Beck's Minor League Threecap: 7/11/2024
Failing to catch up on sleep, revisiting some old friends, and making bad puns
Hey hey hey, I hope the middle of the night is treating you as well as it’s treating me! I’ve been on a very weird (and frankly bad) sleep schedule lately that I desperately need to rectify. Work has been nuts and that usually means I’m saving my writing for later in the evening, but that also happens to be when any baseball I’d like to watch is on, and it turns out I’m a pretty bad multi-tasker. Enough rambling – let’s dive in!
Ryan Air.
I’ve written about both Ryan Clifford (NYM) and our next fella very recently. Clifford has been on a tear since June 1st with Binghamton after a brutal May that saw him hit just .155 and slug a mere .262. He needed a few weeks to acclimate after his promotion but since Memorial Day has passed he’s belted 11 home runs and eight doubles in 31 games, good for a .272/.421/.670 slash line that has salvaged his full-season surface performance. The big difference has been an enormous reduction in his strikeout rate from 34.5% in the 46 games prior to this stretch to 20.9% during it. The dream is that this adjustment sticks without any interruption to his in-game power output to really unlock the offensive upside. He’s had troubles in the past with both high velocity and breaking stuff and I’m not sure what he’s done to rectify those issues – I’d be much more confident that this is anything more than a hot few weeks if I knew for certain he’d closed one of the two gaps in his swing. He was 3-for-5 with two home runs and a double on Wednesday.
Nick Yorke (BOS) is making the Threecap for the second time in 10 days because he’s been going bonkers since his promotion to Triple-A. In that time he’s played 27 games, collected 36 hits including six home runs and six doubles, and gotten on base at a .427 clip. Last time I wrote about him I explored some of his early public statcast data and it’s still looking pretty good. If anything he could stand to be a little more aggressive. Here’s what I wrote about him last time:
“I’ve landed in a place where I think he’s got a shot to be an average regular. He’s running a 105.4 mph 90th percentile exit velocity, 89.3% zone contact rate, and 24.2% chase rate over 92 plate appearances at Triple-A, all of which grade out pretty favorably. I can’t speak much to whether they constitute a departure from his career underlying data, but I have to admit I’m pretty encouraged by it.”
He was 2-for-4 with two home runs on Wednesday.
Jay-Z, Swayze, Nikhazy.
It’s nearly 1:00 AM, so I’ll just say this: it’s time to invest in Thomas Harrington (PIT). He’s done nothing but perform as a professional and that’s continued into his stint at Double-A this year where he’s thrown 56.2 innings of 2.54 ERA ball. He’s striking guys out, he’s walking very few, and Pittsburgh is starting to prove they’re an entirely new org with regard to pitching development. He doesn’t have incredible stuff but he has a full arsenal of five pitches, including offerings that can be used to neutralize batters of both handedness, and has plus control. Harrington didn’t start pitching until late into his high school career, so he’s doing all of this with less experience than most 23-year-olds are (and today is his birthday, so he was 22 for a large part of this season). He went 7.0 innings, allowed one run, and struck out 11 while cresting the 90 pitch threshold for the second time all year.
In terms of performance, Doug Nikhazy (CLE) might be the most underrated pitching prospect in baseball. He’s been mentioned in the Dynasty Dugout Discord a total of eight times and I’m pretty sure there have been one billion messages sent in the server over its lifetime, so it’s fair to say he’s not often a topic of discussion. He was a 2nd rounder out of Mississippi in 2021 and has pitched to a 3.94 ERA since becoming a professional, and that includes a pretty rocky adjustment period to Double-A as a 23-year-old. He’s up to 65.1 innings this year, the last 17.0 of which have come at Triple-A, and it doesn’t get much better than he’s been in that time. He’s struck out 19 batters, ceded just six hits, and allowed zero earned runs, which I’m pretty sure ties him with Nate Handy and every person reading this article for the ERA lead in the International League.
Cry Me A River.
If I weren’t remarking on it right now I’d say the table was pretty unremarkable. I didn’t remember Logan Evans was doing the whole relief thing until I saw his line, Jonah Tong had a fantastic outing to continue his unreal four-start run, and Ty Madden still can’t seem to figure out Triple-A.
Here’s Thursday’s viewing guide with my recommendations italicized as usual:
Alex Clemmey (4.95 ERA) for the Lynchburg Hillcats (CLE) at 6:30 ET
Nolan McLean (5.45 ERA) for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM) at 6:35 ET
Troy Melton (4.81 ERA) for the Erie SeaWolves (DET) at 6:35 ET
Samuel Aldegheri (0.00 ERA) for the Reading Fightin Phils (PHI) at 7:00 ET
Josh Knoth (3.69 ERA) for the Carolina Mudcats (MIL) at 7:05 ET
TJ Sikkema (3.51 ERA) for the Dayton Dragons (CIN) at 7:05 ET
Jacob Misiorowski (3.38 ERA) for the Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) at 7:15 ET
David Festa (3.77 ERA) for the St. Paul Saints (MIN) at 7:15 ET
Julian Aguiar (3.00 ERA) for the Louisville Bats (CIN) at 7:15 ET
Darren Bowen (5.02 ERA) for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (MIN) at 7:35 ET
Chayce McDermott (4.00 ERA) for the Norfolk Tides (BAL) at 8:05 ET
Marco Raya (5.12 ERA) for the Wichita Wind Surge (MIN) at 8:05 ET
Jack Leiter (3.88 ERA) for the Round Rock Express (TEX) at 9:35 ET