Tuesday's top prospect performers

June 12th, 2019

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

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

Blue Jays: T.J. Zeuch, RHP (No. 12) -- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K (Class A Advanced Dunedin); Griffin Conine, OF (No. 15) -- 4-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI (Class A Lansing)
Zeuch impressed in his season debut as he helped lead Dunedin to a win and carved his way through four solid innings. The 23-year-old, a 2016 first-round Draft pick, threw 42 of his 60 pitches for strikes and retired 12 of the 15 batters he faced. Zeuch pitched across two levels in 2018 and finished with a 3.17 ERA over 27 starts. Conine's 2019 campaign got off to a late start as he had to serve a 50-game suspension, but the 2018 second-round pick is certainly making up for lost time. Conine is hitting .438 and has hits in nine of the 12 games he's played in. What's more, he already has a pair of two-homer games and his six total homers are one shy of the mark he set last season in his professional debut.
Blue Jays prospects stats »

Orioles: Dean Kremer, RHP (No. 9) -- 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K (Double-A Bowie)
Kremer picked up his first Double-A win this year as he fired 61 of his 98 pitches for strikes over a season-high seven innings. The 23-year-old began the season with Class A Advanced Frederick, but was bumped up to Bowie after two starts. Kremer got off to a slow start with Bowie, going 0-3 and allowing 12 runs over 15 2/3 innings. However, he got back on track against New Hampshire and will look to carry that momentum forward.
Orioles prospects stats »

Rays: Nate Lowe, 1B (No. 8) -- 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI (Triple-A Durham)
Lowe has two hits in three of his past four games, including each of the past two. The 23-year-old made his Major League debut earlier this season and hit .263 over 10 games (38 at-bats), but was optioned back to Triple-A on June 2. Since returning to the Bulls, Lowe has hits in six of eight games and has hit a pair of homers.
Rays prospects stats »

Red Sox: Bobby Dalbec, 3B (No. 2) -- 1-for-4, HR, RBI (Double-A Portland)
After going deep 32 times in 2018, Dalbec is up to 14 homers so far in 2019. The 23-year-old, a fourth-round pick from the 2016 Draft, has hit four homers this month and has gone deep in two of his past three games. Dalbec, hitting .251 this season, is also working on a six-game hitting streak.
Red Sox prospects stats »

Yankees: No Yankees prospects had noteworthy performances in the Minors on Tuesday.

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Indians: Gabriel Rodriguez, SS (No. 13) -- 3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI (DSL Indians)
Rodriguez, a 17-year-old signed by the Indians last July, has really impressed to begin his professional career. It's only been eight games, so no need to overreact, but Rodriguez has hits in six of those games and has homered three times, including one in each of the past two games. The Indians signed Rodriguez for $2.1 million last year -- a franchise record for a position player -- and believe the prospect has an incredibly high ceiling.
Indians prospects stats »

Royals: Brewer Hicklen, OF (No. 16) -- 3-for-3, 2B, 2 SB (Class A Advanced Wilmington)
After turning in his second three-hit game of the year in the first half of a doubleheader, Hicklen went 0-for-1 in Game 2. The 23-year-old got off to a slow start this season, his first at the Class A Advanced level, but has hit much better of late. After hitting .204 in April, Hicklen hit .279 in May and is hitting .375 in June.
Royals prospects stats »

Tigers: Bryan Garcia, RHP (No. 18) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (Triple-A Toledo)
Garcia needed just 14 pitches, nine strikes to put together his second straight hitless outing. The right-hander is working his way back from Tommy John surgery so some of his results may be a bit up and down in the early part of the year, but when Garcia is healthy, he has a nasty fastball-slider combination that he used to amass 78 strikeouts in 55 innings in 2017.
Tigers prospects stats »

Twins: Ryan Jeffers, C (No. 16) -- 2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI (Class A Advanced Fort Myers)
Jeffers set career highs for homers and RBIs as he hit a solo homer in the first and then did so again in the sixth, bringing his season total to eight, another career high. The Twins selected Jeffers in the second round of the 2018 Draft and he went on to hit .344 with seven homers over 64 games in his professional debut. While the 22-year-old hasn't maintained that ridiculous pace, he has hit well in his full-season debut and is slashing .282/.355/.469 through 50 games.
Twins prospects stats »

White Sox: Luis Robert, OF (No. 1, No. 15 in MLB) -- 3-for-3, 2-for-4, RBI (Double-A Birmingham)
Robert has done nothing but hit all year and a doubleheader simply provided him with the opportunity to turn in a pair of multihit performances. Considering the season-long tear Robert has been on, the only surprise here is that none of his five hits went for extra bases. After hitting .453 over 19 games, Robert was promoted from Class A Advanced Winston-Salem to Birmingham, where he has "only" managed to hit .338 over 37 games.
White Sox prospects stats »

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

A’s: Jesus Luzardo, LHP (No. 1, No. 13 in MLB) -- 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K (Class A Advanced Stockton)
A’s executives and fans were simply excited to see Luzardo healthy and on the mound. The fact that he threw well in his first appearance of the season was an added bonus. The 21-year-old, whom the A’s acquired via a 2016 trade from the Nationals, was battling for a spot in the Opening Day rotation before suffering an injury in Spring Training. Luzardo threw 24 of his 33 pitches for strikes on Tuesday and retired eight of the nine batters he faced after giving up a leadoff single. Luzardo wasn’t the only rehabbing prospect to pitch for Stockton as A.J. Puk (No. 2), who missed last season because of Tommy John surgery, also made his first appearance of the year and gave up one run over two innings.
A's prospects stats »

Angels: Jo Adell, OF (No. 1, No. 11 in MLB) -- 1-for-2, 2B, RBI; 1-for-3, 2B (Double-A Mobile)
Adell, the Angels’ first-round pick from 2017, wasn’t activated until late May, but has quickly reminded everyone why he was so highly touted. Still only 20 years old, Adell has hits in 11 of the 13 games he’s played in the season and is hitting .340 with three homers and 11 RBIs.
Angels prospects stats »

Astros: Seth Beer, OF/1B (No. 9) -- 2-for-4 HR, RBI (Double-A Corpus Christi)
After going 0-for-6 over the past two games, Beer got back on track with his 13th homer as part of a multihit performance. Beer, a first-round pick from last year’s Draft, has already reached Double-A in his first full season. The 22-year-old out of Clemson hit .328 with nine homers over 35 games for Class A Advanced Fayetteville and was then bumped up to Double-A, where he’s hitting .291 with four homers in 24 games.
Astros prospects stats »

Mariners: Evan White, 1B (No. 4) -- 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI (Double-A Arkansas)
White, arguably the best defensive first baseman in the Minors, is also showing his ability to hit. The 2017 first-round Draft pick is a career .295 hitter and hit .300 last season, so it’s not as if his ability to hit is catching anyone off guard, but he’s still on an impressive tear as he’s in the midst of a 13-game hitting streak and is hitting .390 over nine games this month.
Mariners prospects stats »

Rangers: Demarcus Evans, RHP (No. 24) -- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (Double-A Frisco)
Evans did issue a walk, but that was the extent of the damage as he held the opposition scoreless for the 16th time over his past 17 outings. A 2015 Draft pick (25th round) with a mid-90s fastball and 12-to-6 curveball, Evans has been lights out this season. He began the year with Class A Advanced Down East, where he posted a 0.81 ERA and racked up 40 strikeouts over 22 1/3 innings. Evans was then promoted to Frisco, where he has a 1.23 ERA and has fanned 53 over 29 1/3 innings.
Rangers prospects stats »

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

Braves: Drew Waters, OF (No. 5, No. 61 in MLB) -- 2-for-4, 2 RBI (Double-A Mississippi)
Waters, the Braves’ second-round pick from the 2017 Draft, hit .293 last year in his first full season and has continued to rake in 2019. Waters has multiple hits in three of his past four games and is batting a ridiculous .474 through 11 games this month. The 20-year-old, a switch-hitter with the ability to impact the baseball from both sides of the plate, is slashing .328/.374/.508 and has shown off his speed consistently this season as he also has eight triples.
Braves prospects stats »

Marlins: Edward Cabrera, RHP (No. 8) -- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (Class A Advanced Jupiter)
Cabrera has allowed one earned run or fewer in three straight starts and hasn't allowed a single earned run in each of his past two outings. The 21-year-old, whom the Marlins signed in 2015, has an impressive fastball that can reach triple digits, but he's struggled with command early in his career. However, in 2019, Cabrera commanded the ball better and has issued 16 walks, while striking out 65 and posting a 2.04 ERA over 53 innings.
Marlins prospects stats »

Mets: Thomas Szapucki, LHP (No. 8) -- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K (Class A Columbia)
Szapucki has pitched to a 1.42 ERA and held opponents scoreless in six of his eight appearances this season. The 6-foot-2 lefty has struck out 16 and walked eight over 12 2/3 innings as he works his way back from Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss the entire 2018 season.
Mets prospects stats »

Nationals: Justin Connell, OF (No. 30) -- 1-for-2, 2B, RBI; 2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI (Class A Hagerstown)
Connell, who was added to the Nationals Top 30 Prospects list earlier this week, hit across both halves of Hagerstown’s doubleheader, bringing his season average to .288 and extending his hitting streak to five games. The 20-year-old, whom the Nationals selected in the 11th round of the 2017 Draft, doesn’t have a ton of pop but does have a short swing that generates line drives.
Nationals prospects stats »

Phillies: Enyel De Los Santos, RHP (No. 6) -- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K (Triple-A Lehigh Valley)
De Los Santos retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced en route to finishing one of his best starts of the year. The 23-year-old has pitched to a 3.03 ERA through 29 2/3 innings with the IronPigs this season and has also thrown seven innings over four games (five runs allowed) in the Majors. De Los Santos' future may ultimately be in the bullpen, but the Phillies aren't quite ready to make that decision and still have him working out of the Reading rotation.
Phillies prospects stats »

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL

Brewers: Tristen Lutz, OF (No. 4) -- 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI (Class A Advanced Carolina)
Lutz, the 34th overall pick in the 2017 Draft, hit his eighth homer of the year as part of his third straight multihit effort. Lutz is 7-for-13 (.538) over the past three games and .250 on the year. Playing at the Class A Advanced level for the first time, Lutz took a little bit of time to adjust as he hit .182 in April. However, once he got used to the competition, the 20-year-old started picking up hits in bunches. Lutz hit .272 in May and is hitting .314 in June.
Brewers prospects stats »

Cubs: Christopher Morel, 3B/SS (No. 26) -- 2-for-4, 3B, RBI (Class A South Bend)
The 19-year-old, whom the Cubs signed back in 2015, is hitting .343 through 10 games this month after his latest multihit performance. Morel has some of the best bat speed in the system, but is listed at just 140 pounds and will need to add muscle to his frame before that bat speed translates into power. Morel has hit four homers this season and is slugging .435; both numbers are up from last year when he homered three times and finished with a .299 slugging percentage.
Cubs prospects stats »

Cardinals: No Cardinals prospects had noteworthy performances in the Minors on Tuesday.

Pirates: Luis Escobar, RHP (No. 7) -- 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K (Triple-A Indianapolis)
Escobar, who began the year pitching in relief, has now given up one earned run or fewer in each of his five starts. The 23-year-old, whom the Pirates signed in 2013, threw 48 of his 78 pitches for strikes and has struggled with command a bit all year. Escobar has 40-grade control on the 20-80 scouting scale and has walked 17 over 38 innings this year. However, he's also racked up 39 strikeouts in that span to help escape some of the jams that the walks create.
Pirates prospects stats »

Reds: Mike Siani, OF (No. 6) -- 4-for-4, RBI (Class A Dayton)
Siani extended his hitting streak to sixth games with another multihit performance. Siani has raised his average from .192 to .239 over the past six games, a streak that includes four multihit performances and a pair of four-hit games. The 19-year-old, a fourth-round pick from last year’s Draft, is beginning to heat up at the plate and show why the Reds spent $2 million to sign him away from his college commitment.
Reds prospects stats »

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

D-backs: Eduardo Diaz, OF (No. 23) -- 3-for-4, 2B (Class A Kane County)
The multihit performances just keep coming for Diaz, who now has three in a row and has seven hits over his last 11 at-bats. Diaz, 21, signed with the D-backs in 2015 and after putting together a strong 2017, struggled in a 2018 campaign that ended in June because of a groin injury. Diaz is healthy again this season and after struggling out of the gate hitting .216 in April, he has raised his season average all the way up to .274.
D-backs prospects
stats »

Dodgers: Gavin Lux, SS/2B (No. 2, No. 40 in MLB) -- 2-for-4, 2B (Double-A Tulsa)
Lux is 4-for-9 over the past two games and hitting .303 in his first extended taste of Double-A. The first-round pick from the 2016 Draft, made his way up to Double-A late last season and hit .324 over 28 games. The entire 2018 season was a breakout campaign for Lux as he hit .324 after hitting just .244 in his 2017 professional debut.
Dodgers prospects stats
»

Giants: Heliot Ramos, OF (No. 2, No. 72 in MLB) -- 1-for-4, HR (Class A Advanced San Jose)
Ramos took A.J. Puk deep in the first inning for his eighth homer of the season. However, he didn’t have much success from that point forward as he struck out in his final three at-bats of the night. Ramos has an enticing power/speed combo, but strikeouts and plate discipline have been a problem -- he struck out 136 times in 124 games last season -- since he was taken in the first round of the 2017 Draft. However, the struggles shouldn’t be too alarming as he’s still just 19 years old.
Giants prospects stats »

Padres: Xavier Edwards, SS (No. 9) -- 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI (Class A Fort Wayne)
Edwards’ multihit performance boosted his average to .342 and extended his hitting streak to five games. The 19-year-old was the 38th overall pick in last year’s Draft and starred in his pro debut, hitting .346 with 16 RBIs over 45 games. While Edwards doesn’t have much power -- he still hasn’t hit his first professional homer -- he can clearly hit. Edwards picked up right where he left off last season and is impressing again in his full-season debut.
Padres prospects stats »

Rockies: Daniel Montano, OF (No. 18) -- 1-for-4, 2B, RBI (Class A Asheville Tourists)
Montano, whom the Rockies signed out of Venezuela in 2015, has hits in three straight games, but is hitting just .226 on the year. While the 20-year-old is off to a slow start, he is regarded as an advanced hitting prospect and is improving his plate discipline and ability to use the entire field each year.
Rockies prospects stats »