Beck's Minor League Threecap: 8/2/2024
No more pitchers in LA (please promote Caden Dana)
I’ve got to come clean. I hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, ran amok, and flat out deceived you yesterday. There’s been a change in scheduling – you are getting a normal Threecap this evening (as evidenced by… this article), but the July Team of the Month article won’t come out until Monday. That’s mostly to do with the fact that it’s a marquee piece of content and I didn’t want to release it on a Friday night. So, while we’re here, let’s jump into Thursday’s standouts!
Long Time Listener, First Time Collier.
Hell of a season for Michael Arroyo (SEA) so far. He’d been a DSL standout as a 17-year-old in 2022, sputtered a bit as an 18-year-old in A-ball last year, and has now obliterated the level and earned a promotion to High-A this year. He’s been even stronger from a surface perspective with Everett, though his home/road splits are enough to verify that it’s largely due to the home park, but a .938 OPS as a 19-year-old in High-A is pretty, pretty nice. His hit tool is probably verging on plus by way of his ability to spit on pitches out of the zone and identify spin with uncanny proficiency for a player his age, but it’s a little unclear yet as to how much pop he’ll ultimately unlock in games. He’s up to 17 dingers on the year but it’s evident he’s selling out a bit to get to it. He was 3-for-4 with a home run and a double on Wednesday and immediately followed it with another homer in 4-for-6 day on Thursday.
Cam Collier (CIN) has rehabilitated a fair bit of his fantasy prospect stock this year. I don’t think it’s entirely salvageable from where he rated immediately following the draft in 2022 – his swing decisions are rather alarming – but he still figures to be a productive big leaguer should he follow this trajectory. He had a perfectly cromulent campaign as an 18-year-old in the Florida State League last year, which is actually quite an achievement but led to a lot of the fantasy world souring on him, and he’s essentially doing the same thing again as a 19-year-old in the Midwest League. He’s cut his groundball rate year-over-year, which is great, but his chase and in-zone swing numbers could still use some sorting out. He was 4-for-5 with a home run, a double, and a walk on Thursday.
All is Ferris in Love and War.
These guys are putting on a show every five days. I wrote about both Jackson Ferris (LAD) and Caden Dana (LAA) on each of their last turns through the rotation, and not a lot has changed since. Add another fantastic start to both of their tallies; Ferris went 8.0 innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts and nary a hit allowed while Dana went 7.0 scoreless with seven strikeouts. There are a lot of universes where the Dodgers come away like bandits from the Michael Busch trade. As far as Dana is concerned, I still have no idea what the Angels are doing with his workload. Perhaps we see him down the stretch, perhaps he’s shut down for the remainder of the year in a week or two.
King Julian Wears No Clothes.
Well, Brett Wichrowski and the Biloxi Shuckers vs. Caden Dana and the Rocket City Trash Pandas lived up to the hype. Their combined line was 13.0 innings, five hits, zero earned, three walks, and twelve strikeouts. The table was wildly successful outside of a tough-ish outing for Julian Aguiar.
It’s Noah Schultz bump day tomorrow! Here’s what else to watch for on Saturday:
Bishop Letson (2.91 ERA) for the Carolina Mudcats (MIL) at 5:00 ET
Yoniel Curet (3.66 ERA) for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (TBR) at 5:00 ET
Jaden Hamm (2.38 ERA) for the West Michigan Whitecaps (DET) at 5:05 ET
Troy Melton (4.29 ERA) for the Erie SeaWolves (DET) at 6:00 ET
Hunter Barco (2.25 ERA) for the Altoona Curve (PIT) at 6:00 ET
Jacob Misiorowski (0.00 ERA) for the Nashville Sounds (MIL) at 6:05 ET (AAA debut)
Kohl Drake (3.42 ERA) for the Hickory Crawdads (TEX) at 6:05 ET
JR Ritchie (3.00 ERA) for the Augusta GreenJackets (ATL) at 6:35 ET
Brad Lord (3.82 ERA) for the Rochester Red Wings (WSH) at 6:45 ET
Logan Evans (2.34 ERA) for the Arkansas Travelers (SEA) at 7:05 ET
Noah Schultz (1.82 ERA) for the Birmingham Barons (CHW) at 7:30 ET
Connor Prielipp (0.00 ERA) for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (MIN) at 7:35 ET
George Klassen (0.00 ERA) for the Inland Empire 66ers (LAA) at 9:05 ET