Beck's Minor League Threecap: 6/8/2024

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

Howdy folks! I was tied up all day with travel and a wedding, so I am getting started on this article at 12:44 AM on Sunday. As a reminder, this is supposed to be Saturday’s article so the performances we’re covering are from Friday. That’s an unusual set-up and I don’t think it’ll happen often, but I also told y’all the Threecap yesterday would be the latest release of the year and I was wrong immediately, so YMMV.

Let’s dive into Friday’s top performers!

It’s the Middle of the Night, No Fancy Titles.

I mean, there’s not much more to say about Agustin Ramirez (NYY). He’s a top 50 prospect, I don’t think it’s controversial at this point, and he keeps proving it over and over. He’s in sole possession of the home run lead in the Eastern League (Double-A) with 15 in 220 plate appearances after blasting three of’em in a 3-for-5 night on Friday.

Lazaro Montes (SEA) is on a tear. He had two home runs on Friday to bring his season total to 11 in 52 games and take his place atop the RBI leaderboard across all levels of the minor leagues. He’s striking out in just 16.9% of his plate appearances after running a 25.2% figure in 2023, which is wildly impressive given both his age-to-level and his enormous frame. Part of the equation might be that he’s upped his first pitch swing percentage by 6 points, which naturally means he’s getting into two-strike counts a bit less often (h/t Eli Ben-Porat of Baseball America). In any event, it’s a very positive (and welcome) development and I have him as a top 30 prospect in baseball.

It’s Even Later Now, I’ve Got No Creative Juice.

Caden Dana (LAA) absolutely shoved on Friday. His 8.0 innings of one-run ball was his longest outing of the year, the 101 pitches he threw was his highest total of the year, and the 10 strikeouts he notched was a season high. He was an 11th round prep arm in 2022 and has already worked his way up to Double-A as the most promising pitching prospect in the Angels system. I’d be somewhat bullish on a major league debut later this year if he weren’t already encroaching on his career high in innings (63.0 so far in 2024, 68.1 in 2023 split between Single- and High-A).

Tell you what, there are a huge number of players that come up when you search Jose Gonzalez (TEX) in baseball reference, but none of them have better numbers this year. He’s pitched his way to a comical 1.16 ERA over 38.2 innings with Single-A Down East this year and a lot of it has to do with how many batters he’s striking out (35.4%) and how few he’s walking (4.8%). His surface performance needs to be taken with a grain of salt given he’s 22 years old (he’ll turn 23 in August) and playing against much younger competition, but performing well certainly beats performing poorly. I’ve not watched a full start of his yet, but based on the scant film I have seen it looks like most of the damage is coming on a combination of heaters up in the zone and a tight, vertical slider that batters consistently swing over. I’m not making any moves with him just yet because I can’t discern whether his results are a product of his physical advantage (by way of being nearly 23 years old) or if it’s because he has genuinely good stuff. He struck out 11 over 6.0 innings of shutout ball on Friday.

Feels like ‘95 (Strikeouts). 

Friday was a pretty stellar day for the table. It was the beefiest viewing guide we’ve had in some time and the fellas delivered. We got the best outings of the year from Will Warren and Caden Dana, Jarlin Susana and Matt Wilkinson had nearly identical lines with 5.0 innings of shutout ball and nine strikeouts, Samuel Aldegheri notched his third 10 strikeout performance of the year, and Chase Dollander continued to bully High-A. All told the table had 15 pitchers combine for 95 strikeouts.

Here’s what to watch on Sunday (today) with my recommendations italicized as usual:

• Nolan McLean (5.79 ERA) for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM) at 1:05 ET

• Troy Melton (5.11 ERA) for the Erie Seawolves (DET) at 1:35 ET

• Cade Kuehler (3.09 ERA) for the Augusta GreenJackets (ATL) at 1:35 ET

• Anthony Solometo (6.43 ERA) for the Altoona Curve (PIT) at 1:35 ET

• Robby Snelling (5.14 ERA) for the San Antonio Missions (SDP) at 2:00 ET

• Jaden Hamm (1.73 ERA) for the West Michigan Whitecaps (DET) at 2:05 ET

• Logan Henderson (0.00 ERA) for the Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) at 4:33 ET

• Jake Bloss (2.42 ERA) for the Corpus Christi Hooks (HOU) at 5:15 ET

• Emiliano Teodo (2.06 ERA) for the Frisco RoughRiders (TEX) at 6:05 ET