Minor League Baseball Weekend Recap (Week 12)

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 12)

Esmerlyn Valdez, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates, 21, A+

Valdez came to Greenville this week and raked. Four home runs in the last six games, including two on Saturday, brought his total up to 19 on the year in just 66 games. Last season, he blasted 22 in 435 plate appearances but is on pace to pass that total before the All Star Break.

Posting exit velocities as high as 114 mph with a 90th percentile in the plus or better range, Valdez has plus power for someone who just turned 21 years old. He hit the ball hard every time he connected this week and is doing a ton of damage.

Valdez has seen his contact rates steadily trend up this year, and Valdez’s strikeout rate has dropped by seven percentage points from last season. Leading all Minor Leaguers in home runs, Valdez is showing legitimate power. The power is legit, and Valdez's hit tool has taken a legitimate step forward.

Jonah Tong, RHP, New York Mets, 22, AA

After seven scoreless innings with just two hits and one walk, Tong dropped his ERA further. In his last 11 starts, Tong has allowed just seven total earned runs nad his strikeout rate is up to 41 percent on the season.

Tong has added another tick on his fastball and is sitting 94-96 mph with 19 inches of IVB from his over the top release. He added a new changeup this season which has been deadly, missing bats at a clip around 45 percent.

Tong utilizes a mid-to-upper 80s cutter with above-average horizontal movement for a cutter. The curveball is a hammer, with a shape near 12-6 and an over negative 18 inches of IVB. For those who are unsure, that is an absurd 67 inches of vertical drop. The pitch sits in the mid-70s with high spin rates.

The changeup rounds out the arsenal, sitting around 85 mph with good carry and horizontal movement. The new grip has made all the difference as the pitch devastates hitters and misses bats as well as any changeup in the minors.

Strike throwing was a major question coming into the year, but Tong showed an average 62 percent strike rate and missed a ton of bats. The swinging strike rate near 16 percent is highly impressive, but Tong also steals some called strikes.

David Sandlin, RHP, Boston Red Sox, AA

Enter Sandman. David Sandlin is one fire. On Sunday, Sandlin fired six no-hit innings while striking out nine batters. He has five straight starts of at least five innings after completing five just twice in his first seven starts of the season. While Sandlin did walk three batters, the command overall has been good.

After having a true five-pitch mix last season, Sandlin has pulled back a bit. The sweeper has been scraped to an extent, and he is now in using more of a gyro-slider in starts.

The fastball sits between 96-97 mph, but has topped out at 100. The pitch gets above-average IVB, and when he locates it up, he misses plenty of bats. The command has ticked up on the pitch overall, and it has been five starts since he allowed a home run.

Sandlin mixes a harder, shorter cutter at 89-90 mph. The gyro-slider plays like a cutter at times, with some pitches having more carry and short horizontal movement. The sweeper, when he throws it regularly, gets 15 inches of horizontal movement.

The splitter reaches 94 and sits between 90-92 depending on the outing. A 94 mph splitter that resembled a splitter/splinker of one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, Paul Skenes. Sandlin rounded out the arsenal with an 80 mph curve, which is used more as a pitch to change hitter’s eye levels and get them off the fastball.

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