Tacoma Rainiers
The Rainiers dropped the series 4-2 this week, unfortunately unable to land the knockout punch in several close games this series. They stand at 16-17 on the season, good for fourth in their division.
The Colt report this week is a tough one, unfortunately. Three walks, three hits, ten punchouts. He did hit a homer and a triple, but there’s not nearly enough production outside of that to spin this week positively. Hopefully a quick bounce back is inbound.
With the major league bullpen in rough shape right now, there’s a few names in Tacoma that might end up becoming pertinent in the coming weeks. Robinson Ortiz, a lefty, has decent stuff, but walks a lot of people. Domingo Gonzalez is kind of the opposite, with lesser raw stuff but much better command. Yosver Zulueta, probably the best of the three, has major velocity on his sinker and big league experience in the past. All three are already on the 40 man roster and could be options should the big leagues come calling.
Arkansas Travelers
The Travs are hot right now! Securing a 5-1 series win over Wichita, the Travs have dug themselves out of the basement and now find themselves with a 15-12 record, a mark good for 3rd in their division. The offense has really picked things up as of late, and the stars they’ve needed desperately all season are beginning to look like their usual selves. It’s been a treat to watch.
Kade Anderson continues to dazzle, working another 5.2 innings of shutout ball in a Wichita stadium that’s one of the least pitcher-friendly in the Texas League. Allowing just four hits and no walks, Anderson struck out eight batters in Friday night’s contest, pushing his season total to 38 across just 24.1 innings. Whether the M’s see merit in sending him to Triple-A or not seems like the final frontier in his development track; it’s not something they typically do with their premium starting pitching prospects, but Double-A is posing little challenge to Anderson at present and may ultimately force the M’s to make him an exception. Still just 21 years old, here’s where he stands amongst other Texas League arms thus far:
ERA: 0.37 (1st)
K: 38 (1st)
BB: 4 (2nd)
WHIP: 0.70 (2nd)
BAA: .157 (2nd)
Not too bad for your first taste of professional baseball.
I encourage you to check out the article we put out about Lazaro Montes this past weekend. Since then, he managed yet another homer and raised his season OPS to .928. He’s hotter than the sun right now.
Laz wasn’t the only hitter seeing the ball well this week; Caleb Cali lit up Wichita pitching all week and is thrilled to get out of the cavernous confines of Dickey-Stephens Park. With roughly a 50/50 split between home and away thus far, Cali lays claim to a paltry OPS of .405 inside of DSP. The half that came on the road? An OPS north of 1.000. Cali has one of the starkest discrepancies of Home/Away splits I can remember seeing and should be someone to monitor; there’s a chance he gets a call up to Tacoma and is finally able to unleash the major pop he’s got with some consistency.
Everett AquaSox
The Frogs lost this week’s slate 4-2, squandering some late leads and missing plenty of opportunities to take a convincing series win. The bullpen, usually a strong suit, was shaky this week, and the uptick in offense wasn’t enough to offset the lack of pitching.
¡El Fénix está en fuego! Felnin Celesten continues to light it up at the plate and looks like the player we saw dominate the Complex League just a few years ago, spraying the ball with authority all over the ballpark. The young shortstop is slashing .457/.556/.600 over the past two weeks and has upped his stolen base count to six on the young season. Celesten has all the talent in the world and could easily be one of the best prospects in this system if he’s playing to his fullest potential. The whiffs are down, the walks are up, and he’s hitting the ball hard with consistency. It’s been a fantastic few weeks of watching him play.
Brock Moore continues to overpower Hi-A hitters. He logged three more innings this week, punching out four and walking one. He currently sits at 24 K’s through 11.1 IP this season and has just two walks, a truly unfathomable mark if you were to look at his walk totals from just a season ago. Get this man to Arkansas ASAP.
Shoutout to Brandon Eike. He was having a brutal go of things at the plate to start the season, but he’s started to really heat up as of late. He’s pushed his OPS just north of .900 and has launched five homers in his past seven contests. The K% is still untenable and will need to come down before a trip to Arkansas is on the table, but the progress has been great to see nonetheless.
Inland Empire 66ers
IE lost yet another series this week, dropping to 10-16 on the year. The pitching has had a tough time keeping games close, and though the offense is starting to pick up a bit, it hasn’t been enough to secure many wins. This team is going to benefit greatly from the draft’s injection of talent.
The Mason Peters agenda continues forward. Similarly to Anderson in Double-A, Peters has arguably been the best pitcher in the California League to start the season:
ERA: 2.25 (2nd)
K: 31 (1st)
BB: 5 (5th)
WHIP: 0.85 (2nd)
BAA: .176 (2nd)
Spinning a gem of a game on Friday night, the southpaw starter logged four innings of shutout ball, surrendering just one hit on the night and punching out six. He’s obviously been off to an incredible start thus far, but with as much room as there is to add strength to his frame, a future velocity spike that elevates his arsenal a tick or two seems more than possible, making him that much more exciting as a prospect to follow over the coming years.
Cesar Quintas is a far less heralded prospect than most names featured on our prospect roundups, but after the week he just had, it’s impossible to keep him off. A 2024 minor league Rule 5 draftee from the Giants system, Quintas played last season with the Nuts and had a good, if unremarkable season at the plate. This year, however, has been a different story. His 15 hits this week brought his season OPS up to .957, comfortably giving him the team lead and breathing new life into a player that lacked pedigree. It’s his third go of A ball, but should he maintain this level of production throughout the year, he’ll have transformed his future and firmly made himself a name to know.
The ACL Mariners have logged just one game so far, but they managed 24 runs on an astounding 21 walks. Nick Becker, Yorger Bautista, and Leandro Romero, arguably the three biggest name prospects on the roster, all were strong contributors in the win and will look to power this potent lineup all season.
