Thursday's Standout Minor League Baseball Performers

Happy Friday, folks. I took the day off yesterday to spend more time with family while we are on vacation at the beach. I stayed up a little later last night to try and get some work done and get an article out.

Thursday’s slate of minor league action brought some dominant pitching performances and some fun hitter standouts. I broke them all down in detail with data and everything you need to know!

Minor League Baseball Standouts

Jaxon Wiggins, RHP, Chicago Cubs, 23, A+

Wiggins has pitched well for the entirety of 2025, but Thursday was by far the most impressive start we have seen. Entering the day with a walk rate just shy of 16 percent, Wiggins did not issue a walk and struck out seven batters across seven innings of work. He allowed just one earned run on three hits.

Landing 73 percent of his pitches for strikes was a career best, and the fact it came over seven innings is even more impressive. Wiggins generated 20 whiffs in a highly impressive start.

Last night, the fastball was in the upper 90s, consistently hitting 98 mph. Wiggins, with his 6'6 “frame, creates a downhill plane but gets good IVB(around 17 inches) while showing decent horizontal movement. He has touched 101 mph this season, showing impressive velocity.

The slider devastates hitters, easily playing as a plus pitch, sitting in the upper 80s. Wiggins also mixes in a low-80s curve that he has used more often as a pro than he did in college. The changeup progression has been huge, and he Wiggins punched out several lefties on that pitch last night as it sits in the mid-to-upper 80s with late depth and fade.

Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Atlanta Braves, 23, AAA

Good pitchers make tweaks and adjustments to find the best version of themselves. The Braves drafted Waldrep in the first round of the 2023 draft, knowing there would need to be tweaks made in order for Waldrep to become the high-level starter they knew he could be. Some changes have not worked over the last year, but it seems Waldrep has found it.

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 walking three batters and not getting out of the first inning last time out, Waldrep went to the drawing board and turned in one of the best starts of his career on Thursday, striking out ten batters in 5.1 innings. He allowed two hits, runs, and walks a piece, with most of the damage coming on a Kenny Piper home run.

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 splitter generated seven whiffs on seven swings last night.

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 13 of the 22 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.

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