Thursday's top prospect performers

Here's a look at Thursday's top Minor League performers from each team's Top 30 Prospects list:

Braves: Cristian Pache, OF (MLB No. 10), Triple-A Gwinnett
The top Braves prospect found the seats for his third homer of the season. Pache also added a base knock and a walk to reach base three times. The 22-year-old opened the scoring with a solo blast to left-center in the first inning. After working a six-pitch walk in the second, Pache led off the sixth by legging out an infield hit to third. It was the fifth multihit effort for Pache this season. Braves prospect stats »

Dodgers: Keibert Ruiz, C (MLB No. 41), Triple-A Oklahoma City
Ruiz cracked his 12th homer of the season (this one went off the video board!) as part of his first four-hit game of the season, driving in his 29th and 30th runs of the season on a solo shot and a single. The top Dodgers prospect had a brief stint with the Major League club in May before being sent back down, but the 22-year-old has hit .301 in Triple-A since then and has reached base safely in his past 11 games. Dodgers prospect stats »

Cardinals: Nick Plummer, OF (No. 29), Double-A Springfield
Alec Burelson, OF (No. 15), Double-A Springfield
It was a banner night for these Cardinals prospects, who each recorded their first career multihomer games. We’ll start with Plummer, who crushed not one, not two, but three home runs, including a walk-off, two-run shot in the bottom of the 10th to cap off his 3-for-5, five-RBI night. Plummer is now one long ball shy of tying his career high mark of eight, which he set back in 2018. The former first round pick (2015, 23rd overall) is well on his way to having the best season of his career; he’s slashing .306/.405/.492 with 23 RBIs and 25 walks through 54 games.

Burelson put on a show, too. The 22-year-old started off his night by drawing a bases-loaded walk to bring in Springfield’s first run of the game, the first of four runs Burelson would bring home. A 2020 Draft pick out of East Carolina, Burelson now has 13 home runs on the season after a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth put Springfield ahead, and a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth tied the game. Burelson is advancing quickly through the Cards’ system, having earned a promotion to Double-A back on June 4. He’s slashing .285/.333/.475 through 43 games for Springfield. Cardinals prospect stats »

D-backs: Humberto Mejia, RHP (No. 28), Triple-A Reno
Mejia may have given up seven hits and two walks in his start on Thursday, but he was able to prevent any runs from scoring while fanning eight over five innings. It was his best outing since being promoted to Triple-A on June 6 and his first scoreless effort since June 18. Mejia has now struck out 19 batters across 21 2/3 innings for Reno. D-backs prospect stats »

Nationals: Yasel Antuna, SS/3B (No. 4), High-A Wilmington
Antuna recorded his second straight multihit game, this time going 3-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored. After a dreadful start to the season, the 21-year-old is slowly building his average back up; he’s slashing .166/.249/.309 on the season with a .259 batting average in eight July games. Nationals prospect stats »

Phillies: Logan O’Hoppe, C (No. 24), High-A Jersey Shore
As soon as the calendar flipped to July, something clicked for O’Hoppe, who has now hit in eight straight games and reached base safely in nine straight. The 2018 Draft pick collected four hits in a game for the first time since 2018, going 4-for-5 at the plate with a homer, two RBIs and four runs scored. O’Hoppe has been nearly unstoppable in July, batting .462 with a 1.329 OPS and 10 runs batted in across seven games. Phillies prospect stats »

Pirates: Nick Garcia, RHP (No. 20), Low-A Bradenton
The right-hander turned in his third outing of the year without allowing an earned run in what was also his second scoreless start. Garcia worked around a hit and a pair of walks to fan five over five shutout frames. The 22-year-old faced the minimum over 2 2/3 innings and escaped a runner on second and no outs jam in the fifth unscathed. Garcia was pulled after tossing 54 of his 78 pitches for strikes. The Chapman product lowered his ERA to 3.21 and has amassed 38 strikeouts over 33 2/3 frames this season. Pirates prospect stats »

Rays: John Doxakis, LHP (No. 28), High-A Bowling Green
Doxakis tossed five no-hit innings in Game 1 of a doubleheader, striking out six along the way. The only blemish was a fielding error in the second, but Doxakis, the 61st overall pick in the 2019 Draft, didn’t walk a batter and finished his outing by striking out the side in the fifth. Since being promoted to High-A on June 18, Doxakis has pitched to a 4.15 ERA and has held opposing batters to a .175 average. Rays prospect stats »

Tigers: Derek Hill, CF (No. 28), Triple-A Toledo
With just two homers through his first 29 Triple-A games this season, Hill matched that total by belting a pair of shots out of the leadoff spot for Toledo. The outfielder connected on a solo blast in the second inning and added a two-run shot in the eighth with both homers going to left field. Hill also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to right in the third, finishing his night with four RBIs, his most in a game this season. Tigers prospect stats »

Twins: Emmanuel Rodriguez, OF (No. 17), FCL Twins
Jovani Moran, RHP (No. 30), Double-A Wichita
In his seventh Minor League game, Rodriguez recorded his first multihit effort, a 2-for-3 night at the plate with a home run, two walks and four RBIs. The 18-year-old spent most of 2020 rehabbing a hand injury, but he’s wasted no time flashing his knowledge of the strike zone in his first professional season; he’s drawn more walks (5) than he’d had hits (3), good for a .414 OBP.

Moran came on in relief after Wichita’s starter gave up seven runs on four hits in the first inning, and was lights-out for three scoreless innings. The 24-year-old gave up just one hit and struck out five in his longest outing of the season. His ERA is down to a sparkling 1.75 and he’s fanned 60 batters across 36 innings. Twins prospect stats »

Yankees: Austin Wells, C (No. 6), Low-A Tampa
Trevor Hauver, 2B/OF (No. 23), Low-A Tampa
Wells, the sixth-ranked Yankees prospect, notched his fifth three-hit game of the year while driving in a season-high six runs in Game 1 of a doubleheader against Dunedin. The 2020 first-round Draft pick also added a pair of walks to reach base five times and score four runs. Wells found a hole on the right side of the infield for a base knock in the first, laced a two-RBI double to center in the third, worked a four-pitch walk in the fourth, launched a three-run homer to right-center in the fifth and worked a six-pitch walk in the sixth. The 21-year-old has seven dingers and 41 RBIs this season.

Wells’ teammate, Hauver, also had a career night with the Tarpons, recording three hits of his own and driving in a season-high four runs. The 23rd-ranked Yankees prospect reached base four times as he tripled, collected a pair of singles and walked. Hauver drove in Wells in the third with an RBI knock to center, worked a six-pitch walk and scored in the fourth, ripped another RBI single to left in the sixth and scampered home on a wild pitch. The Arizona State product is sporting a .301/.456/.497 slash line this year. Yankees prospect stats »