Minor League Baseball Studs! Wednesday's Top Performers

We are back with another full week of Minor League Baseball action. I sat on the Augusta/Charleston game and got some really good looks at some fun prospects, including Luke Sinnard, who was dominant and looked substantially better than Trevor Harrison.

Let’s recap what happened across the entire landscape of pro baseball yesterday. If you are unfamiliar with the Dynasty Digest, it is a daily newsletter covering the previous days’ action. From star prospects, to players under the radar, I broke down everything you need to know that happened.

Let’s get to it.

Wanna join the conversation? Get in our Discord with nearly 1500 members. We talk baseball, prospects, and fantasy baseball all day long!

Free Minor League Baseball Recap Previews

Each day, I will pick a hitter and pitcher who stand out and deserve the top spot on the sheet. Those players’ reports will be free for all to read. The rest will be paywalled for Dynasty Dugout Subscribers. The article is around 3000 words, giving you detailed player reports to encapsulate everything you need to know.

Keiner Delgado, 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates, 21, A+

Delgado is on some kind of heater right now, and on Wednesday, he turned in one of the best performances of the minor league season. Of course, the game was in Asheville, so we did not get any video feed, but Delgado blasted three homers and added a fourth hit during the game.

To lead off the game against Andrew Taylor, Delgado smacked a home run on the first pitch of the game. He returned to the plate in the second inning and once again smoked another home run to right-center. After the Tourist finally found a way to get Delgado out, he returned to the plate in a tie game in the ninth inning. With a runner on first, Delgado hit his third home run of the game to right field.

We need to put a caveat on it that Asheville is a hitters’ haven. It is 290 feet down the right field line. That does not change the fact that it is part of the game and Delgado is swinging it well. He did not hit his first home run of the season until May 4, but now is up to seven to pair with nine stolen bases.

The contact numbers have tanked a bit, and Delgado’s hit tool looks below average at this point, but the calling card here is definitely speed. He hit nine home runs last year and seems like he will pass that number, but the exit velocities are below average.

Still, when you put up a three-home run performance, you have to get the top spot of the daily article.

Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Atlanta Braves, 23, AAA

Has Waldrep made some changes that are paying off? It certainly seems that way. Waldrep got rid of his high leg kick and is much faster to the plate now. He is also falling off toward the first base side much less with a smaller “head wack.”

After his May 1 start, where Waldrep walked three batters and did not get out of the first inning, Waldrep went to the drawing board. Since then, he looks like a new arm. After tossing six innings yesterday with two walks and nine strikeouts, Waldrep’s last 17.1 innings have seen him strike out 25 batters with a 3.12 ERA and a ten percent walk rate.

I won’t sit here and say Waldrep is all the way back to what we hoped he could be, but it looks so much better. Waldrep generated 20 whiffs yesterday with 21 called strikes. Over 71 percent of his pitches went for strikes.

Waldrep’s splitter is nasty and one of the better splits in baseball. It can range from 85 to 89 mph and completely falls off the table with a ton of separation from the fastball. Having low spin rates that average 690 rpm, the pitch has carry before its late dive. The funny thing is, they have pulled this pitch and forced Waldrep to work on his fastball, slider, and even curve. Waldrep threw it just five times yesterday.

The curve and slider are both distinct pitches and flash signs of being plus, with the slider showing more horizontal movement and the curve being a 12-6 shape. There is around a seven mph separation between the two. The slider is a gyro shape with short horizontal movement, averaging around two inches. It produced 11 of the 20 whiffs.

The fastball is still an issue. The velocity is there at 96 mph, but the pitch shape is not great. Honestly, Waldrep would be better served to go to a two-seam or cutter to limit hard contact and let his secondaries miss bats. Regardless, the start was a significant step in the right direction. He looks like a serviceable arm right now.

Join the Dynasty Dugout, Trusted by Thousands