Beck's Minor League Threecap: 5/5/24

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

Happy Sunday everybody! May today be restful and full of great results for your fantasy teams. Today is the first day actually featuring complex-level players and I’m sure we’ll have many more over the course of next week, including a rare Tuesday Threecap as a byproduct of Complex games on Monday (all other levels are off).

March of the Manzalorian.

He didn’t have an incredible game on Saturday, but Kyle Manzardo (CLE) homered yet again and now has eight home runs in his last 13 games. It’s rumored that he’ll be called up on Sunday as the corresponding move should Steven Kwan hit the IL with a hammy. A lot of people jumped ship on him in the off-season after a lackluster 2023 – which we’ve discussed was likely influenced by off-the-field factors – but he’s largely put those concerns to rest. I had some concern that he’d be a line-drive, gap-to-gap power guy at first base should the power fail to manifest in games, and so far he’s shown the ability to elevate and put the ball out of the yard.

German Ortiz (OAK) signed in 2021 at the age of 16 for $50K and has since spent two seasons in the DSL and a full year at Rookie Ball, where he’s returning in 2024. The results to-date have been lackluster, but he’s young (19 years old) and projectable (listed at 6-foot-2, 195 lbs) and I hesitate to write these kinds of players off early. That said, it’s hard to have a better first day of the year than he had with a 5-for-5 performance with two doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored.

The first real Complex-level dude on the rundown is Enmanuel Bonilla (TOR), who is rather well known after inking a $4.1M bonus in 2023 for the largest in Blue Jays’ history. Touted as an advanced hitter, Bonilla is already showing above-average power potential in games supported by underlying exit velocity data. He slashed a trio of doubles in a 4-for-5 night at the dish on Saturday while playing center field. He’ll move to a corner eventually as he fills out and is a prototypical slugger in that role.

It’s rare we get an undrafted free agent on the Threecap, but hats off to Dylan Jasso (NYY) for a big time night at the dish. Jasso (which I understand is pronounced HOSS-oh) signed with the Yankees last summer after slashing .453/.575/.915 with 25 home runs and five stolen bases at New Mexico Junior College in his platform year. I don’t know much about him other than that he’s been hitting the cover off the ball for Single-A Tampa and striking out a lot (27.4% through 24 games). I have to imagine the pitching he’s seeing now is significantly better than he saw last Spring. He went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI on Saturday.

All’s Well That Tid’s Well.

I’ve written a few times about Blade Tidwell (NYM) in the Threecap, particularly that I think he’ll have flashes of brilliance but frustrate when the command isn’t there, and last night we saw one of those flashes. He’s up to a 66% strike rate on the year which sat at 62% prior to last night’s outing and is a critical figure to monitor for him as he approaches a promotion to Triple-A. He went 8.0 scoreless innings, allowed five hits and two walks, and struck out nine on Saturday.

Ian Mejia (ATL) has been dealing this year. The 24-year-old spent all of last year with High-A Rome and pitched to a 4.69 ERA while striking out 110 over 121.0 innings. He’s stepped up in the punchout department with 34 in 30.0 innings, but it’s far from an impressive figure given his age. I don’t think there’s much to see here in terms of fantasy, but he was excellent over 7.0 innings on Saturday. He allowed just three baserunners all evening and K’d seven.

I last wrote about Gunnar Hoglund (OAK) on 4/12 for a performance that wasn’t quite sheet-worthy, but felt he deserved a little sunshine after dealing with significant injury problems for the first two years post-draft. Here’s what I had to say then:

“Gunnar Hoglund has only thrown 73.2 innings since being taken 19th overall in 2021 as he had recently undergone Tommy John surgery at draft time and missed almost the entirety of 2022 as a result. He pitched to a 6.05 ERA over 61.0 innings split between Single-A, High-A, and Double-A last year while striking out a measly 46 batters as his stuff regressed post-TJ. He had one of the best outings of his career on Thursday, tossing five innings and striking out eight while allowing three earned runs. Transparently – he probably didn’t belong in the Threecap for this performance, but I liked him at Ole Miss and I’m saddened by the way his injury derailed him, so it’s nice to see him come out and have a pretty solid game.”

Tell you what, he earned this appearance. He went 7.0 scoreless with eight strikeouts while firing 66% of his pitches for strikes.

If you tuned into the Tacoma/Sacramento game you got a gem between Bryan Woo and Carson Whisenhunt (SFG). The latter led Triple-A in whiffs for the day with 18 and had his changeup working to the tune of a 61% whiff rate. He hasn’t been sharp to this point – he’s walked 16 over 23.1 innings and has a 5.40 ERA – but Saturday’s outing may have been what he needed to right the ship. He went 4.0 scoreless and struck out 10 while surrendering five baserunners on two hits and three walks. His backup in control has been surprising after he carried a 9.8% walk rate in 58.2 innings in 2023.

This was the start we’ve been waiting for from Logan Evans (SEA). He was an extremely buzzy name entering the year, with both Seattle’s front office and large publications alike praising him as a breakout after he added velocity and showed an improved repertoire during Spring Training. His 1.57 ERA is a little deceiving – he’s only struck out 23 and has issued 11 free passes over 28.2 innings – and he may be benefitting from a friendly home park. Evans put his new sweeper, harder heater, and 12-6 curve to work on Saturday and finished with 6.0 near-perfect innings and nine strikeouts. His lone blemishes were a hit-by-pitch and a fourth inning single. 

That’s All, Folks.

No games on Monday save for the complexes, which have no scheduled starters posted. If you watched any of the recommended arms from Friday’s article (listed below), you had a very good chance of catching a gem! Lara and Maier didn’t make the pitching section of today’s Threecap, but both were excellent.

Saturday’s results: