Beck's Minor League Threecap: 6/19/2024

Hello, all, and welcome back to the Threecap. I’m writing this while the sun is out for the first time since last week and boy does it feel great. The table is back and we’re writing about all levels of the minors again after just DSL and Complexes yesterday.

Away we go!

What is This? A Security Convention?

Get it? ‘Cause they’re all Guardians? Jhonkensy Noel (CLE) has put together a phenomenal campaign in Triple-A this year and he’s not just out-muscling the competition. His under-the-hood metrics, particularly his swing decisions and overall bat-to-ball, look quite good relative to last year. He’s raised his total contact rate nearly four percentage points to 74.2% and reduced his chase rate year-over-year, and he’s still hitting the seams off the ball. It’s culminated in a .295/.360/.582 slash line and a 21.5% K-rate (24.8% in 2023), and I think it’s reasonable to have him as a top-200 prospect for points formats. He went 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs on Tuesday.

If you know one Guardians prospect, you know them all. Obviously that’s a vast and overreaching generalization (I mean, we just talked about Jhonkensy Noel), but it’s a little true in the case of Angel Martinez (CLE). He’s an above-average defender up the middle, probably at second base but viable at shortstop or third, and doesn’t have exceptional tools but is solid all-around. The Guardians have pushed him through the system rather quickly given both his age (22) and performance (so-so), and he’s finally putting up big numbers this year through 16 games in Triple-A. He went 4-for-4 with two home runs and a double on Tuesday, raising his slash to .333/.427/.500 with Columbus.

I know very little about Estivel Morillo (CLE) besides his signing bonus ($435K), frame (a wiry 6-foot, 155-pounds), and handedness (lefty at the dish, despite what baseball reference would have you believe). He’s been crushing the DSL through his first 10 games, putting up a .270/.438/.487 slash with more walks than strikeouts, and he’s just 16 years old. There’s some good video of him on Twitter getting work in before the year, and while it’s not super important to see the players actually practicing to believe they have a strong work ethic, it’s still encouraging to see. He was 4-for-5 with a double and a triple yesterday.

MacLeod Nine.

Chris posted this video breakdown on Brad Lord (WSH) today and I strongly recommend checking it out. Lord went 7.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts on Tuesday and has thrown up zeroes in the run column in seven of his last 10 outings.

Patrick Reilly (PIT) has struck out nearly a third of all batters faced this year at High-A and I haven’t yet written about him this year, which is kind of impressive. He’s a 22-year-old who went in the fifth round of last summer’s draft out of Vanderbilt. His flaw at present appears to be command/control, but I quite like the repertoire if he can refine his mechanics and throw more strikes. He’s got a solid heater (basically a requirement for me) that sits low-to-mid 90’s, a pair of breaking balls that includes a slider and a curveball, and rounds out his arsenal with a cutter and a changeup. He had his best outing of the year on Tuesday, punching out 10 over 6.0 scoreless innings.

Christian MacLeod (MIN) was a fifth rounder in the 2021 draft but has thrown just 99.0 innings as a professional, and I’m not really sure why. He’s a huge lefty who had success at Mississippi State and is pitching well thus far at High-A. He’s struck out 30 batters over 26.2 innings and currently has a 2.70 ERA, but the flaw is control. He’s walked 15.4% of batsmen so far this year which just won’t cut it in the upper levels, though he has pretty solid stuff overall. He went 6.0 innings of scoreless ball and struck out 10 on Tuesday.

The Book of Jobe. 

It’s a small table and the results weren’t great, but it’s nice to see Jackson Jobe back in action. Ben Casparius has been good this year and I liked him a lot in the AFL. There’s always tomorrow!

The premier matchup tomorrow is definitely between Samuel Aldegheri and Jonah Tong, but it might be worth tuning in to both Brandon Sproat, newly top 100, and Shane Baz. Here’s the viewing guide for Thursday:

• Adam Serwinowski (2.82 ERA) for the Daytona Tortugas (CIN) at 6:30 ET

• Brandon Sproat (1.52 ERA) for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies (NYM) at 6:35 ET

• Yordanny Monegro (6.30 ERA) for the Greenville Drive (BOS) at 7:00 ET

• Samuel Aldegheri (2.67 ERA) for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) at 7:00 ET

• Jonah Tong (4.26 ERA) for the Brooklyn Cyclones (NYM) at 7:00 ET

• Travis Sykora (3.55 ERA) for the Fredericksburg Nationals (WSH) at 7:05 ET

• Yorman Galindez (2.45 ERA) for the Carolina Mudcats (MIL) at 7:05 ET

• Shane Baz (4.60 ERA) for the Durham Bulls (TBR) at 7:35 ET

• Brett Wichrowski (5.40 ERA) for the Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) at 7:35 ET

• Yu-Min Lin (6.26 ERA) for the Amarillo Sod Poodles (ARI) at 8:05 ET

• David Festa (3.50 ERA) for the St. Paul Saints (MIN) at 8:07 ET

• Sean Sullivan (2.42 ERA) for the Spokane Indians (COL) at 8:35 ET