Baseball America Prospect Report—August 30, 2021

Nick Gonzales, 2B, High-A Greensboro (Pirates): Gonzales has put a slow start far behind him. In his first 42 games this year with High-A Greensboro, Gonzales hit six home runs. In his past 23, he’s hit eight, including three home runs on Sunday. Gonzales is hitting .353/.411/.706 this month with three four-hit games. 

Nick Yorke, 2B, High-A Greenville (Red Sox): A promotion to a higher level is supposed to provide a more difficult challenge, but you wouldn’t know it by watching Yorke play for High-A Greenville. Yorke was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a home run on Sunday. He’s hitting .435 since he was promoted at the start of the week and he currently has a 10-game hitting streak. He has two or more hits in eight of those 10 games. 

Eddys Leonard, 3B, High-A Great Lakes (Dodgers): Gonzales wasn’t the only player to have a three-home run day. Leonard went 4-for-5 with three home runs. Much like Yorke, Leonard has actually hit even better since he was promoted to High-A. Playing for Great Lakes, the 21-year-old is now hitting .348/.442/.674 with seven home runs in just 23 games since he was promoted. 

Jorge Burgos, CF, Low-A Lynchburg (Indians): Burgos lit up the Arizona Complex League, so the Indians recently promoted him to Low-A Lynchburg. He’s been even better in his first week there (sense a theme today?). Burgos was 4-for-4 with four doubles on Sunday and is now hitting .358/.463/.480 overall.

Rece Hinds, 3B, Low-A Daytona (Reds): Hinds is back in the Low-A Daytona lineup after missing two and a half months with a knee injury. He’s quickly returned to form. He hit two home runs on Sunday including one that was measured at 110.0 mph off the bat. Hinds has four straight two-hit games. 

Aaron Sabato, 1B, High-A Cedar Rapids (Twins): The Twins promoted Sabato to High-A Cedar Rapids despite his .189/.365/.357 slash line at Low-A Fort Myers. He hasn’t set the world afire at Cedar Rapids yet, but he did have a nice Sunday. Sabato hit two home runs to raise his High-A slash line to .222/.333/.667 in five games. 

Alex Isola, C, High-A Cedar Rapids (Twins): Isola had the first five-hit game of his pro career on Sunday.

Dalton Kelly, DH, Triple-A Durham (Rays): Kelly’s career high for home runs coming into 2021 was 10. He has hit four home runs in the past two days, adding to his 23 home runs he’s now hit this year. Kelly’s breakout year has seen him hit eight home runs this month.

Tommy Romero, RHP, Triple-A Durham (Rays): Romero has not had an easy transition to Triple-A after his late July promotion, but he did figure it out on Sunday. Romero held Charlotte to two hits in six innings while allowing one run. His 11 strikeouts tied his season high.

Taj Bradley, RHP, High-A Bowling Green (Rays): Bradley faced the minimum in five innings for High-A Bowling Green. Bradley allowed only one hit—a second-inning single—but that batter was erased when he was caught stealing.

Austin Martin, CF, Double-A Wichita (Twins): Martin had back-to-back three-hit games this weekend with a home run on Saturday and another on Sunday. 

On Saturday

High-A Spokane RHP Noah Davis (Rockies), a recent pick-up from the Reds in the Mychal Givens trade, struck out 11 in six innings. He carried a shutout into the sixth but gave up a pair of solo home runs that inning . . . RHP Nick Krauth, a nondrafted free agent signed from Connecticut in 2020, held Low-A Fayetteville to one hit and one run in a nine-inning complete game. 

On Friday

C M.J. Melendez (Royals) had two home runs, a triple and a single in Omaha’s win on Friday night. Melendez has now hit five home runs in just 15 Triple-A games as he tries to keep pace with Griffin Conine in the MiLB home run race . . . SS Luke Waddell (Braves) put together his second two-homer game of the week for High-A Rome on Friday night. The 2021 fifth-round pick out of Georgia Tech also homered on Saturday . . . High-A Hickory 1B Dustin Harris (Rangers) went 2-for-3 with a home run, a double and four runs scored . . . Low-A Visalia OF Tim Tawa (D-Backs) went 5-for-5 with two doubles and a triple. Arizona’s 2021 11th-round pick (out of Stanford) has already played five different positions (second base, third base and all three outfield spots) as a pro . . . High-A Carolina OF Sal Frelick (Brewers) had the second four-hit game of his very young (19 games) pro career. In those 19 games, Frelick has a five-hit game, two four-hit games, three three-hit games and five two-hit games. He’s only gone hitless on three occasions. Frelick was hitting .446/.495/.614 heading into Sunday . . . Low-A Lake Elsinore OF Robert Hassell (Padres) went 4-for-5 with two doubles on Friday. It was Hassell’s 11th multi-hit game this month . . . High-A Greensboro RHP Quinn Priester (Pirates) struck out 13 in six innings while allowing only one hit in his best pro outing . . . Rocket City RHP Janson Junk (Angels) carried a perfect game into the ninth inning against Biloxi. Junk gave up a single to start the ninth and a walk, which set up a three-run home run by Korry Howell, so his final line (8.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO) doesn’t seem to fully encapsulate his dominance.

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