Baseball America | Blog | Baseball America Prospects Blog | Top Batting Performances Over The Weekend, July 6-8

Presented here are the top 10 runs created tallies for position-player prospects from weekend series, July 6-8.

TOP 10 RUNS CREATED BY PROSPECTS IN THE MINORS • JULY 6-8
BATTER	ORG	TEAM	LEAGUE	LVL	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	SB	RC
Hunter Morris*	MIL	Huntsville	Southern	AA	13	8	0	2	4	0	1	0	9.0
Chris Hawkins*	TOR	Lansing	Midwest	LoA	10	8	1	1	0	5	0	1	7.7
Vinnie Catricala	SEA	Tacoma	Pac Coast	AAA	10	7	3	0	1	4	0	0	7.0
Gregory Polanco*	PIT	W.Va.	S Atlantic	LoA	10	6	2	0	1	2	0	2	5.6
Luis Jimenez	LAA	Salt Lake	Pac Coast	AAA	13	8	4	0	0	1	0	0	5.4
Zoilo Almonte#	NYY	Trenton	Eastern	AA	12	7	1	0	1	1	1	1	5.2
Arismendy Alcantara#	CHC	Daytona	Fla State	HiA	11	4	1	1	2	3	1	1	5.2
Matt Curry*	PIT	Altoona	Eastern	AA	14	8	2	1	1	0	4	0	5.1
Tommy La Stella*	ATL	Lynchburg	Carolina	HiA	12	7	2	0	0	1	0	1	5.0
Mark Canha	MIA	Jupiter	Fla State	HiA	11	6	3	0	0	3	1	0	5.0
Bats lefthanded. #Switch-hitter.*

• Blue Jays corner outfield prospect Chris Hawkins hit .160 (15-for-94) with three extra-base hits in June, but he's already struck two doubles and a triple through eight July games with low Class A Lansing. The 2010 third-rounder is batting .289/.346/.365 through 318 at-bats after going 8-for-10 with five walks and a stolen base over the weekend.

• Brewers 2010 fourth-rounder Hunter Morris has an outside shot at winning the Double-A Southern League triple crown. He's batting .314 (second in the batting race) with 14 homers (fourth) and 67 RBIs (first) for Huntsville.

• High Class A Daytona shortstop Arismendy Alcantara went 4-for-11 and made his hits count, connecting for a double, a triple and two homers. He also drew three walks and stole a base. The pop-up Cubs shortstop prospect is batting .298/.334/.447 with seven homers and 25 steals in the Florida State League.

• The hits haven't been falling for 2011 Mariners breakout Vinnie Catricala with Triple-A Tacoma, but he could redeem his season with a strong second half. To that end, he's gone 9-for-24 (.375) with a homer and three doubles so far in July.

Top Performance By A Prospect-Eligible Player Outside His Team's Top 30

Triple-A Tucson first baseman Matt Clark went 6-for-8, mashed three homers and drove home six in a Friday doubleheader at Las Vegas. The Padres 2008 12th-rounder has mashed 15 Triple-A homers this year (and 23 last year), but loft power from the left side is one of the worst fits for San Diego's Petco Park, as amply demonstrated by Anthony Rizzo last summer—or by any one of the Padres current lefty hitters.

Noteworthy Performance In Short-Season League Play

Rookie-level Bluefield second baseman Christian Lopes went 5-for-12 with a double, a homer and a stolen base in Appalachian League play. The Blue Jays 2011 seventh-rounder signed late last year and is making his pro debut.

Rough Stretch

Making enough contact will always be an issue for the Dodgers' James Baldwin III (1-for-12 with seven strikeouts for low Class A Great Lakes) and the Reds' Juan Duran (0-for-12 with 10 whiffs and two walks for high Class A Bakersfield). While Duran must hit to have an impact—he's a left field/first base type—Baldwin has fine supporting tools with his speed (30 steals in 33 tries) and range in center field.

The Bill James-devised runs created metric (Wikipedia entry explains ’02 version) rewards batters for avoiding outs and reaching base safely (on-base percentage) and for accumulating total bases (slugging percentage), two factors that correlate strongly with run scoring, and for obvious reasons.