Prospects of the Week: April 22 – April 28

April 29, 2019 Jake Berry General, MiLB, Prospects of the Week 0

Alex Faedo. Detroit Tigers. Tigertown. Lakeland, Fla. Feb. 26, 2018. Photo credit Tom Hagerty on Flickr (lakelandlocal)
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Each week during the Minor League Baseball season we pick the hitting and pitching prospects from each level (AAA, AA, A+, and A, then Short Season-A and Rookie league later in the summer) who, in our opinion, had the best week. We’re always on the lookout for candidates, so tweet us (@Prospects1500, @berrys_baseball and @Scotty_Ballgame) when you see a great performance.

Jake Berry and Scott Greene pick their POTW hitters and pitchers for each level, while also presenting other names at each level that are just as deserving of POTW honors. Enjoy, and make sure you’re keeping an eye out for these prospects in your dynasty leagues!


Triple-A

Hitter: Tim Locastro, OF (Diamondbacks, NR – Traded to ARI after Top 50 list was published)
Reno Aces (.520/.586/1.160/1.746, 13 H, 4 HR, 2 SB, 4 BB, 4 SO)
Locastro has already gotten a taste of the big leagues in 2019, in fact, the former 13th round pick has had a cup of coffee in the majors each of the last three seasons. This was his first week back in Triple-A and the PCL pitchers he faced over the last six games probably wish he had stayed in the majors for just a little longer. Locastro had a hit in each game he played in last week and four of those games were multi-hit contests for him, including a three homer game against Fresno.

Honorable Mentions:
Luis Urias, 2B (Padres #3)
El Paso Chihuahuas (.429/.500/1.250/1.750, 12 H, 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 11 RBI)

Kevin Cron, 1B (Diamondbacks #18)
Reno Aces (.381/.481/1.286/1.767, 8 H, 2B, 6 HR, 15 RBI)

Keston Hiura, 2B (Brewers #1)
San Antonio Missions (.450/.522/1.050/1.572, 9 H, 3 2B, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, SB)

Pitcher: Lewis Thorpe, LHP (Minnesota Twins #10)
Rochester Red Wings (8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 12 K)
I am going with one dominant start for this week and that came from Twins lefty Lewis Thorpe. What Thorpe displayed on the mound in his April 23rd start against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was just plain overpowering. 75% of the Australian’s pitches were strikes and he posted an impressive 22% swinging strike rate. Perhaps the most impressive note from this outing was the fact that Thorpe allowed a homer in the top of the first, then bounced back to retire 18 in a row before allowing a double in the seventh. This was a huge outing for one of the Twins top pitching prospects as he has gotten off to a rough start here in the early going of 2019.

Honorable Mention:
Zac Gallen, RHP (Marlins #17)
New Orleans Baby Cakes (2 GS, 2 W, 14.2 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 13 K, 1.23 ERA, 0.89 WHIP)


Double-A

Hitter: Osvaldo Duarte, INF (Houston Astros #48)
Corpus Christi Hooks (.400/.400/.680, 10 H, 1 HR, 3 SB)
It wasn’t the most convincing route to a Prospect of the Week honor, but Duarte had a solid week across the board. The 23 year old had four extra base hits, including a homer and a triple, and stole three bases. The beginning of the week started out strong for the Dominican Republic native with two multi-hit games. The strikeouts were bordering the made up cutoff I have for a Prospect of the Week, but if you remove one tough three K game, the rest of the week was impressive.

Honorable Mentions:
Ibandel Isabel, 1B (Cincinnati Reds #5)
Chattanooga Lookouts (.323/.344/.742, 10 H, 4 HR)

Trent Grisham, OF (Milwaukee Brewers #17)
Biloxi Shuckers (.333/.484/.708/1.192, 8 H, 3 HR, 4 RBI, 7 BB, 3 SB)

Granden Goetzman, OF (Houston Astros, NR)
Corpus Christi Hooks (.348/.516/.783/1.299, 8 H, 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI)

Pitcher: Alex Faedo, RHP (Detroit Tigers #5)
Erie SeaWolves (7 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)
Tossing seven no hit innings in Double-A will typically get you some recognition. When Faedo took the mound on April 24th against Bowie, no knew just how special of a performance they were about to witness. As with any no hitter, there was little luck involved with Faedo’s performance. He tossed a lower percentage of strikes that any of his three previous starts this season and also had a season low for strikeouts with five. However, seven groundball outs and five pop up outs do indicate that the Bay Sox weren’t exaclty making hard contact. Drew Carlton came on to toss two hitless innings and finish out the no-no.

Honorable Mentions:
Parker Dunshee, RHP (Oakland A’s #15)
Midland Rockhounds (2 GS, 2 W, 15 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 14 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP)

Tanner Houck, RHP (Boston Red Sox #6)
Portland Sea Dogs (2 GS, 2 W, 11 IP, 6 H, BB, 15 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.64 WHIP)

Anthony Kay, LHP (Mets #10)
Binghamton Rumble Ponies (2 GS, 1 W, 11.1 IP, 5 H, ER, 5 BB, 17 K, 0.79 ERA, 0.89 WHIP)


High-A

Hitter: Brady Policelli, C (Detroit Tigers, NR)
Lakeland Flying Tigers (.444/.483/.889, 2 HR, 2 3B, 2 2B, 2 SB)
Policelli pretty much checked off every category offensively last week. Half of his 12 hits went for extra bases, he burned the base paths both by stealing a couple of bags and taking the extra base on balls in the gaps, and he had a low swing and miss rate. One of the more convincing Prospects of the Week performances, Policelli may not be on many dynasty radars at this point. Primarily a catcher in the past, they have moved the former 13th round pick to the outfield as his primary position. If he can maintain catcher eligibility, he may be a solid fantasy asset down the road.

Honorable Mentions:
Jarren Duran, 2B (Boston Red Sox #13)
Salem Red Sox (.417/.517/.458/.976, 10 H, 2B, 4 RBI, 4 SB)

William Contreras, C (Atlanta Braves #6)
Florida Fire Frogs (.448/.515/.586/1.101, 13 H, 4 2B)

Pitcher: Spencer Howard, RHP (Philadelphia Phillies #11)
Clearwater Threshers (5.2 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 11 K)
I don’t typically love to give POTW to guys who only log 5.2 IP, but I do believe Howard’s performance was worthy of the recognition. The Threshers trotted out the 22 year old right hander to face Florida last Tuesday and what followed would prove to be a very frustrated Fire Frogs dugout. Howard tossed his 5.2 shutout innings in 84 pitches where he generated a 27% swinging strike rate. 11 strikeouts, no walks, and a shutout, four hit performance that is buoyed by a .400 BABIP is a pretty solid day on the mound.

Honorable Mention:
Nate Pearson, RHP (Toronto Blue Jays #5)
Dunedin Blue Jays (1 GS, W, 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, BB, 10 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP)


Single-A

Hitter: Alec Bohm, INF (Philadelphia Phillies #2)
Lakewood BlueClaws (.417/.462/.833/1.295, 4 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SO)
One of the best known names in Single-A takes home the POTW honors this week. Bohm loaded up on the extra base hits and didn’t sacrifice his contact rate for the power. His week was highlighted by two three hit games, each of which were on the road, and one of which came while he was playing third and the other while he was manning first defensively.

Honorable Mention:
Samuel Huff, C (Rangers #19)
Hickory Crawdads (.348/.444/1.000/1.444, 8 H, 5 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB)

Andy Weber, SS (Cubs #24)
South Bend Cubs (.407/.448/.778/1.226, 11 H, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 10 RBI, SB)

Pitcher: Shelby Lackey, RHP (Colorado Rockies, NR)
Asheville Tourists (10 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 12 K)
Lackey posted two solid outings last week for the Tourists that had very similar outcomes. Both were five innings, he didn’t allow a runner to cross home plate in either one, he only issued one walk in each, he faced 18 batters in both, one saw him give up two hits, the other just one, he K’d seven in one and five in the other, he threw 65 pitches in one and 70 in the other, 44 of his pitches in one were strikes, 43 were strikes in  the other, and ultimately both had a game score of 69. Trust me, I wouldn’t make you read all those numbers for anticlimactic ending.

Honorable Mentions:
Clay Chandler, RHP (Seattle Mariners, NR)
West Virginia Power (2 GS, 2 W, 12 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 15 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.67 WHIP)

Josh Dye, LHP (Kansas City Royals NR)
Lexington Legends (2 G, 1 GS, 5 IP, H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP)

Hector Yan, LHP (Los Angeles Angels #37)
Burlington Bees (2 G, 1 GS, W, 9 IP, 6 H, ER, 4 BB, 15 K, 1.00 ERA, 1.11 WHIP)

Alex Scherff, RHP (Boston Red Sox #24)
Greenville Drive (1 GS, 6 IP, H, BB, 9 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.33 WHIP)

Jake Berry

I reside in Carrollton, Georgia and love everything baseball. I graduated from the University of West Georgia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management. I have a passion for the minor leagues and have high hopes of visiting as many minor league parks as I can. I enjoy the statistical side of the game, especially sabermetrics. I am also an avid baseball card collector and fantasy baseball player.

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