Sunday's top prospect performers
Here's a look at Sunday’s top Minor League performers from each team's Top 30 Prospects list:
Cardinals: Jordan Walker, 3B (MLB No. 59), High-A Peoria
Walker blasted his first career two-homer game and drove in three runs in a 2-for-4 performance. The Cards’ No. 3 prospect has hit 15 home runs in his debut season after being taken with the 21st overall pick in the 2020 Draft -- six in Low-A and nine with Peoria. Walker has now homered in back-to-back games and is batting an even .300 with an .836 OPS in 51 High-A games, including 26 RBIs, 13 doubles and two triples. Cardinals prospect stats »
Giants: Luis Matos, OF (MLB No. 79), Low-A San Jose
Matos capped a weekend to remember with a four-hit game, which included a double, a home run and three RBIs. In three games since Friday, the 19-year-old has batted 9-for-11 with two doubles, two homers, three walks and five RBIs. Not half bad, right? Expect Matos to continue climbing the Minor League ladder next season, after his stellar pro debut in 2019 (1.004 OPS in 60 Rookie-level games) and a .311 batting average this season. Giants prospect stats »
D-backs: Dominic Fletcher, OF (No. 19), Double-A Amarillo
Fletcher has had a ho-hum .750 OPS this year in Double-A, which is about 100 points lower than what he posted at High-A (.852) in 2019 during his debut pro season. But the 24-year-old is on a tear so far in September, with a .400/.419/.850 slash line in 10 games. That includes a 2-for-4 performance on Sunday, in which Fletcher knocked a triple and a home run while driving in two. He has now hit a triple and a home run in consecutive games, and he has multiple hits in five of his past six. D-backs prospect stats »
Dodgers: Andy Pages, OF (No. 5), High-A Great Lakes
Pages has five hits in his past three games, and four of them have left the yard. The 20-year-old tacked on two more home runs in a 2-for-4, four-RBI day, which made him the sixth Minor Leaguer to reach 30 home runs this year. Pages hit 11 homers in June, and while he likely won’t top that in the season’s final week, he’s still poised to finish strong. Dodgers prospect stats »
Mets: Khalil Lee, OF (No. 8), Triple-A Syracuse
Back in 2017, Lee flashed his power potential by hitting 17 home runs in 121 games at the Low-A level. A few seasons passed with modest home run numbers, but Lee is making his mark again. His first multi-homer game of 2021 came in a 3-for-4 night, and now Lee has 11 homers in 88 games in Syracuse. He also has a career-high .920 OPS in the Minors this season. Lee’s MLB cameo didn’t go well this year (1-for-18, 13 strikeouts), but he’s bound to get another chance in 2022. Mets prospect stats »
Padres: Tirso Ornelas, OF (No. 28), High-A Fort Wayne
Ornelas smacked his seventh home run of the season and laced a double en route to his first four-hit game of the season. The 21-year-old drove in two runs and scored two in Fort Wayne’s 7-1 win as he fell a triple shy of the cycle. Ornelas has been swinging a scorching hot bat in his past 10 games, slashing .514/.575/.771 with two homers, a double, a triple, five walks and seven RBIs. Since Sept. 2, he’s raised his average from .224 to .248. Padres prospect stats »
Red Sox: Jay Groome, LHP (No. 8), Double-A Portland
It’s hard to top a season-best performance in your Double-A debut, but Groome did so on Sunday with an equally strong performance: six innings, two hits, no runs, one walk and nine strikeouts was his final line, and the former 12th overall pick of the 2016 Draft has yet to allow a run at the Double-A level. Granted, it’s been two starts, but after pitching to a 5.29 ERA in 18 High-A starts this year, it’s an encouraging sign for the southpaw. Groome has now gone at least five innings in seven straight starts and has racked up 19 K’s in 11 innings with Portland. Red Sox prospect stats »
Twins: Cole Sands, RHP (No. 19), Double-A Wichita
Sands hurled one of his best starts of the season, going six one-hit innings while striking out five. Sands retired the first eight batters in order before surrendering a two-out single in the third, but he recovered quickly and scattered two walks over the next three innings as he never let a baserunner reach scoring position. The 24-year-old tossed 40 of his 72 pitches for strikes and lowered his ERA to 2.63 in 18 appearances (17 starts) with 92 strikeouts in 75 1/3 innings. Twins prospect stats »