Patiño leads top prospect performances

March 16th, 2021

As Spring Training rolls past the halfway mark, top prospects continue to make an impact among the vets.

MLB Pipeline No. 19 overall prospect Luis Patiño continued to post more zeros with a 1-2-3 sixth inning in the Rays' victory on Tuesday. Featuring a 70-grade fastball and a 60-grade slider, the club's top pitching prospect has allowed one hit and no walks over three scoreless frames this spring.

Patiño made his big league debut last summer with the Padres, notching a 5.19 ERA with 21 strikeouts and 14 walks in 17 1/3 innings, mostly out of the bullpen. On Dec. 29, the 6-foot-1 right-hander swapped places with Blake Snell as part of a four-player deal, so this spring is his first taste of Tampa Bay.

Bobby Dalbec, 3B/1B, BOS (MLB No. 93)
Playing all nine innings, Dalbec reached base twice to raise his spring average to .308. After striking out and grounding out early, the versatile infielder singled to center in the seventh and swiped second before coming around to score. He then capped his day with a walk in the eighth. Dalbec has a 1.208 OPS with four homers and eight RBIs in 11 Spring Training games. Gameday »

Akil Baddoo, OF, DET
The Tigers gave Baddoo the leadoff spot and he thanked them by homering in his third straight game. The left-handed hitter drilled a solo shot to left center in the seventh for his fourth RBI in that stretch. Baddoo also worked a walk and stole his first base of the spring. He is now hitting .391/.548/.870, playing in 12 of the Tigers’ 15 games. Gameday »

Jeremy Peña, SS, HOU
Peña picked a pretty exciting moment for his first career big league camp homer. The 23-year-old shortstop took Mets ace Jacob deGrom deep with a solo shot to left that had an exit velocity of 103.5 mph. Peña also worked a walk. He is now 2-for-2 with three RBIs over his last two games after going hitless in his first 13 at-bats this spring. Gameday »

Connor Wong, C, BOS
Wong entered the game behind the plate in the fifth and went 1-for-2 with his first blast of the campaign. After grounding out to third in the sixth, he drilled a go-ahead homer to right-center in the eighth. The round-tripper was Wong’s first hit since his 2021 debut, when he doubled on Feb. 28, though he only had five at-bats between the two contests. Gameday »

Rylan Bannon, 2B, BAL

Playing the entire game, Bannon picked up his first multi-hit game of the spring. The 24-year-old second baseman ripped a pair of doubles to left and scored a run. Bannon has seven walks against six strikeouts in parts of 13 games of Grapefruit League action. Gameday »

Trevor Rogers, LHP, MIA

Rogers' third start of the spring may have been his best. Over four innings, Miami's lefty allowed one run on four hits and struck out five while walking one. The outing was Rogers' first of the spring going past the third inning and matched his Grapefruit League high in strikeouts. Gameday »

MacKenzie Gore, LHP, SD (MLB No. 6)

In his first relief appearance of three outings this spring, Gore tossed two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out two with two walks as the Padres fell to the White Sox, 4-3. The southpaw dealt 11 of his 21 pitches for strikes and dropped his spring ERA to 3.00 through six innings pitched with opponents hitting just .238 against him. Gameday »

Julio Rodríguez, DH, SEA (MLB No. 5)

Pinch-hitting for Tom Murphy in the fifth inning, Rodríguez made an instant impact by belting his first home run of the spring on a no-doubter to right-center field. Though he didn't get credited with a hit in his second at-bat, the 20-year-old did notch his second RBI when he reached on a fielding error charged to Royals shortstop Nick Loftin. In the ninth, Rodríguez doubled to left to make Tuesday his first multi-hit game of the Cactus League season. Gameday »

Yonathan Daza, RF, COL

Continuing a surge since a sluggish start to the spring, Colorado's No. 16 prospect put together his best game of 2021. Daza went 4-for-4 with a homer and a double. After batting .250 with a .562 in his first eight games of the spring, Daza has now gone 9-for-12 in his last six games. Gameday »