A 13-strikeout performance in May. Six hitless frames with 12 K's on Thursday night. It's already been quite the season for Allen Facundo.
The Yankees' No. 26 prospect turned in the longest and arguably best outing of his career as High-A Hudson Valley rolled past Frederick, 10-1, at Harry Grove Stadium.
Two weeks ago, Facundo racked up a baker's dozen K's against Brooklyn (Mets). But even that performance paled in comparison to what the 23-year-old was able to accomplish against the Keys (Orioles).
The only blemishes on Facundo's line were four walks -- consecutive free passes to open the bottom of the first and two in his final frame -- and a hit batsman, but otherwise the Venezuela-born hurler was virtually unhittable: literally and figuratively.
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Facundo locked in, striking out the next three batters to kick off a stretch of pure dominance. The left-hander collected 10 of his next 12 outs via the strikeout with no balls even leaving the infield. He fanned seven consecutive hitters over that stretch bridging the second and fourth innings. The run was broken when he induced consecutive lineouts to left to open the fifth, which he ended with another K.
Facundo emptied the tank in the sixth, working around a pair of walks and recording one final strikeout -- his third of the night of Ike Irish (BAL No. 2/MLB No. 91) -- before inducing a flyout to center to end his outing after 87 pitches (54 for strikes).
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Unsurprisingly, the 23-year-old induced a whopping 23 whiffs on 42 pitches (54.8 percent), which was even better than his 50 percent mark (22-of-44) during his May 28 outing against the Cyclones. Facundo's strikeout-heavy outings certainly have not been an anomaly.
The 6-foot, 171-pounder sports a 12.92 K/9 ratio as a professional, but that figure has jumped to 13.99 in 2026, which began with a dominating three-start stretch for Single-A Tampa before his promotion to Hudson Valley on April 27.
Overall, Facundo has a 3.69 ERA in nine starts -- a figure only that high because of inconsistency with his command. While opponents are batting just .146 off him with only eight extra-base hits, the organization hopes to see improvement on other numbers -- namely his 28 walks and nine HBPs in 46 1/3 innings.