Tuesday's top prospect performers
Here's a look at Tuesday's top Minor League performers from each team's Top 30 Prospects list:
Marlins: Max Meyer, RHP (MLB No. 22), Double-A Pensacola
Peyton Burdick, OF (No. 12), Double-A Pensacola
The third-ranked Marlins prospect put together the best outing of his young career as he scattered five hits and a walk while fanning a career-high nine over a career-long 5 2/3 frames. The righty tossed 55 of his 84 pitches for strikes. Meyer has now amassed 16 strikeouts to just four walks over 14 2/3 frames. He is sporting a 3.07 ERA and Tuesday marked his second scoreless outing.
Burdick, Miami’s 12th-ranked prospect, played the hero for the Blue Wahoos with three extra-base hits and a pair of pivotal runs batted in. The 24-year-old opened the scoring with a solo blast to left in the opening frame. He then hammered a ground-rule double that bounced over the wall in left-center in the seventh before driving in the game-winning run with a two-bagger in the bottom of the 10th inning. Burdick snapped a three-game hitless skid and now has six extra-base hits and five RBIs this season. Marlins prospect stats»
Braves: Drew Waters, OF (MLB No. 28), Triple-A Gwinnett
A slow start to the season didn’t stop Waters from achieving a significant first in his professional career. The 22-year-old homered twice, once from each side of the plate, and collected three hits and three RBIs during his best performance of the year. After reaching on an infield single to lead off the game, Waters slugged a two-run blast for his first long ball of 2021 and added his second -- batting left-handed -- three innings later. Since beginning the season 6-for-31, the switch-hitter has gone 5-for-9 with three extra-base hits in his past three games. Braves prospect stats »
Cardinals: Nolan Gorman, 3B (MLB No. 31), Double-A Springfield
Gorman started his season with just four hits in his first 28 at-bats and owned a slash line of .143/.351/.250 entering play on May 14. Now, he’s heating up. St. Louis’ No. 2 prospect racked up three hits, including a double for Double-A Springfield, extending a budding hitting streak to four games. Since his sluggish start, Gorman is now 8-for-17 with his first two doubles of the season and has boosted his slash line to .267/.400/.378. Cardinals prospect stats»
Pirates: Quinn Priester, RHP (MLB No. 41), High-A Greensboro
Roansy Contreras, RHP (No. 20), Double-A Altoona
Coming off two scoreless outings to start the season, Contreras kept it rolling on Tuesday night. The Pirates righty went 6 2/3 scoreless frames, allowing just two hits and a walk, while striking out six as Altoona edged Harrisburg, 2-1. Through three starts, Contreras’ numbers are eye-popping. The 21-year-old, acquired in January as part of the trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Yankees, has pitched 17 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just seven hits and striking out 28 batters while walking only three. Contreras’ WHIP sits at 0.57 while his opponents’ average is a paltry .119.
Priester turned in his best start of the young season, as well. The Bucs’ 2019 first-round pick tossed five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four while walking one. It was the first time this season that Priester had pitched through the fifth, and yet it came on the righty’s lowest pitch total of the season. After needing 72 pitches to get through three innings in his season debut and 80 to complete four last time out, Priester fired just 68 on Tuesday night, 45 for strikes. Pirates prospect stats»
Athletics: Tyler Soderstrom, C (MLB No. 89), Low-A Stockton
Soderstrom continued a strong first week in his professional debut, collecting his first-career three-hit game and driving in a run. The 19-year-old grounded out in his first two at-bats before finishing the contest with three consecutive singles, including a run-scoring double that put Stockton ahead for good. Soderstom is batting .292/.404/.375 with eight walks, four doubles and three RBIs through 13 games. Athletics prospect stats »
Mariners: Noelvi Marte, SS (MLB No. 90), Low-A Modesto
Tuesday’s spectacular performance in the Mariners system came courtesy of Marte. The 19-year-old racked up three hits for the third time in four games on a career-high five-RBI night. In the first, Marte grounded a ball to center to plate a run. An inning later, he sent a two-run knock into left and scored on a wild pitch. He walked in the fifth and crossed the plate on Cade Marlowe’s three-run homer, then showed off his own power in the seventh by sending his third long ball of the season to left-center. Marte’s compiled a slash line of /404/.483/.635 in 49 at-bats this year. Mariners prospect stats »
Blue Jays: Gabriel Moreno, C (No. 7), Double-A New Hampshire
Moreneo has played 10 games this season and he’s collected a hit in every one of them. The backstop belted a three-run homer for his lone hit Tuesday against Portland and drove in four runs for the night. In his season-opening hitting streak, Moreno is hitting .415/.489/.634. The home run was just his second of the season and came as part of a four-run seventh inning for the Fisher Cats. Blue Jays prospect stats»
Giants: Kai-Wei Teng, RHP (No. 18), High-A Eugene
Taiwanese-born Teng wasn’t able to come to the United States last year due to the pandemic and looked rusty during his first two starts of the season, allowing eight runs (seven earned) over 7 2/3 innings (8.22 ERA). On Tuesday, he returned to form. The right-hander yielded just three hits and no runs over five innings, striking out seven and walking one in a win over Tri-City. Teng threw 44 of his 78 pitches for strikes and faced just two batters over the minimum. Giants prospect stats»
Orioles: Terrin Vavra, 2B (No. 10), Double-A Bowie
Batting out of the leadoff spot for the Baysox, Vavra continued his impressive start to the season by reaching base five times on a 3-for-3 night featuring a homer and two walks. Acquired by the Orioles from the Rockies last summer, Vavra has been on a tear over his past five games, posting multiple hits in each, including a pair of three-hit performances. For the season, Vavra is now batting .432/.580/.784 through 10 games, including a .632/.731/1.053 line over his five-game hitting streak. Orioles prospect stats»
Reds: Tony Santillan, RHP (No. 10), Triple-A Louisville
The 10th-ranked Reds prospect twirled his first scoreless outing of the season -- yielding three hits and a pair of walks while fanning seven over six frames. Santillan settled down after an uneven first inning to retire 10 batters in a row -- including whiffing the side on 14 pitches in the third. The righty has now allowed one earned run over 14 frames this season (0.64 ERA) and sports a .176 average against and 0.93 WHIP. He has amassed 20 strikeouts while walking four. Reds prospect stats»
Twins: Blayne Enlow, RHP (No. 11), High-A Cedar Rapids
Enlow set a new career high with 10 strikeouts in a strong outing against Beloit. The righty pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on three hits with three walks, facing 22 total batters. Enlow has allowed one earned run in each of his three starts this season, but has gone deeper into games each time out. A third-round pick out of high school in 2017, Enlow is back at the High-A level after making 13 appearances (12 starts) for then-Class A Advanced Fort Myers in 2019 with a 3.38 ERA. His mark is down to 1.84 with Cedar Rapids after Tuesday’s start. Twins prospect stats»