Baseball America Prospect Report – August 31, 2018

Thursday's Stars

Richie Martin, SS, Athletics. Martin's pro career had been a reminder that even first-round picks can work in relative obscurity. He struggled last year in his first exposure to Double-A, but much like his former Florida teammate Buddy Reed, Martin has had more success this year. Martin went 4-for-4 last night with two doubles, a triple and his 24th stolen base of the season. His strong finishing kick (he also had a two-home run game last week) has pushed his overall stats for the year to .295/.365/.429.

Evan White, 1B, Mariners. White has spent most of this season playing well, but not well enough. The 2017 first-round pick out of Kentucky has yet to have a month where he's been overmatched, but first basemen are just expected to have more thump than the athletic lefthanded hitter has shown. He came into this month have failed to reach double digits in extra base hits in any month this season, and he'd hit only four extra base hits (three doubles and one triple) in all of July. But White seems to have taken to heart that first baseman have to hit the ball over outfielders heads to be successful. He went 3-for-5 with three doubles yesterday. It's part of a fast finish to the season—White now has 18 extra-base hits this month with 10 doubles, three triples and five home runs. He had six home runs in the first four months of the season combined.

Austin Riley, 3B, Braves. Riley is having a month much like White where little goes wrong. Riley was 3-for-5 yesterday with a double and his 11th Triple-A home run. Riley is now hitting .295/.345/.590 this month with 10 doubles and seven home runs.

Isaac Paredes, 3B, Tigers. If you rank prospects, you are going to develop regrets. One of mine for this year is that Paredes isn't ranked highly enough on the Tigers' midseason list. He ranked 8th, and at the time of the reporting he was having a solid but unspectacular season statistically for high Class A Lakeland. But he always has been one of the youngest players in any league he's played in, and he's always shown a feel to hit. The Tigers bumped him up to Double-A Erie in mid-July and he responded to the challenge by hitting .330/.416/.460 as the youngest player in the Eastern League. Paredes went 3-for-6 yesterday with a double and a home run.

Bret Boswell, 2B, Rockies. With just a long weekend left in the regular season, most players are understandably ready for the season to wrap up. Boswell is one who would be helped by a month-long extension, as Monday's season-ender will come in the midst of a furious hot streak. The former Texas Longhorn homered twice on Tuesday, then followed it up by going 2-for-3 with his 10th high Class A home run and a pair of walks yesterday. Boswell is hitting .337/.407/.714 this month.

Myles Straw, OF, Astros. The Cubs traded for Terrance Gore to have a potential playoff pinch-running option. The Yankees just signed Quintin Berry to serve a similar purpose. But if the Astros decide they need a speedster for the playoffs, they have a homegrown option. Straw went 3-for-5 yesterday with a triple and his 32nd Triple-A steal. He now has 67 steals overall (in 75 tries) to easily lead the minors. Vidal Brujan is second in the minors, 13 steals behind Straw. With yesterday's steal, Straw now leads the Pacific Coast League in steals. His 35 steals in the Texas League are second-best in the league, trailing only his former teammate Kyle Wren.