Sunday's top prospect performers
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Flamthrowing A's left-hander Jesús Luzardo turned in a masterful performance against the Indians on Sunday, as he continues his march toward the big league rotation. Luzardo, MLB Pipeline's No. 12 overall prospect, struck out three over three scoreless innings at Oakland's Triple-A affiliate stadium in Las Vegas.
Luzardo, who averages nearly 97 mph on his fastball, got his three punchouts via offspeed pitches against Greg Allen, Cameron Rupp and Tyler Krieger. Oakland's No. 1 prospect also gave up just one hit, a single to Roberto Perez in the first.
After having made just three appearances in relief across three Minor League seasons, Luzardo entered the Oakland bullpen last year, becoming a linchpin for Oakland as they claimed the top American League Wild Card spot. Though he figures to be a big part of the A's pitching staff in 2020, he's thrown more than 100 innings only once in his career.
Here's how other top prospects performed on Sunday:
Brayan Rocchio, 2B, and George Valera, OF, Indians: Rochhio continued his sizzling spring with a 3-for-3 day in Cleveland's split-squad win over Arizona, raising his Spring Training OPS to 2.250. Rochhio also scored three runs and drove in three via a homer in the first inning. Valera also homered, in the sixth, as part of a 2-for-3 day in which he scored twice.
Mauricio Dubón, UTIL, Giants: Dubón went 2-for-3 with a run scored while playing second base in the Giants' 7-5 win over the Padres. He's now hitting .445 in Spring Training as he attempts to blossom into a super-utility man for San Francisco. Dubón is also taking reps in center field this spring.
Sam Huff, Rangers (MLB No. 74 overall prospect): The Rangers' up-and-coming catcher slugged his first homer of Spring Training against the Dodgers' Edubray Ramos. It's been a somewhat slow start for the 6-foot-5 backstop, who is hitting just .111 in camp. But Huff has the makeup to become one of the game's next great catchers.
Nate Pearson, P, Blue Jays (MLB No. 8 prospect): One word to describe Pearson’s outing Sunday? Dominant. The righty threw two perfect innings, notching strikeouts of Bryan Reynolds, Josh Bell and Gregory Polanco -- in other words, Major League hitters. He’s now gone three innings without allowing a hit or a walk in Spring Training.
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Royce Lewis, SS, Twins (MLB No. 9 prospect): Lewis got his first hit of the spring, crushing a homer to left field. Lewis entered Sunday 0-for-11 so far this spring, but it appears March will be a different story for the prospect, who is the third-ranked infielder in the MLB Pipeline Top 100.
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Kyle Wright, RHP, Braves (MLB No. 52 prospect): Wright went three innings against the Red Sox on Sunday, allowing one hit and striking out five batters, including a fifth-inning strikeout of J.D. Martinez. In five innings this spring, Wright had yielded just two hits and struck out seven, without allowing a walk.
Oneil Cruz, SS, Pirates (MLB No. 64 prospect): In a slugfest win over the Blue Jays that saw former top prospects Vlad Jr. and Bo Bichette homer on the other side, Cruz used all of his 6-foot-7 frame in the seventh inning to crush a two-run homer to dead-center field. It was the first home run of the spring for the Pirates' No. 3 prospect.
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Tanner Houck, RHP, Red Sox: Boston's No. 10 prospect shut down the Braves for three innings in relief in Sunday's 4-2 win. Houck held Atlanta scoreless and allowed only two hits while striking out three -- including Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna.
Patrick Sandoval, LHP, Angels: Sandoval got the start against the White Sox on Sunday and tossed two scoreless, hitless innings. One of the 23-year-old's two strikeouts was MLB's No. 16 prospect Andrew Vaughn, and Sandoval also got No. 40 prospect Nick Madrigal to fly out.