Here are Friday's 10 best prospect performances

August 24th, 2019

Here are the 10 best performances by players on team Top 30 Prospects lists from across the Minor Leagues on Friday:

Tarik Skubal, LHP, Tigers No. 4
Skubal continues to rack up strikeouts and fanned 11 over 5 2/3 innings for Double-A Erie. The 22-year-old did give up a pair of runs, but he also tied the Erie franchise record for double-digit strikeout games with six ... and he’s only made eight starts at the Double-A level. Skubal has fanned 78 over 39 2/3 innings with Erie, but it’s not like this recent stretch is unexpected. Prior to Skubal’s promotion, he pitched to a 2.58 ERA and whiffed 97 over 80 1/3 innings with Class A Advanced Lakeland. Tigers prospect stats »

Jhoan Duran, RHP, Twins No. 9
Duran retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning. The right-hander threw 58 of his 80 pitches for strikes and gave up just one hit over eight scoreless innings. Duran also recorded 11 strikeouts, his third double-digit strikeout performance of the year. The outing was a nice bounceback outing for Duran, who had yielded 19 runs over 19 innings in his previous four starts. Twins prospect stats »

Yu Chang, INF, Indians No. 11
Chang hadn’t gone deep since Aug. 1 prior to Friday, when he connected on a pair of two-run homers as part of a 3-for-4 performance that helped power Triple-A Columbus past Toledo. The Indians prospect’s fourth career multihomer performance gives him nine homers in 67 games on the season. Chang, 24, has hit at least 13 homers in each of the last three years, including a career-high 24 in 2017. He should be back in the Major Leagues at some point in September after appearing in two games with the Indians earlier this season. Indians prospect stats »

Jarred Kelenic, OF and Noelvi Marte, SS, Mariners Nos. 1 and 13
Kelenic, the Mariners’ top prospect, bumped his home run total to 20 with his second two-homer game of the year. The Mets' 2018 first-round pick hit two-run homers in both the fourth and seventh innings to finish 2-for-4 with four RBIs, which matches his career high. Kelenic is hitting .283 with three homers through his first 12 games with Double-A Arkansas. Overall, Kelenic has spent time across three levels this season and is batting .298.

Marte hit his ninth homer of the year as part of a 3-for-4, four-RBI performance in the Dominican Summer League. The 17-year-old is hitting .304 through the first 64 games of his professional career and has been scorching-hot at the plate recently, batting .408 through 19 games in August. The Mariners signed the shortstop in 2018 and in addition to an ability to hit for average, Marte also has 70-grade speed. Mariners prospect stats »

Andrew Knizner, C, Cardinals No. 3
A pair of the Cardinals’ top prospects came up big in Memphis’ win over Omaha. Knizner homered twice, his first two-homer game of the year, while Austin Warner (No. 29) threw seven scoreless innings. Not only did Knizner hit a pair of homers and finish a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, but after going deep on Thursday, the 24-year-old has hit a trio of homers over the past two days and his season total of 11 is one shy of his career high. Of course, Knizner has actually matched that mark if you include the one blast he hit in the Majors this year. Meanwhile, Warner was lights out on the mound, as he struck out six in one of his better starts this season. The 25-year-old lefty has completed at least seven innings four times this season and has pitched to a 4.52 ERA across two levels. Cardinals prospect stats »

Mason Martin, 1B, Pirates No. 19
Martin recorded his second multihomer game of the season, going deep in his first two at-bats for Class A Advanced Bradenton, and later added an RBI single to finish 3-for-4 with three RBIs. The Pirates’ No. 19 prospect has now gone deep 11 times in 43 games with the Marauders and has 34 homers in 125 games overall between two levels, with a Minor League-best 123 RBIs. He’s also struck out 159 times, albeit while posting a solid .254/.352/.561 slash line. Pirates prospect stats »

Luis Campusano, C, Padres No. 8
Campusano flashed all sorts of offensive potential for Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore on Friday. The 20-year-old, a second-round pick from the 2017 Draft, finished 3-for-6 with a trio of RBIs and a pair of extra-base hits as he doubled and hit his 15th homer of the year. Campusano hit .288 over 70 games a season ago in his full-season debut, but he’s improved on that this year and is batting .320 through 106 games in his first experience at the Class A Advanced level. The 15 homers, as well as his 75 RBIs, are both career highs. Padres prospect stats »

Brandon Bielak, RHP, Astros No. 11
After racking up nine strikeouts in his last start, Bielak upped the ante with 10 strikeouts, a season-high, in a no-decision for Triple-A Round Rock. The 23-year-old, an 11th-round pick from the 2017 Draft, threw 64 of his 98 pitches for strikes as he gave up two runs on three hits over seven strong innings. Bielak operates with four solid pitches -- fastball, curveball, slider and changeup -- and has pitched to a 4.74 ERA over 14 appearances (13 starts) with Round Rock in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Astros prospect stats »

Greg Jones, SS, Rays No. 9
First-round pick Jones was a catalyst from the leadoff spot Friday as he reached base three times, swiped a pair of bags and scored a team-high three runs in Class A Short-Season Hudson Valley’s win against Tri-City. He tallied a pair of singles and also reached via a walk in the contest, finishing 2-for-4. A 21-year-old, switch-hitting shortstop, Jones is having a strong pro debut so far in the New York-Penn League, batting .323 with 16 extra-base hits and 16 stolen bases in 40 games. Rays prospect stats »