Prospect Roundup: Games of April 25

Sam Dykstra
MiLB.com’s PROSPECTive Blog
3 min readApr 26, 2014

By jseiner24

By Jake Seiner / MiLB.com

MiLB.com news:

Astros RHP Mark Appel returning to extended spring training

MiLB.com game stories:

Pirates RHP Tyler Glasnow picks up where he left off

Blue Jays LHP Matt Boyd strikes out 12 in eight frames

D-backs RHP Blake Perry flirts with no-hitter with South Bend

Astros SS Luis Perdomo belts birthday blast off Kershaw

Padres RHP Matt Wisler strikes out 10 over seven innings

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Twins RHP Kohl Stewart picks up first full-season win

Orioles OF Dariel Alvarez collects five hits for Baysox

White Sox RHP Jake Sanchez extends scoreless streak to 18 1/3 frames

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Other top prospect performances:

Red Sox C Christian Vazquez, Triple-A Pawtucket: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI — Vazquez is perhaps the best catch-and-throw backstop in the Minors, so if he can hit at all in the Majors, he’ll be a valuable asset. His .279/.318/.426 line with Pawtucket is promising. He’s making contact, and enough of it is hard (nine doubles in 16 games).

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Angels 1B C.J. Cron, Triple-A Salt Lake: 2-for-3, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R — Quality start in Triple-A for the 24-year-old, slashing .299/.344/.598. His 14 homers in 134 games last year were discouraging, but he already has five long balls and 11 doubles in 22 contests this season. High bar for bat-first first baseman, but Cron could surpass it.

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Mets RHP Michael Fulmer, Class A Advanced St. Lucie: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 K — The 2011 first-rounder has an impressive 15-to-1 K/BB ratio through 18 innings this season, though he’s also allowed three home runs and a .361 average against. Still, he’s pitched better than his 8.00 ERA suggests.

Marlins C Austin Barnes, Class A Advanced Jupiter: 4-for-5, 2B, 3B, 3 R — The 24-year-old has been mashing Florida State League pitching with a .348/.408/.536 triple slash through 17 games. Barnes had split time between catcher and second base in past seasons, but has caught exclusively in 2014, nabbing 50-percent of would-be base stealers.

Red Sox LHP Brian Johnson, Class A Advanced Salem: 6 IP, 4 H, BB, 8 K — Johnson stretched his K/BB to 33-to-7 in 25 2/3 Carolina League innings this season. Dominant start for the 23-year-old who’s pitching well enough to earn a mid-season bump to Double-A.

Twins MIF Jorge Polanco, Class A Advanced Fort Myers: 3-for-4, HR, 3 R, RBI — The switch-hitter has now homered in consecutive games and once from each side of the plate. He’s slashing .355/.443/.539 through 20 games. Minnesota is letting Polanco play shortstop exclusively this season after splitting last year between short and second base. He’s made 10 errors in 18 games at short (.895 fielding percentage), so not the strongest start there. The consensus is Polanco’s range, arm and actions fit best at second, anyway.

Padres RHP Zach Eflin, Class A Advanced Lake Elsinore: 6 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K — Eflin has had one rocky outing — an eight-run, three-homer beating taken at hitter-friendly High Desert — but has otherwise been dominant. His ERA in his other four starts is 0.76 with an 18-to-6 K/BB and no homers allowed.

Reds RHP Nick Travieso, Class A Dayton: 5 IP, 4 H, BB, 6 K — Ben Lively’s grabbing all the headlines from the Cincinnati pipeline these days, but Travieso has been nearly as dominant. In four starts, he has a 1.23 ERA and an 18-to-3 K/BB in 22 innings. The 20-year-old is inducing tons of ground balls (1.44 GO/AO) and has tossed 11 straight scoreless innings.

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Sam Dykstra
MiLB.com’s PROSPECTive Blog

Reporter with @MiLB. Boston University alum. Western Mass. native. Lover of Dunkin, Tom Hanks films and Twain.