Minor note: Marc Wik (21st rd pick in 2012) retired in the offseason per WTHB. That leaves 8 players from that draft in the system (2 in MLB: Correa and McCullers, and 6 in AAA: Rodgers, Aplin, Tucker, Holmes, West, and Jankowski).
Yoanys Quiala allowed just 1 hit and struck out 8 over 4 innings after tagging in for Framber Valdez as Buies Creek topped Myrtle Beach 3-2. Valdez allowed 2 unearned runs (on a wild pitch and a throwing error from Osvaldo Duarte), a single, walked 4, and struck out 6 in 4 innings. Riley Ferrell struck out 2 to notch his 2nd save of the year. He's listed at 6'2", 200, on the MiLB website, but the Myrtle Beach radio guy says he's now up to 233.
Francis Martes vs. Reno: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K Dayan Diaz is in for the Grizzlies in the 6th inning. The only run of the game so far is a Teoscar Hernandez homer.
Solid start for Martes. He pitched around a number of base runners. He usually takes a bit to adjust to a level so I take any success now as gravy.
Daz 2-3 with two doubles thus far tonight. He's mashing to start the season down there in QC. Whitley has gone 4 scoreless with one hit, one walk, six strikeouts.
Whitley finished 5IP (82 pitches) with 1 hit, 2 walks, 6 k's and 0 R/ER. Great start to full season ball. Wonder what his total IP goal for the season is.
Yup. Gotta love early returns on Whitley. A good season in A ball and he will be a consensus Top 100 guy with some Top 50 mentions. Also gotta love the fast start for Cameron, although it'll be awhile before we can totally buy back in (fwiw I'm optimistic).
Daz added a sac fly in game 2 of Quad Cities' doubleheader. Jorge Alcala, who started game 2, allowed 2 runs on 2 hits (solo homer and RBI single), walked 2, and struck out 6 in 4.2 innings.
The A teams begin play in a little bit as they are both wrapping up their current series. Akeem Bostick gets the start for Buies Creek against Myrtle Beach; first pitch is at 10 AM Central time. Ryan Hartman starts for Quad Cities in Peoria; that game starts at 11.
Pitching staff in QC is so good. Recent draftees Britton, Hunt, LaRue, and Hartman aren't being talked about at all, and they all have pretty good track records coming in. If this were 2007 those guys would be in the org top 20 prospects.
Still only 21 and in High-A. A lot of projection still there for Bostick, he's definitely an interesting guy to follow.
5 innings, 6 k, 0 bb, 0 runs today. 9 or 10 more starts like that and he will be on his way to Corpus.
http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6988 Now that all full-season leagues are underway, here’s an update to my rankings of the top 50 prospects in baseball, my first one since the full offseason top 100 ran in January. For in-season updates, I rank only the prospects who are currently in the minor leagues, which took out seven players on major league rosters, including three -- Andrew Benintendi, Dansby Swanson, and Josh Bell -- who have also exceeded the 130 at-bat cutoff and will no longer be on any of my prospect rankings. This is an update rather than a re-ranking. The order of players has barely changed beyond moving players up to fill in for the ineligible names, so for each player I’ve given a quick synopsis of anything that has happened since January, where the player is right now and what I think the rest of the season might look like. Editor's note: Ages below are as of July 1, 2017. 30. Francis Martes, RHP, Houston Astros Age: 21 (11/24/95) | B/T: R/R Height: 6-1 | Weight: 225 Top level: Triple-A | 2016: 40 | 2017: 37 Stop trying to trade Martes to Chicago for Jose Quintana, people. Maybe it’ll happen eventually, but I think the Astros are inclined to hang on to Martes, who’s already in Triple-A and will probably help their big league club in some capacity this year. The PCL is no joke for pitchers, of course, and it’ll force him to work on fastball command and getting his front side closed more consistently. He made his debut April 10 with five scoreless innings, walking three and striking out three. 49. Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros Age: 20 (1/17/97) | B/T: L/R Height: 6-4 | Weight: 190 Top level: High-A | 2016: 67 | 2017: 57 Tucker will play the entire year at age 20, and he started out at high-A Buies Creek, one of the new clubs in the Carolina League. I know many clubs differ on whether he or Martes is the Astros’ top prospect. I see more ceiling with Martes, but I also see a very high probability Tucker becomes a regular and can understand the other perspective. Spoiler 1. Amed Rosario, SS, New York Mets 2. Gleyber Torres, SS, New York Yankees 3. Cody Bellinger, 1B/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers 4. J.P. Crawford, SS, Philadelphia Phillies 5. Michael Kopech, RHP, Chicago White Sox 6. Victor Robles, OF, Washington Nationals 7. Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox 8. Austin Meadows, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates 9. Eloy Jimenez, OF, Chicago Cubs 10. Nick Senzel, 3B, Cincinnati Reds 11. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Chicago White Sox 12. Mitch Keller, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates 13. Yoan Moncada, 2B, Chicago White Sox 14. Francisco Mejia, C, Cleveland Indians 15. Jason Groome, LHP, Boston Red Sox 16. Blake Rutherford, OF, New York Yankees 17. Brendan Rodgers, SS, Colorado Rockies 18. Cal Quantrill, RHP, San Diego Padres 19. Anderson Espinoza, RHP, San Diego Padres 20. Clint Frazier, OF, New York Yankees 21. Ozhaino Albies, SS/2B, Atlanta Braves 22. Dominic Smith, 1B, New York Mets 23. Alex Verdugo, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers 24. Mickey Moniak, OF, Philadelphia Phillies 25. Kolby Allard, LHP, Atlanta Braves 26. Kevin Newman, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates 27. Corey Ray, OF, Milwaukee Brewers 28. Ronald Acuna, OF, Atlanta Braves 29. Leody Taveras, OF, Texas Rangers 30. Francis Martes, RHP, Houston Astros 31. Lewis Brinson, CF, Milwaukee Brewers 32. Walker Buehler, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers 33. Isan Diaz, 2B/SS, Milwaukee Brewers 34. Braxton Garrett, LHP, Miami Marlins 35. Willy Adames, SS, Tampa Bay Rays 36. Jorge Alfaro, C, Philadelphia Phillies 37. Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, San Diego Padres 38. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 3B, Toronto Blue Jays 39. Alex Reyes, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals 40. Jesse Winker, OF, Cincinnati Reds 41. Max Fried, LHP, Atlanta Braves 42. Carson Kelly, C, St. Louis Cardinals 43. Ian Anderson, RHP, Atlanta Braves 44. Nick Gordon, SS, Minnesota Twins 45. Anthony Alford, OF, Toronto Blue Jays 46. Ian Happ, 2B, Chicago Cubs 47. Tyler Beede, RHP, San Francisco Giants 48. Franklin Barreto, SS, Oakland Athletics 49. Kyle Tucker, OF, Houston Astros 50. Mitch White, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
