Alex McCoy OF/DH/1B won April Player of the Month for the Fort Wayne TinCaps. In 22 games, he hit .354/.386/.683 with 10 doubles and five home runs. For the season, McCoy has a .284/.344/.885 line with 15 RBI. His vital stats state he is 6-5 and 260, but in a recent interview with MadFriars.com, McCoy gave his updated size as 6-6 and 277. He stated he spent the offseason getting a little bigger and working on his swing to improve his swing-and-miss.
Reliever Logan Gillaspie won Pitcher of the Week
for the El Paso Chihuahuas in the Pacific Coast League. In 5.1 innings pitched, Gillaspie allowed no hits, no runs with one walk and three strikeouts. For the season, he has a 4.44 ERA in 24.1 innings pitched with 25 strikeouts. Like many of the El Paso pitchers, the beginning of the season was not kind to Gillaspie.
Lake Elsinore lost its series against Inland Empire 2-4 but remained atop the California League South division with a 19-14 record. Starter Tyler Schmitt won California League Pitcher of the Week with six innings pitched with no earned runs, five strikeouts and one hit in his latest start. Fort Wayne went 4-2 for the week, San Antonio had a 4-2 record and El Paso copied with their own 4-2 record.
El Paso Chihuahuas (19-20 record, 3rd in Pacific Coast League East)
IF/OF Samad Taylor continues his hot tear through Triple-A, hitting .331/.403/.978 with seven homers and 22 RBI. He plays all three outfield spots, has played second base and can DH. Infielder Pablo Reyes has a .439 OBP with 20 walks and a .320 average. OF Jase Bowen has a .948 OPS with 10 home runs and 21 RBI. He is excellent defensively, runs well and has power. The only thing holding him back from a job with a major league team is his 40 strikeouts in 130 at-bats.
RHP Evan Fitterer has a 2.63 ERA in 27.1 innings pitched and seven starts. He has 24 strikeouts and 14 walks. LHP Jackson Wolf works with a low 90’s fastball but has a lot of extension with his 6-7 frame. He has 32 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched with five starts and 10 appearances overall.
Reliever Ethan Routzahn has a 3.00 ERA in 15 games and 18 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts. Reliever Alek Jacob, who has 17.2 innings pitched for El Paso, has 18 strikeouts and two saves.
San Antonio Missions (11-22 record, last in the Texas League South)
IF Carson Tucker continues to impress in his first season back in affiliated baseball after resetting in the Pioneer League. He has a .352 average with nine doubles, a triple and six RBI in 22 games. 1B/DH Leandro Cedeño leads in just about every other offensive category. His average sits at .325 with a .435 OBP and 1.006 OPS. He has four homers and 12 RBI. Catcher Ethan Salas continues his impressive 2026 season with five homers, seven doubles and 18 RBI with eight stolen bases.
RHP Eric Yost has a 3.21 ERA over four starts and seven games total and 28 innings pitched with 33 strikeouts. He has a mid-90’s fastball but it is the curve/slider/sweeper combo that gives him his swing and miss ability. Reliever Francis Peña had a difficult second half in 2025 and started off with the same issues this season. Struggling to command his sinker/slider combo, he fell down the prospect ranks at the end of last season. In nine games and 13 innings pitched, the 25-year-old has a 1.38 ERA with 16 strikeouts but still has too many walks at 14. Reliever Johan Moreno has excelled with a 1.62 ERA in 16.2 innings pitched and 18 strikeouts to six walks.
Fort Wayne TinCaps (16-17 record, 3rd in Midwest League East)
Outfielder Jake Cunningham, 23, signed a minor league contract with the Padres in January before the start of the season. He was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth round of the 2023 draft and released in January. He struggled with injuries and consistency in his two full seasons in the Orioles organization.
Since joining Fort Wayne, Cunningham is hitting .323 and has a .591 slug with six home runs and 18 RBI, all of which lead the TinCaps. He plays all the outfield positions, can DH and has played first base with the Orioles. C/1B Lamar King Jr. has a .409 OBP, leading Fort Wayne, with 19 walks and eight stolen bases in 29 games.
RHP Carson Montgomery, playing his first full season since returning from Tommy John, has started five games and 22 innings pitched with a 1.64ERA and 18 strikeouts to eight walks. LHP Kash Mayfield continues to dominate with a 1.82 ERA in six games started and 24.2 innings pitched. He has 26 strikeouts to 13 walks. Closer Clay Edmondson, 22, was drafted last year in the 14th round and has done nothing but impress since the start of the season. In 12 appearances and 14.1 innings pitched he has a 0.63 ERA with 21 strikeouts and four walks. He has K’d 38.2% of the hitters he has faced with his sidearm/submarine-type delivery.
Lake Elsinore Storm (19-14 record, 1st in California League South)
First baseman Luke Cantwell was drafted in the 20th round of the last draft and has started quickly for the Storm. He is hitting .352/.477/.493 with seven doubles, a homer and 17 RBI. He leads the team in average and on base with shortstop Justin DeCriscio leading in slug with .544 (three homers and 18 RBI). Centerfielder Ryan Wideman spent the offseason re-working his swing and has broken out this early part of the season. He is hitting .328/.420/.541 with nine doubles, four triples, three homers and 26 RBI. He has stolen 27/31 bases. That is the best stolen base number in all of baseball, not just the minor leagues. He was a legitimate four-tool player when drafted with only a question about his contact ability due to the big swing he had when drafted. He seems to be answering that question quickly.
RHP Winyer Chourio, 22, an international sign out of Venezuela, has a 2.14 ERA in six games/five games started with 21 innings pitched and 32 strikeouts to 12 walks. That gives him a 13.71 K/9 while allowing no home runs. LHP Javier Chacon, 23, an international sign from Cuba, has pitched in eight games and 12 innings with a 1.59 ERA and has 24 strikeouts to seven walks. RHP Ethan Long has three saves and a 1.35 ERA in six games and 6.2 innings pitched.
LHP Kruz Schoolcraft had a miserable start to his Storm career but has worked his way back to a respectable start on May 8. He went four innings while allowing three hits and no earned runs with two strikeouts and two walks. He had seven whiffs with his fastball returning to the normal 95-98 mph.
ACL Padres (3-3 record in the ACL West)
Shortstop Yimy Tovar has played in six games with a .316/.381/.632 line with three RBI and three stolen bases. Third baseman Luis De Leon is hitting .313/.421/.500 to begin the season.
RHP Jordan Valenzuela has 4.2 innings pitched with a 3.86 ERA as the best reliever on the team. RHP Erick Batista has started one game with four innings pitched with a 2.25 ERA.
Injury and rehab
Both Ty Adcock (oblique) and Jhony Brito (elbow surgery) have begun their rehab with the ACL Padres. Brito has three innings in his first start with a 3.00 ERA. Adcock has one inning pitched, struck out one and walked none.
Padres prospect Michael Salina, the fourth-round pick in 2025 that required Tommy John surgery before the draft, has begun his rehab in Arizona with the ACL Padres. He made one start for 0.2 innings with two strikeouts but allowed two runs and a walk.
