Beck's Minor League Threecap: 4/1/24
Beck breaks down three major things you need to know from yesterday's MiLB action.
Day three of the Threecap. So far so good, right? Still only Triple-A to talk about as the remaining full-season levels don’t start their seasons until next Friday. Plenty to cover so buckle up!
Sunday MILB Standouts
Top prospects were getting it done.
I’m not always going to be as concise as I’d like, so dedicating a section today to highlighting the guys you know having big games.
I wrote about how awesome Norfolk was in yesterday’s Threecap only for them to get throttled by Junior Caminero and the rest of the Durham Bulls. Caminero took a rehabbing John Means deep for his first home run of the year in a 2-4 effort. The homer traveled 402 feet to dead center and wasn’t even his hardest-hit ball of the day. Unfortunately, Caminero had to be removed after suffering an apparent quad injury legging out a ground ball. No word yet from the team on severity and prognosis for return to play.
Coby Mayo didn’t have the biggest day overall, finishing 1-4 with a pair of strikeouts. He did, however, deposit a baseball 421 feet from home plate over the left field fence in the ninth inning to cut Durham’s lead to just 14 runs. He scorched a cutter on the inner half of the plate at 111.3 mph, which really showcased just how little Camden’s new dimensions are likely to matter for his surface output.
After belting 14 home runs in 555 plate appearances last year, Juan Brito flipped the zero in his home run column to a one with a 380 foot dinger in the third inning of Columbus’ Sunday game at the Saints. He had four batted ball events with an EV north of 90, which bodes well for the idea that his underlying power could take a jump this year. He had a 90th percentile EV of 102 mph in 2023.
Jordan Beck has been perhaps the most impressive hitter in Triple-A so far. He had another three batted balls over 100 mph on Sunday, including a 439 foot home run that left the bat at 102.9 mph and a 104.4 mph triple. We’ll have to keep an eye on his strikeout rate as he’s been a little whiffy in the early going.
Lost in the shuffle was a rather significant injury.
Yankees top pitching prospect Chase Hampton was diagnosed with a UCL sprain and will be held out from baseball activity for four to six weeks. It’s a big blow for a team with shaky starting pitching depth at the big league level and especially so in the wake of Gerrit Cole’s elbow inflammation that will keep him on the IL until at least June.
Hampton had a chance to pitch in the bigs sometime in the second half, but given that he’s set to miss a month and a half plus more to ramp up, I think that chance has all but evaporated. Will Warren or Clayton Beeter should be the next man up if the back end of New York’s rotation falters or in the event of an injury.
There were a handful of very nice pitching performances on Sunday.
You may not think of them as overpowering arms, but Bryce Elder and Quinn Priester were striking folks out yesterday. I’m more likely to chalk up Elder’s start to random variance given that his velocity and vertical break were down, but he did have more east-west movement on his slider and fastball which could prove impactful given he’s not going to blow much by you. Elder finished his outing with seven strikeouts, zero walks, and two hits allowed in a scoreless 6.1 innings.
Priester’s start was noteworthy. He was clearly amped for his 2024 debut – his velocity was up on every offer but the changeup, which he only threw five times. He generated a whopping 20 whiffs, topping the leaderboard for all Minor League arms, en route to a 41% CSW. He ultimately fanned nine while walking just one, surrendering a single hit, and allowing one earned run over 5.2 innings.
Cristian Mena was a popular breakout pick heading into last year as an arm young for the level being pushed by the White Sox, but he battled his way to an ERA just under five and lost some luster. He’s in the Diamondbacks system now by way of trade and didn’t seem phased by pitching in the PCL. He had both breaking balls going with his slider, and curveball generated CSWs of 45% and 53%, respectively, as he ultimately racked up 10 whiffs on the day. His fastball averaged 92.6 mph, and hitters saw it extraordinarily well, so there are some concerns that it won’t play at the big league level. He finished his outing without giving up a run in 5.0 innings. He struck out six.
It was a shorter outing, but I can’t leave the Threecap without mentioning Carson Whisenhunt. He pitched three innings total (44 pitches) and generated 12 whiffs en route to a six strikeout appearance. He didn’t allow a run. His changeup had a 44% whiff rate.
These minor league reports are really informative reads. Thanks for these. RM