Baseball America Prospect Report—June 7, 2021, Presented By OOTP 22

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Jake Eder, LHP, Double-A (Marlins) — Speaking of breakouts, if you aren’t paying attention to what Eder is doing, stop whatever you’re doing and take a glance. The Marlins put a flashing “Look At Him” sign on Eder when they sent the 2020 fourth-round pick to Double-A Pensacola to start the season. All he’s done since is be one of the best pitchers in the minors in 2021. Eder threw five perfect innings on Sunday, retiring all 15 batters he faced, eight of them with strikeouts. Eder has worked five innings in five of his six starts. He’s among the best in the minors in ERA (0.61), average against (.115) and strikeouts (50). For more on Eder, check out today’s Prospect Hot Sheet.

Ken Waldichuk, RHP, High-A Hudson Valley (Yankees) — As good as Eder has been, Waldichuk has been the best performing pitcher in minor league baseball so far. The first job of a pitcher is to prevent runs (with help from his fielders). Here’s Waldichuk after six starts: 0.00 ERA. No earned runs. No runs allowed at all. Sunday he allowed three hits and no runs against Wilmington in six innings. He’s now up to a 24.2 inning scoreless streak. For more on Waldichuk also check out the Prospect Hot Sheet.

Kyle Bradish, RHP, Triple-A Norfolk (Orioles) — Today’s Prospect Report is filled with players you should be paying attention to, but may not be yet. Call it Sleeper Day. Bradish is another so-far dominant pitcher who was making a jump. After laying waste to Double-A East hitters, he was promoted to Triple-A Norfolk where he got to face one of the best lineups in the minors in the Durham Bulls. And Bradish handled it. He walked four batters in five innings and also allowed four hits, but he allowed no runs and struck out eight. Bradish is showing that if you have four quality MLB pitches, you can have a whole lot of success.

Luis Severino, RHP, Yankees — He’s no longer a prospect, but it is worth knowing that Luis Severino threw two innings for Low A Tampa on Sunday. Severino allowed two hits and one run while throwing 34 pitches in 2.2 innings of work. He averaged 97 mph with his fastball and topped 98 mph five times.

Edward Cabrera, RHP, Marlins — Speaking of rehabbing big leaguers, Cabrera also made a rehab appearance in the Low-A Southeast league on Sunday. Cabrera allowed two hits but no runs in three scoreless innings. He averaged 97 mph with his fastball and touched 98 twice.

Evan Carter, CF, Low-A Down East (Rangers) — Carter turned in a pretty normal day for himself on Sunday, which is what makes it kind of fascinating. He went 1-for-4 with his second home run of the season, but he also drew two walks. (He also was thrown out stealing and committed his first error of the year). His two walks means that Carter has now walked 26 times in 26 games. He’s also struck out 26 times. So Carter is now hitting .213/.403/.360, showing an excellent ability to get on base, even if he isn’t ranking among the league’s batting leaders.

Joe Gray, RF, Low-A Carolina (Brewers) — Gray hit his Low-A East leading 10th home run and also doubled (his 8th double of the season). Gray has taken some time to get to full season ball—he was a 2018 second-round pick. But now that he’s here, he’s doing damage. He’s hitting .299/.377/.692.

Cade Cavalli, RHP, High-A Wilmington (Nationals) — Cavalli struck out 11 of the 25 batters he faced on Sunday. In six innings he allowed five hits and three runs. All the runs came on a Kyle McDonald home run. Cavalli has now reached double-digit strikeouts in three of his last four starts.

Francisco Alvarez, DH, High-A Brooklyn (Mets) — Alvarez had gotten off to a slow start after he was promoted to High-A Brooklyn, but he broke out on Sunday. Alvarez went 3-for-4 with two doubles, 4 RBIs and a walk. He’s now hitting .354/.486/.585 between his two stops this year.

Brett Baty, 3B, High-A Brooklyn (Mets) — Alvarez is not the only young Mets prospect breaking out. Baty hit his fourth home run of the season, and is now hitting .369/.476/.595.

Adley Rutschman, 1B, Double-A Bowie (Orioles) — Remember when some worried about Rutschman’s start? He actually was always drawing walks and hitting the ball hard, but now his stats have caught up as well. Rutschman hit his eighth home run of the season, his fifth double and drew his 25th and 26th walks of the season. Rutschman now is hitting .293/.450/.586.

Javier Guevara, C, Double-A Hartford (Rockies) — Guevara isn’t a top 100 prospect, but it’s worth honoring what he did on Sunday in a wild Hartford-Bowie game. Guevara didn’t enter the game until the fifth inning, when he hit a pinch hit home run. He stayed in the game at catcher, and then hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to give Hartford a 13-11 win.

Austin Martin, SS, Double-A New Hampshire (Blue Jays) — Martin hit his second home run of the season for Double-A New Hampshire. He hadn't hit a home run in the first month of the season, but he's starting to show his power.

Carmen Mlodzinski, RHP, High-A Greensboro (Pirates) — By Mlodzinski’s standards, this was a poor outing. Twice in his first three starts, he left the game having not allowed a hit. On Sunday he gave up four. But once again, he gave up no runs, this time in five innings as he lowered his ERA to 0.55. Opponents are hitting .127 against him this year.

Andre Lipcius, 2B, Double-A Erie (Tigers) — Just promoted from High-A, Lipcius celebrated with a monster Double-A game. He hit his first Double-A double and home run, going 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs.

Brayan Bello, RHP, High-A Greenville (Red Sox) — Bello has been extremely consistent so far this year. Boston's No. 20 prospect allowed one run in 5.1 innings on four hits and no walks. He struck out nine. Bello has allowed one run in four of his six starts.

Gavin Sheets, 1B, Triple-A Charlotte (White Sox) — Sheets actually reached the majors for the first time this week, but he was sent back to Triple-A Charlotte without actually getting into a game. He didn’t take long to get re-acclimated. In his second game back, he went 2-for-3 with his fifth home run of the season.

Ethan Small, RHP, Double-A Biloxi (Brewers) — Time after time, Small keeps stringing together great outings. Small held Montgomery to two hits in 5.2 scoreless innings, just five days after he held Montgomery to one hit in 5 scoreless innings.

Matt Frisbee, RHP, Triple-A Reno (Giants) — Frisbee’s excellent five starts with Double-A Richmond were rewarded with a debut Triple-A start in . . . Reno. Reno is no fun for any pitcher, so it’s understandable that Fribsee gave up as many runs in one start (5) as he had in his five Double-A starts. Frisbee gave up seven hits in five innings with one walk and six strikeouts. In many parks, that would have been a rough outing. In Reno, it means he gets a win in his Triple-A debut.

Diego Cartaya, C, Low-A Rancho Cucamonga (Dodgers) — We’re watching a predictable breakout in Rancho Cucamonga. The Dodgers No. 6 prospect had his first professional two-homer game on Sunday. Cartaya has been in Rancho for eight games. He has five home runs, which puts him in a tie for third in the league. He is now hitting .419/.486/1.000.

Jordy Barley, 2B, Low-A Lake Elsinore (Padres) — Speaking of Low-A West home run leaders, Barley is tied with Cartaya for the third most in the league because he also hit his fifth home run of the season. But in Barley’s case, it came in his 28th game, 20 more than Cartaya.

Jesse Franklin V, RF, High-A Rome (Braves) — The Braves’ 2020 third-round pick out of Michigan is starting to heat up at High-A Rome. Franklin hit two home runs on Sunday and has hit all three of his pro home runs in the past week.

Michael Toglia, 1B, High-A Spokane (Rockies) — It was a great day for two home run games. There were 13 different minor leaguers who hit two home runs on Sunday including Toglia. The Rockies' 2019 first round pick is hitting only .187 this year with 40 strikeouts in 129 plate appearances. But he does have eight home runs.

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