Baseball America Prospect Report—August 23, 2021

Image credit: Griffin Conine (Photo by Tom DiPace)

Griffin Conine, LF, Double-A Pensacola (Marlins) — Conine re-took the minor league home run lead with a two-homer day on Sunday that followed a home run on Saturday. Royals C M.J. Melendez is likely the only competition Conine now faces for the MiLB home run crown. Melendez has 31 home runs. No one else has more than 25. Conine now has 34 home runs between High-A Beloit and Double-A Pensacola. Conine’s prodigious power has been somewhat of an all-or-nothing approach. He is hitting .228/.343/.564 overall.

Nick Plummer, CF, Double-A Springfield (Cardinals) — Plummer’s career resurgence added another exclamation point on Sunday. Plummer had two home runs and a triple against Double-A Wichita. The 25-year-old is now hitting .283/.404/.489 this year. Those are not overwhelming numbers, but the 2015 first-round pick had never posted even a .350 slugging percentage before this season.

Matt Kroon, CF, Double-A Reading (Phillies) — Kroon had one of the best days of his young pro career. He went 4-for-5 with two home runs. The Phillies are playing Kroon at five different spots—all three outfield spots as well as first and third.

Nick Gonzales, 2B, High-A Greensboro (Pirates) — Gonzales has heated up for the Grasshoppers. He went 4-for-5 with a home run on Sunday and is now hitting .298/.368/.514 overall, having raised his OPS by 100 points this month.

Michael Massey, 2B, High-A Quad Cities (Royals) — Massey homered twice on Sunday, regaining his power stroke after a minor slump. Massey hit eight home runs in July, but he went homerless for his first 14 games in August. He’s now hit three in his past four games and has 18 overall.

Joey Wiemer, CF, High-A Wisconsin (Brewers) — A promotion to High-A Wisconsin hasn’t slowed Wiemer’s power production one bit. Wiemer went 3-for-5 with his sixth home run in just 12 games since he was promoted. He’s slugging .864 in the High-A Central.

Riley Greene, RF, Triple-A Toledo (Tigers) — Greene has made a quick transition to Triple-A. In his sixth game at the new level, he hit his first Triple-A home run and had his first three-hit game.

Drey Jameson, RHP, Double-A Amarillo (D-Backs) — Jameson has made four starts with Double-A Amarillo. He’s averaging 10 strikeouts per appearance. His Sunday start was just routine by that standard—he allowed one run in seven innings while striking out 10.

Tony Locey, RHP, Low-A Fresno (Rockies) — One of the players the Rockies acquired in the Nolan Arenado trade, Locey spent the first half of the season pitching as a reliever. Now he’s starting and he authored his best appearance of the season on Sunday, holding Low-A Visalia to one hit in seven innings. He gave up two walks and two unearned runs and struck out 10.

Cade Cavalli, RHP, Double-A Harrisburg (Nationals) — Cavalli didn’t allow an earned run for the fourth time in his past six starts. He held Double-A Akron to one hit in five innings while striking out four.

Saturday’s Stars

St. Paul RHP Joe Ryan (Twins) made his first start since he was acquired from the Rays (with a trip to the Olympics sandwiched in between). Ryan made an impressive first impression, allowing one hit (a Nick Martini home run) while striking out nine . . . Charleston LHP Ian Seymour (Rays) held Columbia to one hit while striking out 10 in five scoreless innings. He’s now allowed only six hits in 15 innings this month with a 28-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio . . . Low-A Myrtle Beach LHP D.J. Herz (Cubs) struck out 10 of the 15 batters he faced. He allowed one run in four innings . . . Double-A Montgomery RHP Jayden Murray‘s (Rays) excellent August continued. He allowed only one run (on a Wendell Rijo home run) in six innings. Murray has not allowed a walk at all this month, posting a 28-to-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. All three runs he has allowed this month came on solo home runs . . . High-A Salem 2B Nick Yorke (Red Sox) went 3-for-6 with two home runs . . . Just promoted from Low-A to High-A Winston-Salem, SS Jose Rodriguez has settled in nicely. He went 5-for-8 with a home run in a doubleheader . . . 

Friday’s Stars

Sugar Land OF Ronnie Dawson (Astros) doubled and homered as part of a 3-for-5 day with 3 RBIs . . . Beloit OF Connor Scott (Marlins) homered twice. Scott, the Marlins’ 2018 first-round pick, had only one home run in May and one in June, so his four-home run month is a big improvement . . . Right after he was demoted from Baltimore, Norfolk OF Ryan McKenna homered twice on Friday . . .Frisco 1B/DH Sam Huff (Rangers) hit two home runs . . . It’s been a very rough year for C Patrick Bailey (Giants). He started the year at High-A Eugene, but didn’t hit. After he spent some time on the injured list, the Giants decided to send him to Low-A San Jose instead. Bailey went 3-for-5 with two home runs on Friday. It was his first home run since July 17 . . . High-A Dayton RHP Eduardo Salazar (Reds) threw seven scoreless innings against Lake County. He struck out 10 and allowed only three hits and a walk.