Beck's Minor League Threecap: 8/24/2024

Come on in, we're open late

This one is going to read a little weird. It’s coming out very late on Saturday night, so late that it is in fact Sunday morning, so a brief reminder that I’m writing up Friday’s performances. If I had a time machine I might be tempted to publish this earlier than I am in reality, but my day was fantastic so I probably would not even if given the choice. The blurbs will be a little shorter and more to the point than usual because I’m tapping away at 1:00AM. I hope you understand. Let’s jump in!

House Collier.

Second half Cam Collier (CIN) has been a baaad man. He’s put together a .266/.413/.453 slash and has walked in 18.1% of his plate appearances since June 1st. He’s looking like the latest reminder that development is not linear, especially after so many people discarded him after a slow start to his professional career last year. He won’t turn 20 until late November and looks like he’ll start next year in Double-A, which puts him in a position to potentially debut late in 2025 if not early 2026. He’s put up 18 home runs in 453 plate appearances on the year and I feel relatively confident projecting him for something like 20-25 home runs annually. If the improvement in swing decisions he’s shown over the last two and a half months sticks, we’re talking about a very interesting profile regardless of where he ultimately ends up positionally. He hit three home runs on Friday.

Kristian Campbell (BOS) is one of the hottest hitters in the sport right now. He was promoted to Worcester on August 19th and has made the most of the 16 plate appearances he’s gotten in the last few days, including the two homer game he had on Friday. I made sure to roster him everywhere in late May after he’d shown up in the Threecap about a half a dozen times, but I worried that his swing mechanics would hold him back and the suddenly judicious approach he entered the year with would regress, and ultimately I roster him in just in one of three of my primary dynasties. Those concerns have not come to bear. He’ll land the top 40 on my update.

Next of Quinn.

What do you want me to say at this point, man? Quinn Mathews (STL) is one of the best left-handed pitching prospects in baseball. He has seven starts with double-digit strikeouts and two starts in which he’s allowed more than three earned runs. He’s pushed his way to Double-A in his first year as a professional. He’s thrown 126.2 innings this year and tossed 124.2 at Stanford the year before, so he’s stretched out enough to throw a full big-league season next year. His fastball has jumped a couple of ticks and has truly special characteristics and his slider and changeup play off of that newfound velocity really well. He went 7.2 innings and struck out 12 on Friday.

Emmett Olson (MIA) is a big, strong Illinois kid who threw 160.0 innings of quality ball for Nebraska before going in the 4th round of the 2023 draft. His first full season as a pro has been solid – he’s pitched to a 3.04 ERA in 100.2 innings across Single- and High-A – but he doesn’t have spectacular stuff, which matters to me more than results in most cases. He could be a candidate for a jump in stuff, especially if you sprinkle in a little bit of optimism that Miami is the right place to make that happen, so while I’m not rushing out anywhere to grab him, I’m okay with watchlisting and checking back in next year. He went 5.0 innings and struck out nine while allowing just two baserunners on Friday.

A Dollop of Dollander. 

Outright dominance from top to bottom. The only guy who broke a sweat was Jairo Iriarte and that was largely his own doing, and even still he managed to avoid the scoreboard. 

This might be the best slate we’ve had all week. Sunday will feature two top-100 arms (Caden Dana and Travis Sykora) and a pair of interesting guys that just missed (Anthony Solometo and Jarlin Susana).

• Trystan Vrieling (4.82 ERA) for the Somerset Patriots (NYY) at 1:00 ET

• Anthony Solometo (6.33 ERA) for the Altoona Curve (PIT) at 1:35 ET

• Jack Wenninger (2.84 ERA) for the Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) at 2:00 ET

• Cory Lewis (2.56 ERA) for the Wichita Wind Surge (MIN) at 2:00 ET

• Jackson Ferris (0.66 ERA) for the Tulsa Drillers (LAD) at 2:05 ET

• Jarlin Susana (3.64 ERA) for the Wilmington Blue Rocks (WSH) at 2:05 ET

• Caden Dana (2.74 ERA) for the Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA) at 4:33 ET

• Travis Sykora (2.47 ERA) for the Fredericksburg Nationals (WSH) at 5:05 ET