Welcome to the eighth installment of our Weekly Hot Prospects Report ranking the top minor-league performances from the week of June 5th through 11th:
1. Luis Matos, OF, Giants (Triple-A Sacramento)
Matos just keeps getting hotter, belting 5 homers with 2 steals last week, up to 1.094 OPS in 23 games since promotion from Double-A Richmond, where he had an .841 OPS. The 21-year-old was 11-for-28 with 9 RBIs last week, striking out just twice with two walks. Matos is putting last season’s debacle (.619 OPS in High-A) in the rear-view mirror, hitting for power this year (9 homers) while racking up steals (15) with more walks (24) than strikeouts (20). Already a premium defender, Matos is poised to get the call soon to San Francisco, where the question will be how much power can he get to.
2. Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B/3B, Reds (Triple-A Louisville)
CES seems to be perpetually on the verge of a call-up to Cincinnati and he’s trying to break the door down with another big performance last week – 10-for-19 (.526) with 3 homers and a 1.745 OPS. The 23-year-old is up to a 1.161 OPS with 17 homers in 42 games. The adjustment he’s made that should get him the call any day now is that he’s greatly improved his plate discipline, going from 3 walks and 36 strikeouts in his first 28 games to 16 walks and 8 strikeouts in 14 games since.
3. Clayton Beeter, SP, Yankees (Double-A Somerset)
Beeter began last week with 11 strikeouts in 6 scoreless innings on Tuesday, then tossed 5 more shutout innings with 6 Ks on Sunday. In total, Beeter had 17 strikeouts to 4 walks in those 11 innings. The 24-year-old has lowered his ERA to 2.13 from 3.48 with 21 1/3 scoreless innings over his last 4 starts. Beeter could find himself in New York soon with the Yankees’ rotation severely hindered by injuries.
4. Jud Fabian, OF, Orioles (High-A Aberdeen)
Fabian collected 6 hits over the weekend to finish the week with a triple-slash of .579/.640/1.211 with 3 homers and 2 steals. The 22-year-old raised his OPS to .918 with 9 homers and 18 steals on the season. The 67th overall selection in last year’s draft out of Florida, Fabian looks ready for a promotion to Double-A.
5. Michael Busch, 2B/3B, Dodgers (Triple-A Oklahoma City)
Busch went 13-for-26 (.500) with 3 homers and 11 RBIs last week. The 25-year-old had just 3 homers in 37 games before last week’s binge raised his season line to a triple-slash of .310/.427/.518. Busch had a small 7-game taste of the majors earlier this season and should be back in L.A. before long.
6. Connor Phillips, SP, Reds (Double-A Chattanooga)
Phillips just keeps on racking up strikeouts, adding 10 more in 7 scoreless innings on Wednesday while allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk. The 22-year-old has 89 Ks in 52 innings with a 3.63 ERA but a 1.35 WHIP. Phillips has just 2 walks in 2 starts in June after 21 free passes over his first 9 starts, so he could push his way to Cincinnati this summer if he keeps it up.
7. Griff McGarry, SP, Phillies (Double-A Reading)
McGarry tossed 5 hitless innings with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks on Saturday. The 24-year-old has a 3.57 ERA with a 22-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 17 2/3 innings over 5 starts for Reading. McGarry has an elite fastball to go with 3 other plus pitches, so if he can keep his walks under control then he’ll be an option in Philadelphia in either the rotation or bullpen when a need arises.
8. Drew Thorpe, SP, Yankees (High-A Hudson Valley)
Thorpe posted 12 strikeouts in 7 scoreless innings with no walks and 5 hits allowed on Sunday. The 22-year-old has 19 Ks in 15 shutout innings in June to lower his season ERA from 3.92 to 2.91. The 61st pick in last year’s draft out of Cal Poly, Thorpe should find himself pitching for Double-A Somerset any day now.
9. Cade Horton, SP, Cubs (High-A South Bend)
Horton dazzled with 10 Ks and no walks in 5 scoreless innings on Wednesday, allowing just 2 hits. The 21-year-old earned an early-season promotion from Low-A with a 1.26 ERA over 4 starts before struggling to a 10.80 ERA over his first 2 starts for South Bend. The 7th overall selection in last year’s draft out of Oklahoma, Horton has a 1.38 ERA with 27 strikeouts to 2 walks over his last 3 starts.
10. Davis Schneider, 2B/OF, Blue Jays (Triple-A Buffalo)
Schneider stuffed the stat sheet last week by going 9-for-18 (.500) with 2 doubles, 3 homers, 8 RBIs, 7 walks and a steal. Just a 28th-round pick out of a New Jersey high school in 2017, Schneider began to break out last year by combining for 16 homers and 17 steals over 3 levels. The 24-year-old is up to a triple-slash of .273/.395/.603 with 14 homers and 5 steals this season, so he debuted in our latest weekly-updated RotoProspects Top 500 Rankings.
Honorable Mentions
11. Edwin Arroyo, SS, Reds (High-A Dayton): 10-for-24 (.417), 6 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBIs, 1 BB, 8 SO, 2 SB, .440 OBP, .833 SLG, 1.273 OPS
12. Marco Luciano, SS, Giants (Double-A Richmond): 7-for-20 (.350), 4 R, 1 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBIs, 5 BB, 3 SO, 2 SB, .480 OBP, .850 SLG, 1.330 OPS
13. Alex Pham, SP, Orioles (High-A Aberdeen): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 SO, 0.40 WHIP
14. Jacob Misiorowski, SP, Brewers (High-A Wisconsin): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO, 0.38 WHIP
15. Jackson Wolf, SP, Padres (Double-A San Antonio): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 0.33 WHIP
16. Owen White, SP, Rangers (Double-A Frisco): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 7 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 0.43 WHIP
17. A.J. Vukovich, 3B, Diamondbacks (Double-A Amarillo): 10-for-25 (.400), 9 R, 2 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBIs, 3 BB, 5 SO, 1 SB, .464 OBP, .720 SLG, 1.184 OPS
18. Devereaux Harrison, SPRP, Blue Jays (High-A Vancouver): 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO, 0.50 WHIP
19. Yanquiel Fernandez, OF, Rockies (High-A Spokane): 11-for-28 (.393), 8 R, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 13 RBIs, 3 BB, 6 SO, .452 OBP, ..893 SLG, 1.345 OPS
20. Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF, Cubs (Double-A Tennessee): 9-for-26 (.346), 6 R, 1 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 2 BB, 8 SO, 3 SB, .433 OBP, .654 SLG, 1.087 OPS