit across seven scoreless innings against Rochester. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced which included capping off his outing by striking out the side on his 98th pitch of the night. The 26-year-old has now thrown 15 scoreless innings in his past two starts and allowed a total of two hits in that span. Mets prospect stats »
Nationals: Donovan Casey, OF (No. 27), Double-A Harrisburg
Since being acquired as part of the package for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner, Casey has had a nice introduction to the Nationals farm system. The switch-hitter notched three hits and swatted his 13th dinger of the season, finishing a triple shy of the cycle with two RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base. It was the 11th time he’s had three or more hits in a game this year. Since joining the Nationals organization, Casey has gone 6-for-16 over four games with two homers, a double, four RBIs and a stolen base. Nationals prospect stats »
Orioles: Mike Baumann, RHP (No. 7), Triple-A Norfolk
Baumann tossed a gem in his second Triple-A start as he held Jacksonville to just one hit and two walks over six innings. It’s the second scoreless outing in his past three starts and the third time in his last four that he’s gone six innings. He struck out four of the first seven batters he faced and didn’t allow a baserunner until he issued a two-out walk in the fourth. He gave up another walk in the fifth and surrendered his first hit in the sixth, a two-out single that was promptly erased with a four-pitch strikeout in the next at-bat. Baumann has a 3.79 ERA across three levels this season. Orioles prospect stats »
Phillies: Hans Crouse, RHP (No. 4), Double-A Reading
Making his first appearance since he was acquired from the Rangers at the Trade Deadline, Crouse twirled five scoreless innings, striking out five and working around two hits and three walks. Crouse’s biggest challenge came in the fourth inning, when he issued back-to-back one-out walks. He ran a 3-2 count on the next batter, but was able to induce a pop-up before he ended his outing with a three-pitch strikeout. The 2017 second-rounder has a 3.05 ERA with 59 strikeouts in 14 starts this season. Phillies prospect stats »
Rangers: Cole Winn, RHP (No. 3), Double-A Frisco
The Rangers’ top pitching prospect showed off his swing-and-miss stuff against the Sod Poodles on Friday night. Winn collected eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings and surrendered one hit and one walk in his scoreless outing. The righty gave up a leadoff single to begin his night, but followed that by setting down the next seven batters he faced, a stretch which included five of his seven strikeouts. Rangers prospect stats »
Rays: Taj Bradley, RHP (No. 16) High-A Bowling Green
In his first outing for Bowling Green, Bradley threw five scoreless innings, allowed two hits, two walks and struck out four. The scoreless performance makes it the 20-year-old’s fourth straight outing without giving up a run. Prior to his Aug. 3 promotion from Low-A Charleston, Bradley had a 1.76 ERA in 66 2/3 innings and led the Low-A East in ERA, wins (9) and WHIP (0.86). Rays prospect stats »
Reds: Elly De La Cruz, 3B (No. 18), Low-A Daytona
Allan Cerda, OF (No. 14), Low-A Daytona
A pair of Reds prospects provided all of the offense for Daytona. The scoring started with De La Cruz’s two-run shot in the first, his sixth of the year and third for Daytona. In his next at-bat, he got a hold of a 1-2 pitch and turned it into an RBI triple. A sac fly in the sixth made it 8-1 Daytona and that would be the last run he would drive in on a 2-for-4, four-RBI day. He’s batting .260 with four triples and nine RBIs in 18 Low-A games.
Cerda was the other half of the equation for Daytona. His first RBIs came via a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw in the third, driving in De La Cruz to make it a 5-1 game. He launched another homer in his next at-bat, a solo shot in the fifth, to give him his first multihomer game of the season. The 21-year-old now has a career-high 10 dingers on the year and he’s tallied three multihit efforts in his past four contests. Reds prospect stats »
Tigers: Reese Olson, RHP (No. 13), High-A West Michigan
Olson, who posted his strongest month of the season with a 3.16 ERA in 25 2/3 innings in July, kicked off August with six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four on Friday night against Dayton. The 22-year-old surrendered singles in the second and third innings, but worked around the minimal trouble en route to his second straight scoreless outing. The right-hander brought his ERA down to 3.96. Tigers prospect stats »
Twins: Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (No. 20), FCL Twins
Through his first 46 at-bats in Rookie ball, the 20-year-old Rodriguez has brought a powerful swing, which showed up on Friday night. Rodriguez went 3-for-3 with a homer, a double and drove in one run in the weather-suspended ballgame against the FCL Red Sox. Since making his Minor League debut on June 28, he has a .587 slugging percentage with five homers and 11 RBIs. Rodriguez was ranked No. 8 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 International Prospects list at the start of 2019-20 and has hit .239 with a .390 on-base percentage this season. Twins prospect stats »