Akil Baddoo entered the season with minimal fanfare, but he has garnered his fair share of headlines over the first week of the season. Dylan Carlson, on the other hand, began the season in Rookie of the Year Award conversations and appears to be heating up. Both came up big Wednesday.
Baddoo -- the Tigers' No. 22 prospect who clubbed a first-pitch homer, a grand slam, and a walk-off hit in his first three days in the big leagues -- added a display of speed to his power show on Wednesday, while Carlson, the No. 12 overall prospect, hit a grand slam.
Baddoo, fresh off his 10th-inning heroics from Tuesday, was behind in the count, 1-2, against Minnesota's Kenta Maeda in the second inning of Detroit's 3-2 loss when he roped a low changeup into the gap in right-center field. The ball, leaving his bat at 99.7 mph, rolled to the wall, allowing Jonathan Schoop to score from first base while Baddoo put his 60-grade wheels to work and raced into third for a triple.
The 22-year-old outfielder also perfectly played a carom off the wall in left field and fired a laser beam into second base to nail Andrelton Simmons digging for a double.
Baddoo finished 1-for-3, making him 5-for-11 with 13 total bases over four games.
Carlson got off to a bit of a slow start, going 1-for-11 (although that one hit was a homer) over the first four games. However, it seems as if he's found his power stroke. The Cardinals' No. 1 prospect hit a solo homer Tuesday and then upped the ante with a grand slam in the Cardinals' 7-0 win over the Marlins on Wednesday.
The slam, which pretty much put the game out of reach in the ninth inning, left Carlson's bat at 102.2 mph and went 409 feet. The 22-year-old hit .200 with three homers over 35 games while making his debut in 2020, but impressed down the stretch as he went 10-for-35 over the final 11 games of the regular season and 3-for-9 over three postseason contests.
More notable performances from top prospects on Wednesday:
Bobby Dalbec, 1B, BOS (MLB No. 90)
Dalbec picked up a pair of hits in Boston's 9-2 win over the Rays. The Red Sox No. 3 prospect is off to a slow start this season, but perhaps Wednesday's performance is a sign of things to come. Dalbec, who entered the game 0-for-10, went 2-for-4 with two singles. The 25-year-old appeared in 23 games last season and hit .263 with eight homers. Gameday »
Tyler Stephenson, C, CIN (MLB No. 92)
Stephenson, who homered twice over eight big league games last year, slugged his first of 2021 with an eighth-inning solo shot against Pittsburgh righty David Bednar. The dinger left Stephenson's bat at 105 mph and boosted his average to .455 (5-for-11) over three games. Gameday »
Taylor Trammell, OF, SEA (MLB No. 97)
Trammell helped jump start the Mariners' rally with an RBI single in the sixth inning. Trammell, who finished 1-for-4, lined the first pitch of the at-bat into right field to bring home Seattle's second run of the game. The Mariners would go on to score seven runs that inning and beat the White Sox, 8-4. Gameday »
Jonathan India, 2B/3B, CIN
India put himself in rarified air by collecting three RBIs, giving him 10 through six Major League games. Since 1920, only four players (Dale Alexander, 13 in 1929; Trevor Story, 12 in 2016; Nico Hoerner, 11 in 2019; Mandy Brooks, 11 in 1925) have amassed more in that span. For India, Nos. 7-10 came via a first-inning sacrifice fly and a contested two-run single in the fifth. He also contributed on the defensive end, showing off his arm strength to throw out a runner at the plate. Gameday »
Emmanuel Clase, RHP, CLE
Clase lit up the radar gun in his second appearance of the season. The 23-year-old threw nine of his 15 pitches at 100 mph or higher as he spun a scoreless frame in Cleveland's 4-2 victory over Kansas City. Clase topped out at 101.3 mph, a number he hit twice, while striking out two and earning the win. Gameday »
Connor Brogdon, RHP, PHI
Another day, another win for Brogdon. The 26-year-old is already a perfect 3-0 on the year and is the first player in Phillies history to win three of the team's first six games in the modern era (1900). He's also just the 13th player in baseball to accomplish the feat and the first since Casey Janssen in 2010. Brogdon entered in the fifth inning of the Phillies' 8-2 win over the Mets and threw 1 2/3 scoreless frames. He yielded two hits, walked one and struck out a pair. Gameday »
Josh Jackson is an editor for MLB.com and MiLB.com.
William Boor is a reporter for MLB Pipeline. Follow him on Twitter at @wboor.