Beck's Minor League Threecap

Beck breaks down three things that stood out to him in Friday's Minor League action.

Mar 30, 2024

Welcome to the very first Minor League Threecap!

My goal is to distill all of the action across minor league baseball into something you digest in 10 minutes. Yesterday’s slate was Triple-A Opening Day, so we’ve got Statcast data across all 15 games played.

Enjoy!

The Norfolk Tides might be one of the 30 best baseball teams in North America.

Just joshin’. Damn are they loaded, though. Coby Mayo produced the hardest-hit ball in all of yesterday’s minor league games. His 111.3 mph single in the first inning was one of two batted balls he put in play over 105 mph. He’s certainly one of the best 26 players in their system, it’s just a matter of time before he replaces one of Ryan O’Hearn or Ryan Mountcastle as a regular. I suspect it’ll happen sometime in April after Baltimore has secured an extra year of service time. If not then, it shouldn’t be much later than early June when he’s passed the Super 2 threshold.

Speaking of service time, Jackson Holliday didn’t wait very long to remind us he’s got Triple-A figured out. He finished a triple short of the cycle, and all three hits came on EVs north of 100 mph. His first-inning homer came off of lefty Mason Montgomery and left the bat at 102.9 mph.

Chayce McDermott had a solid if unspectacular outing, going 4.1 innings and surrendering just one run while striking out six. His control was a bit concerning – he ceded five walks – but managed to hold Durham to just one hit.

Oklahoma City squandered a great outing from Landon Knack.

Norfolk’s game was a barn burner, with both teams combining for a total of 20 runs. Very, very different story between Oklahoma City and Tacoma as the Rainiers notched a 1-0 victory on Thursday night. Landon Knack did his part to keep them in the game, firing five scoreless innings and allowing just three hits while striking out six. He didn’t show off huge velocity, averaging just 93.8 mph on his fastball, but he generated a 50% whiff rate with the offering and a 39% CSW overall. He tied Chayce McDermott for the top spot in whiffs across all games with 15.

27-year-old Jhonathan Díaz was just as good for Tacoma. He matched Knack with five scoreless innings of his own. He struck out five but was rather lucky to escape unscathed as Oklahoma City recorded eight hard-hit balls with nothing to show for them. It was a good outing all considered, but there aren’t any real fantasy implications here.