Wednesday's top prospect performers

July 29th, 2021

Here's a look at Wednesday’s top Minor League performers from each team's Top 30 Prospects list:

Pirates: Nick Gonzales, 2B (MLB No. 29), High-A Greensboro
Gonzales slugged a solo homer and legged out a double in his 2-for-5 day at the plate, giving him his first game with multiple extra-base hits since July 6. The Pirates’ top prospect boosted his slash line to .255/.330/.447 with 18 RBIs, six homers and nine doubles through 40 games in his first Minor League season.

Cardinals: Ivan Herrera, C (MLB No. 80), Double-A Springfield
Luken Baker, 1B (No. 14), Double-A Springfield
Juan Yepez, 1B (No. 16), Triple-A Memphis

A trio of Cardinals prospects notched multihomer games across the farm on Wednesday. Herrera blasted the first two-homer game of his career, tied his career-high in RBIs with five and scored three runs in Springfield’s marathon 18-12 loss. The Cardinals’ No. 3 prospect is one long ball shy of tying his career-high of nine he set across 87 games and two levels in 2019, and he’s six RBIs shy of his career-high mark of 47, also set in 2019. He’s batting .250 with 11 RBIs and three homers in his past 10 games.

Baker’s night was identical to Herrera’s -- two homers, five RBIs. But Baker’s multihomer game was his second of the season, and the five runs he drove in are a career-high for the 24-year-old. Baker’s second homer of the night was also his second grand slam of the season. The 2018 Draft pick is batting .224 with 17 homers, 14 doubles and 49 RBIs through 71 games.

Memphis needed both of Yepez’s home runs in its 8-7 extra-inning victory over Gwinnett. The 23-year-old drove in three runs, scored three and walked once on his 2-for-3 day, giving him 14 homers, 27 walks and 37 RBIs through 65 games across two levels this year. With his performance on Wednesday, Yepez extended his hit streak to seven games and has two multihit games in that span.

Dodgers: Michael Busch, 2B (MLB No. 81), Double-A Tulsa
Jacob Amaya, SS (No. 10), Double-A Tulsa

A pair of Tulsa teammates both launched home runs and notched multihit games on Wednesday, accounting for seven of Tulsa’s 12 runs. Busch tallied a career-high four RBIs, fueled by a two-run double in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth as he finished the night 2-for-4. The Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect has 12 home runs, 13 doubles, 33 RBIs and 49 walks through 66 games this season.

Amaya’s night was similar -- he went 3-for-4 with a home run and a season-high three RBIs. The 22-year-old drove in all of his runs in Tulsa’s eight-run first inning: he launched a solo homer on the second pitch of the game before knocking in two more runs on a single. He added a walk and another single to his day, and the 2017 Draft pick has 32 walks, 31 RBIs and a career-high nine homers through 71 Double-A games.

Reds: Jose Barrero, SS (MLB No. 85), Triple-A Louisville
Barrero was red-hot when he started the season in Double-A and he’s more or less stayed that way since being called up to Louisville on June 29. The 23-year-old used his second four-hit game of the season to drive in a career-high six runs in Louisville’s blowout win over Iowa. The Bats started the fifth inning with the score knotted at 1, and after a one-out homer gave Louisville the lead, Barrero crushed his sixth dinger of the year, a three-run shot to bulk up his team’s lead in what would become a seven-run inning. On the first pitch he saw in the seventh, Barrero cleared the bases with a double to put the Bats up 13-1. He’s now batting .309 with 24 RBIs in 25 Triple-A games.

Giants: Kai-Wei Teng, RHP (No. 18), High-A Eugene
Teng spun his third scoreless start of the season, striking out five and working around a pair of hits and three walks across five innings of a doubleheader. The Taiwan native worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the second with a strikeout and a groundout after walking two batters, and he did the same in the fourth after walking a batter and surrendering the first hit of the game for Everett. The 22-year-old owns a 5.68 ERA with 74 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings this season.

Marlins: Ian Lewis, SS (No. 28), FCL Marlins
The 18-year-old Lewis notched his second three-hit game of the season, bolstered by a double and his third homer. The native of the Bahamas drove in a run and scored two, giving him 10 RBIs on the season. He’s slashing .291/.350/.527 in his first 16 games.

Nationals: Yasel Antuna, SS/3B (No. 4), High-A Wilmington
Antuna played the biggest role in Wilmington’s 19-6 win, going 4-for-5 with four doubles, four RBIs, one walk and four runs scored. The 21-year-old kicked off the scoring in the second at-bat of the game with his first two-bagger before knocking in two more runs on the first pitch he saw in the second. Antuna came around to score after his third double led off the fourth and his fourth double scored Wilmington’s 17th run of the evening. It’s the first time in his career that Antuna tallied more than two extra-base hits in a game, and the four RBIs are a season-high.

Orioles: Kyle Bradish, RHP (No. 12), Triple-A Norfolk
Bradish worked through some trouble on Wednesday night to limit the damage, holding Durham to one unearned run across 5 1/3 innings of a doubleheader. He retired 14 of the first 17 batters he faced, surrendering just two singles and a walk, before an eventful sixth inning plated a run after the leadoff man reached via a fielding error and Bradish gave up a single and a double. An intentional walk finished the day for Bradish, but Norfolk rallied to pull out a 4-3 win. The 24-year-old has a 3.92 ERA across two levels this season.

Rays: Seth Johnson, RHP (No. 12), Low-A Charleston
Johnson struck out seven over five scoreless innings of three-hit ball on Wednesday. It’s his first outing without allowing a run since June 17 and his first without a walk since June 27. The 2019 Draft pick didn’t allow a runner to reach second base as he threw 49 of his 71 pitches for strikes and he owns a 4.20 ERA on the season with 63 strikeouts in 55 2/3 innings.

Royals: Nick Pratto, 1B (No. 5), Triple-A Omaha
Pratto had himself a grand ol’ night at the plate in Omaha’s 43rd win of the season. The slugging lefty cracked a grand slam -- his second in three games -- in between two doubles for a 3-for-5, five-RBI night. Pratto’s slam came on a 2-0 count with two outs and the Storm Chasers down by two. The slam put Omaha up 12-10, and it would go on to win 14-12. Pratto has smacked three home runs in five games, and the 22-year-old has three homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs in eight Triple-A games since being called up on July 20.

Twins: Matt Wallner, OF (No. 11), High-A Cedar Rapids
Wallner clubbed his third homer in two games and fourth in four games in Cedar Rapids’ 9-6 rain-shortened win. Wallner’s two-run homer came in a four-run sixth that saw the Kernels take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, and he added a double to his day to give him a second-straight game with multiple extra-base hits. Through 24 High-A games, the 6-foot-5 lefty is batting .355 with a 1.150 OPS, 20 RBIs and nine home runs.

Yankees: Anthony Volpe, SS (No. 11), High-A Hudson Valley
Volpe tallied multiple extra-base hits for the second time in six games, going 3-for-5 with a dinger and a double while driving in two runs and scoring two. The home run was his 16th of the season and fourth overall for Hudson Valley, and the 2019 first-rounder (30th overall) is slashing .333/.422/.685 with seven doubles and 10 RBIs through his first 13 High-A games.

Blue Jays: Will Robertson, OF (No. 21), High-A Vancouver
Robertson had the extra-base swing going on Wednesday, homering and doubling three times to match his career high with four hits. The 23-year-old equaled a season high with three RBIs during his second straight multihit performance. Robertson spent more than two months on the injured list and has gone 9-for-24 since returning to Vancouver following a rehab assignment in the Florida Complex League.