Beck's Minor League Threecap: 6/29/2024

Hello! Welcome back to the Threecap for the final edition of the month. Tomorrow I’ll be foregoing the bulk of the daily article to start preparation of the Prospect Team of the Month that’ll go live on Monday, which I’m really pumped about (don’t worry, you’ll still get a table and viewing guide, maybe a write-up if I’m feeling frisky). The minor league season is already over halfway complete and prospect lists are getting a facelift in the very near future with new draftees and a number of graduations. In short, there’s a lot to be excited about. Let’s jump in!

Melton in This Heat.

Maybe you’ve been looking at the surface stats for Jacob Melton (HOU) and not really understanding what all the hubbub is about. He’s regularly a top 100 fantasy prospect and yet hasn’t necessarily dominated over the last year and a half despite hailing from a pretty good Oregon State team in the Pac-12. He’s coveted largely because he contributes in ways that are directly translatable to fantasy, namely power and speed. He launched 23 home runs and stole 46 bases in 99 games split between Asheville and Corpus Christi last year (though 86 of those were with the former, which is a very friendly place to hit). He’s on pace for a more muted output this year with Corpus Christi, but that’s not entirely unexpected. His seven home runs and 13 bags would translate to 23 and 43, respectively, over 600 plate appearances. Corpus Christi isn’t a walk in the park to hit at, so while he’s currently running a .253/.313/.457 line, it’s not the end of the world. He was 2-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs on Friday and he just unloaded on his eighth home run of the year as I’m writing this.

I’ve written a fair bit about big guys with big levers (pause) like Eric Bitonti, Spencer Jones, and James Wood, and George Wolkow (CHW) is in the same frame discussion. He’s 6-foot-7, 239-pounds, and can really do damage when he gets hold of one. The problem thus far has been that he’s not getting the bat on the ball nearly as often as he needs, which isn’t entirely unexpected. Wolkow reclassified to the 2023 draft after graduating high school early, making him one of the youngest preps in the class and therefore extremely young for every level he’s participated at, obviously compounding the difficulties that come with having such a large strike zone. The ceiling is exorbitantly high – he’s carrying an .898 OPS with seven home runs as an 18-year-old currently playing Single-A ball and is doing so with a 43.2% strikeout rate on the year – but the question is whether he’ll make enough contact to get to it.

A Little Barco, A Lot of Bite.

Logan Henderson (MIL) has a bit of that Drew Thorpe in him (superlative). His changeup has proven devastating even against Double-A competition, and I would venture to say his fastball and slider are as good or better than those of Thorpe. Henderson has seen a rather significant uptick in fastball velocity this year, averaging in the mid-to-low 90’s instead of the 90-91 mph he did last year. His improved repertoire has him sitting with a 1.36 ERA and 39.8% strikeout rate through 33.0 innings, 21.2 of which have come with Biloxi. He went 5.2 innings, allowed two runs, and struck out 10 on Friday. He didn’t make my last iteration of the top 100 but he will be on the next.

Pittsburgh is turning itself into a pitching factory and Hunter Barco (PIT) is starting to make a name for himself in it. He threw just 18.1 innings split between the Florida Complex and Single-A last year as he was returning from Tommy John surgery. He’d been excellent at Florida for the entirety of his collegiate tenure, throwing 152.2 innings primarily as a starter, striking out 29.1% of batters, and ultimately finishing his career with a 3.18 ERA. His lefty delivery is pretty hard to pick up from a three-quarters slot, and I really like that he employs more than one fastball. He’s got a two-seamer with arm-side sink and a four-seamer that is naturally more straight and they occupy the same velocity band, which helps neutralize batters of both handedness and generally keep them on their toes. He rounds out his arsenal with a slider and a changeup for a really robust array of offerings. He went 5.0 near-perfect innings on Friday, striking out nine and allowing just one baserunner by way of a walk. He’s firmly planted on my watch list. 

Cool Springs. 

I don’t know about you but when I look at this table I notice two things right away: (1) that Yoniel Curet was the only arm with zero earned runs on his ledger and (2) Logan Henderson struck out ten. Magnificent stuff out of those two, while Charlee Soto continues to struggle in with Single-A Fort Myers and Winston Santos got a warm welcome to Double-A. It’s nice to see Jeffrey Springs rehabbing, too.

Here’s Sunday’s viewing guide with my recommendations italicized as usual:

• Samuel Aldegheri (2.75 ERA) for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) at 1:05 ET

• Will Warren (6.53 ERA) for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (NYY) at 1:05 ET

• Carson Palmquist (3.68 ERA) for the Hartford Yard Goats (COL) at 1:10 ET

• Santiago Suarez (4.50 ERA) for the Charleston RiverDogs (TBR) at 1:35 ET

• Cade Kuehler (0.00 ERA) for the Rome Emperors (ATL) at 2:00 ET

• Caden Dana (2.39 ERA) for the Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA) at 2:15 ET

• Ben Kudrna (3.47 ERA) for the Quad Cities River Bandits (KCR) at 3:05 ET

• Yilber Diaz (3.60 ERA) for the Reno Aces (ARI) at 4:05 ET

• Ky Bush (2.14 ERA) for the Birmingham Barons (CHW) at 5:00 ET

• Jacob Misiorowski (3.44 ERA) for the Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) at 6:05 ET

• Emiliano Teodo (2.06 ERA) for the Frisco RoughRiders (TEX) at 7:05 ET