Minor League Baseball Weekend Recap (Week 11)

At the beginning of each week, I will provide a comprehensive breakdown of everything that happened across the landscape of Minor League Baseball. It might be a little overkill as I wrote far too much on the players that stood out on the weekend, but I hope it helps you better understand why a player performed as they did.

This report, each Monday, will feature the top 15-20 standouts beyond just the box score. I will dive into non-public pitch data and hitters’ statcast data as well. The goal is to help you find prospects that are breaking out early that you should be getting in on in your dynasty leagues.

Minor League Baseball Weekend Recap(Week 11)

Blake Wehunt, RHP, Boston Red Sox, 24, AA

Wehunt turned in the best start of any minor leaguer over the weekend. He went seven innings for the first time in his career and was efficient and dominant. Wehunt punched out 13 batters while walking just one. He allowed four hits and one earned run in a dominant start for Portland.

The 2023 9th rounder out of Kennesaw St. has a physically imposing frame at 6’7”/240 and gets on hitters quick. Wehunt can miss bats with his riding fastball that sat near the mid-90s. His sweepy slider reaches the mid-80s and has quite a long horizontal movement pattern. Wehunt also throws a splitter that when he snaps it off is a nasty pitch. A new cutter in 2024 gives him a nice bridge pitch to the rest of the arsenal.

Despite having a blow-up start in which he allowed five earned runs in five innings his last time out, Wehunt returned in dominance. In eight of his ten starts, Wehunt has allowed two earned runs or less. While he may be destined for an MLB bullpen, Wehunt has impressive stuff. The chicken farmer has come a long way on the mound.

Konnor Griffin, SS/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates, 19, A+

Griffin homered twice this weekend and brought his on-base streak to 17 games after Sunday. He has an 11-game hit streak, with nine of those being multi-hit games. The home run on Sunday was an impressive 432-foot shot that left the bat at 110 mph. Crazy enough, that exit velocity is not even that impressive considering Griffin has 13 batted balls hit that hard this season.

Griffin has a well-filled out, broad shoulder, 6’4” frame, and still has plus foot speed. We have a pretty strong sample of batted balls at this point, and Griffin’s exit velocity data is tremendous. His average exit velocity is north of 90 mph with a 90th percentile exit velocity near 108 mph. The hard-hit rate near 50 percent also stands out.

Currently, Griffin is running an 85 percent in-zone contact rate with strong swing rates on pitches in the zone. People say the approach is bad, but if you look, it has looked better and better as the season has worn on. The chase rate is below 27 percent, and the zone swing percentages are good.

All that to say, Griffin looks like a star in the making to me. The power and speed combo are elite, and his hit tool looks to be at least average. Remember, he just turned 19 years old. This kid is special.

George Wolkow, OF, Chicago White Sox, 19, A

Is Wolkow putting it together? He blasted a home run on Sunday, which followed a three-hit day on Saturday. Through May 13, Wolkow slashed a poor .175/.268/.223 with a 29 percent strikeout rate. Since that date, Wolkow has gotten 108 plate appearances and slashed .287/.370/.543 with seven home runs and just a 21 percent strikeout rate.

Last season_, Wolkow struck out in more than 40 percent of plate appearances in 2024 and had just a 56 percent contact rate. The contact rates improved throughout the season, but it was a tiny sample at the end of the season when they finally reached north of 60 percent. Swing and miss in the zone will need to be cleaned up, but the power upside is tremendous.

The power is undeniable, though. Wolkow has a batted ball as hard as 115 mph this year, and his 90th percentile exit velocity is one of the best for his age. Wolkow is quite young still, reclassifying from the 2024 draft cycle to the 2023, and was drafted at just 17 and a half years old.

While the contact rate is still below 70 percent overall, Wolkow has made a massive jump this year. If the gains over the last month stick, Wolkow will see his stock soar.

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