Beck's Minor League Threecap: 3/31/24

Beck breaks down three major things you need to know from yesterday's MiLB action.

Welcome to day two of the Minor League Threecap. Let’s hear it for day two! Today was another one with a full slate of exclusively Triple-A games.

Minor League Threecap: 3/31/24

If you live in or around Indianapolis, go see Paul Skenes while you can.

There’s no reason for Paul Skenes to be wasting bullets in Triple-A when he’s clearly ready to compete at the big league level now. He went three scoreless innings in his debut without allowing a hit. He struck out five of the nine batters faced on the back of his 100+ mph heater (it literally averaged 100.1 mph). He will likely make his Major League debut by the first week in May with the potential to be up earlier depending on how the Pirates want to manage his innings.

Lyon Richardson pitched pretty well, too. He matched Skenes’ three scoreless and then some but worked with a considerable amount of traffic. He ultimately allowed three hits and three walks on 75 pitches in his five innings.

‘L’ is not for Loser, it’s for eLite (it’s late as I write this, cut me some slack).

Two notable ‘L’s logged outstanding performances on Saturday, one on each side of the ball. Joey Loperfido tallied his second and third home runs of the year in a losing effort against the Round Rock Express. His first of the day came off of Michael Lorenzen (yes, the Michael Lorenzen that just signed with the Rangers for $4.5M and is coming off of an All-Star season). His second came off Jack Leiter. I’m starting to feel like he took his omission from my annual top 100 personally.

Speaking of Jack Leiter (I have mastered the art of the segue), his first outing of 2024 was stellar. He fired five innings and logged nine strikeouts on just 66 pitches, which is outstanding efficiency, particularly so for him. He didn’t walk a single batter after issuing free passes to 13.2% of batsmen last year, and his only blemish was the aforementioned Loperfido dinger. He averaged 96.9 mph on his heater and generated 11 total whiffs and a 38% CSW. I’m not ready to jump back in on him, and I still think there is a considerable chance he’s ultimately a reliever, but if his command/control is somehow a grade better this year he could be a significant riser.

Yesterday I joked about Norfolk being better than the Rockies, White Sox, or A’s.

I’m still joking (mostly), but they look like one of the best minor league squads I can recall. They scored another 12 runs today, repeating their 12-run performance from Opening Day, with contributions up and down the lineup.

Connor Norby finished the night 2-5 with a single and home run. He had four batted ball events over 90 mph, two of which qualified as hard hit.

Jackson Holliday continued to prove… that there isn’t much left for him to prove at any level below Major League Baseball. He was 2-4 with a double, a walk, and four runs scored. He had three balls in play over 100 mph – his single was 101.7 mph, the double was 104.7 mph, and he mixed in a 102.7 mph lineout for good measure. Maybe the power is coming along quicker than we thought.

Heston Kjerstad kept the hard hit ball parade going with four of his own that registered over 100 mph. He finished 3-5 with three singles. His power potential is enormous. In terms of difficult decisions, Mike Elias has his work cut out for him. Figuring out how to fit in Kjerstad, Cowser, Mullins, and Santander is a quandary on its own, and then he has to tackle the infield. You can’t give up Ramon Urias and Jorge Mateo for nothing.

You thought this blurb was over? Think again, buddy. Kyle Stowers was 3-5 with a pair of singles and a home run that left the bat at 109.4 mph. He had two of the top ten hardest hit balls across all Minor League games on Saturday.