It was another story-driven week on the farm. Prominent relievers earned promotions all around, while top prospects started getting going. A few prominent starters struggled, while others shone. And even better, for the first time all year, nobody had a losing week!
Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders
Record: 26-23, 3.5 GB in the International League East after a 3-3 week against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies)
Run differential: +24
Coming up: Home vs. Worcester Red Sox (Red Sox)
It was a topsy-turvy week for the RailRiders, who
played just about every type of ballgame this week. They blew ‘em out on Tuesday, got blown out on Wednesday, and then split four consecutive one-run games to end the week. It’s the splittiest six-game split that you’ll ever see.
In Scranton, we’ve seen a lot of pop this past week, as guys like Yanquiel Fernandez, Seth Brown, and Ernesto Martinez Jr. traded big swings all week long. Marco Luciano was placed on the injured list midweek, but was replaced by Double-A call-up Tyler Hardman, who’s finally moving up after four years in Somerset. It was a better week for George Lombard Jr. (8-for-27, 7 RBI, 3 XBH), who picked up some big hits along the way as his peripherals continue to look excellent, but he’s still running into bad luck.
Brendan Beck made a pair of starts and allowed five runs in 10.1 innings in an unpleasant week for the rotation. Veterans Adam Kloffenstein and Dom Hamel struggled considerably, but they weren’t alone in bad weeks. Carlos Lagrange continued an up-and-down season by allowing five runs in five innings, while Elmer Rodríguez had a fascinating stat line: 3 IP, 2 H, 5 R (4 ER), 6 BB, 8 K. Not a lot of balls in play, huh.
Yovanny Cruz rode the Scranton Shuffle this week, but the big headline was the return of Eric Reyzelman to the level after a nightmare 2025 season prompted a reset in Somerset. He tossed two shutout innings on Friday, sitting 96 on the fastball while maxing out at 98.1.
Players of Note:
Oswaldo Cabrera: .212/.300/.333, 4 HR, 23 RBI, 11 XBH, 4 SB, 66 wRC+
George Lombard Jr.: .198/.358/.233, 9 RBI, 4 SB, 74 wRC+ (109 PA)
Brendan Beck: 3-2, 4.42 ERA, 4.24 FIP, 1.09 WHIP, 18.5 K-BB% (53 IP)
Carlos Lagrange: 0-2, 4.78 ERA, 4.93 FIP, 1.42 WHIP, 16.8 K-BB% (43.1 IP)
Elmer Rodríguez: 1-3, 2.48 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 1.21 WHIP, 16.5 K-BB% (29 IP)
Double-A Somerset Patriots
Record: 23-22, 1.5 GB in the Eastern League Northeast after a 4-2 week against the Chesapeake BaySox (Orioles)
Run differential: +49
Coming up: Home vs. Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Phillies)
Talk about a comeback. Chesapeake won the first two games of the series by scoring 18 combined runs, but Somerset rallied back to win four straight behind some excellent pitching. They allowed just five total runs in the final 36 innings.
While Hardman’s promotion continued to eat away at a hitting core that’s been among the best in all of Minor League Baseball to start the season, the holdovers continued to rake. Jace Avina has fully shaken off an early slump with an OPS over 1.000 in May, Garrett Martin leads the Eastern League in home runs, and DJ Gladney has re-emerged as a quality contact bat. The depth has really suffered from Lombard, Hardman, and Luciano’s promotions, but they’re still one of the best in the league.
After a rough start to the week, the rotation rounded into shape. Xavier Rivas continued a strong strikeout season (43 in 27.1 IP) with seven in 3.1 innings, Kyle Carr struck out eight in 5.1 shutout innings, and Chase Chaney tossed six scoreless innings. The struggles came with Jack Cebert (3.2 IP, 2 R, 6 K), Cade Smith (1+ IP, 4 R), and Trent Sellers (4 IP, 3 R).
Reyzelman’s promotion led to Chris Veach getting his turn in Double-A after a terrific start to the season. The only rough spot of the week for the bullpen came with Ben Grable’s blown save on Tuesday, but he rebounded with 1.2 scoreless innings on Friday. Will Brian and Chris Kean got back on the saddle after rough weeks last week as well.
Players of Note:
Jace Avina: .259/.340/.548, 12 HR, 32 RBI, 24 XBH, 133 wRC+
Garrett Martin: .266/.326/.572, 15 HR, 39 RBI, 8 SB, 133 wRC+
Coby Morales: .264/.341/.485, 9 HR, 37 RBI, 11 SB, 119 wRC+
Hayden Merda: 0-0, 2.29 ERA, 2.00 FIP, 1.12 WHIP, 32.9 K-BB% (19.2 IP)
Jack Cebert (HV/Somerset): 4-1, 2.61 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 0.92 WHIP, 21.9 K-BB% (38 IP)
High-A Hudson Valley Renegades
Record: 21-23, 8 GB in the South Atlantic League North after a 3-3 week against the Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets)
Run differential: +11
Coming up: Home vs. Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays)
Hudson Valley’s inconsistent offense continues to struggle, being shut out twice. They put up seven runs in all three of their wins, including both in the Thursday doubleheader, but had nothing for the three losses.
Eric Genther finally got his power stroke going, blasting a big grand slam in a big bounce-back week. Outside of him and Josue Gonzalez continuing to be a revelation offensively, there’s not a whole lot of standouts, with Kaeden Kent’s strong start slowly tapering off. The son of a Hall of Famer is still hitting almost .300 with strong plate discipline metrics, but he seems to still need a bit more time at the level.
Bryce Cunningham got back on track on Tuesday to start the week, allowing one run in 4.2 innings as he continued to build up. Luis Serna pitched into the sixth but allowed five runs, and both Franyer Herrera and Sean Paul Liñan had uneven starts, but the two stars this week were Rory Fox and Allen Facundo.
Fox tossed the best start of his brief pro career, bouncing back after a rough first few starts by tossing a seven-inning complete game shutout with eight strikeouts. Facundo, on the other hand, tossed five innings and allowed three runs, but made up for it with a staggering 13 strikeouts, marking a new career high.
Veach’s terrific start to the season got rewarded with a promotion, so he left behind the likes of Tony Rossi and Jack Sokol, who continue to pitch well. Returning from rehab to bolster said pen is Bryce Warrecker, who was terrific at this level last season and tossed nine shutout innings in his rehab assignment in Tampa before being activated early last week.
Players of Note:
Kaeden Kent: .298/.368/.421, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 13 XBH, 13 SB, 111 wRC+
Core Jackson: .248/.354/.376, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 11 SB, 98 wRC+
Luis Serna: 2-1, 2.79 ERA, 2.76 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, 21.7 K-BB% (38.2 IP)
Bryce Cunningham: 13.1 IP, 7 H, 8 ER, 10 BB, 19 K
Sean Paul Liñan: 1-5, 4.18 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 1.14 WHIP, 25.7 K-BB% (32.1 IP)
Single-A Tampa Tarpons
Record: 22-23, 4 GB in the Florida State League West after a 3-3 week against the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies)
Run differential: -20
Coming up: Away @ Daytona Beach Tortugas (Reds)
After a Tuesday postponement and getting swept on Wednesday in a doubleheader, the Tarpons picked themselves up to win three of the last four games of the series in an overall solid week.
Jackson Lovich (7-for-20, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 2 BB) continued to be one of the hottest hitters on the planet, spearheading an offense that continues to improve with a three-homer game on Tuesday. Hans Montero has also been fantastic at the plate, blasting three bombs of his own. The 22-year-old should get a call-up sooner rather than later. Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek’s strong month, coupled with the juice that some FCL call-ups have given them in the last few weeks, has made this a sneakily exciting offense with the potential for more in the coming month or two.
It wasn’t a pleasant start to the week for the rotation, as the rehabbing Chase Hampton (3 IP, 3 R) scuffled, Justin West allowed four runs in a gritty six innings, and Mac Heuer continued to falter with his command, but things rebounded later in the week with a terrific start by Henry Lalane (more on him later) and Tyler Boudreau (5.1 IP, 0 R, 5 K).
The bullpen has seen better weeks. Saturday was an absolute catastrophe, as they wasted Lalane’s brilliant start with a six-run blowup in the ninth off the team’s best reliever, Pedro Rodriguez. The strongest weeks came from the likes of Brennan Stuprich, Greyson Carter, and Jose M. Rodriguez.
Players of Note:
Jackson Lovich: .302/.384/.633, 11 HR, 32 RBI, 22 XBH, 11 SB, 164 wRC+
Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek: .262/.373/.383, 4 HR, 17 RBI, 15 SB, 113 wRC+
Hans Montero: .278/.399/.549, 6 HR, 26 RBI, 19 XBH, 12 SB, 151 wRC+
Tyler Boudreau: 0-1, 2.94 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 22.2 K-BB% (33.2 IP)
Henry Lalane: 0-1, 4.97 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 1.54 WHIP, 13.0 K-BB% (25.1 IP)
FCL Yankees
Record: 9-8, 5 GB in the FCL North after a 3-2 week.
Run differential: +21
The story of the rookie ball Yanks has been their offense. Wilberson De Pena has been absolutely unreal to start this season, which makes Oswald Peraza’s hot start to 2026 a bit easier to stomach with the Yankees’ infield woes. He had seven RBI on Saturday and should be in Single-A in the next several weeks. One thing to watch with the offense is that Jose Castro, who started on fire through five games, hasn’t played in 10 days.
On the pitching side, Omar Gonzalez continued to be exceptional as he pushes for a full-season promotion, while Sabier Marte continues to struggle. We didn’t see any of Thatcher Hurd this week, but considering he’s getting promoted to Tampa today, that’s not a cause for concern.
Their path to the postseason would go through the FCL Blue Jays, whom they blew a lead to on Sunday afternoon. It would also help if they could take care of business against the other two struggling teams in the division more often.
Players of Note:
Wilberson De Pena: .379/.438/.727, 5 HR, 25 RBI, 12 XBH, 9 SB, 187 wRC+ (73 PA)
Jose Castro: .345/.568/.621, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 10 SB, 199 wRC+ (44 PA)
Richard Matic: .333/.481/.460, 6 XBH, 8 RBI, 7 SB, 132 wRC+ (81 PA)
Thatcher Hurd: 11.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 12 K
Omar Gonzalez: 16 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 21 K
Prospect of the Week: Henry Lalane
Weekly Stats: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 15 whiffs
Season Stats: 0-1, 4.97 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 1.54 WHIP, 13.0 K-BB% (25.1 IP)
It has not been a fun season, let alone three for Lalane, whose prospect stock has been steadily declining since his terrific two seasons in the Dominican Summer League. Injuries have limited him to just 53.1 combined innings from 2023-25, where he’s struggled to generate whiffs and put the ball in the strike zone, aside from a 21-inning sample back in 2023.
To start 2026, he allowed four runs in seven innings across two starts before briefly going on the injured list. Upon returning on April 26th, he’s had his moments, but he’s allowed some hard contact along the way, culminating in allowing nine hits in 4.2 innings last week against Dunedin.
This week, he did something he hasn’t done since July 2022 down in the D.R., and that’s pitching into the sixth inning. He managed his pitch count, racked up a career-high eight strikeouts, and shut down the Clearwater offense for 5.1 innings. His bullpen ultimately ruined his outing, but it was extremely encouraging.
What might’ve been more encouraging was the pitch data. He had an even four-pitch mix between his fastball, changeup, slider, and sinker. 14 of his 15 whiffs came on 34 combined pitches between his changeup and slider, as he kept opposing hitters off balance with his four-seamer, which had more life on it than we’ve seen in years. He sat 94 on it and finished off the fifth by touching 97 on the radar gun, showing the tantalizing velocity he displayed earlier in his pro career.
