Minor League Baseball Top Weekly Performers August 9
Minor League Baseball Weekly Top Performers
With the trade deadline passed, a number of minor league baseball players have now moved on to new organizations. We are now at the point of the season where players are hitting milestone numbers on the season as a player crossed over 30 home runs for the season this week, and a pitcher should achieve 150 strikeouts on the season at some point this week.
Hitter of the Week
An infielder with Central Michigan, the Brewers drafted Zavier Warren in the third round of the 2020 draft and immediately worked him behind the plate. While his bat was still strong, he struggled with the glove as a backstop, leading the Brewers moving him back to third base this season in High-A. He’s struggled to tap into his natural above-average raw power from both sides of the plate this season and he’s really struggled with free-swinging issues. This past week, Warren really looked much more like the guy that the Brewers drafted, a guy who should fill up a stat sheet with line drive power, good on-base ability, and potential excellent third base defense. For the week, Warren hit .480/.552/1.200 with five doubles, two triples, and three home runs, adding a balanced 4/4 BB/K rate. The Brewer will hope he can keep up his strong hitting through the end of the season and work up to Double-A in 2023.
Pitcher of the Week
In college, Jordan Wicks used his double-plus change to rank among the nation’s leaders in strikeouts. The Cubs drafted him in the first round in 2021 and have moved the lefty aggressively in their system, with him reaching Double-A this season. Wicks worked up to consistently sitting low-90s with his fastball after some concern about variability in his velocity readings in his pro debut. His four-seamer has an extra hop in the top of the zone and his two-seamer seems to fall off the bottom of the zone. The breaking stuff is where Wicks has struggled some this year, as he’s pounded the zone with his above-average slider and fringe-average curve, but both pitches have flattened plenty within the zone at times, allowing him to be hit rather hard. Wicks should project as a backend starter fairly well and move quickly, with a debut date mid-2023 not out of the question. This week, he made a pair of starts totalling nine innings pitched, allowing just five hits and two walks without a single run crossing the plate while he mowed down 15 opposing hitters.
Hitters
AAA
Kerry Carpenter, Toledo – .417/.500/.958, 5 R, 2 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 5/4 BB/K, SB
Taylor Motter, Gwinnett – .381/.500/.952, 5 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 5/5 BB/K
Eguy Rosario, El Paso – .565/.593/.957, 9 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2/2 BB/K, SB
AA
Brett Auerbach, Richmond – .450/.522/1.050, 6 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 3/6 BB/K, 2 SB
Yonathan Perlaza, Tennessee – .417/.500/1.125, 6 R, 2 2B, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 3/8 BB/K
High-A
Denzel Clarke, Lansing – .400/.500/1.000, 7 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 4/3 BB/K, 2 SB
Heriberto Hernandez, Bowling Green – .421/.542/1.105, 5 R, 2B, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 5/4 BB/K
Tyler Osik, Winston-Salem – .429/.550/1.059, 4 R, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1/3 BB/K
Zavier Warren, Wisconsin – .480/.552/1.200, 8 R, 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 4/4 BB/K
Single-A
Connor Blair, Augusta – .429/.619/1.214, 8 R, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 7/2 BB/K, SB
Noah Cardenas, Fort Myers – .467/.600/.867, 3 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 5/1 BB/K
Complex Leagues
Miguel Bleis, FCL Red Sox – .529/.579/1.118, 7 R, 3 2B, 2 3B, HR, 6 RBI, 1/0 BB/K, 5 SB
Romy Gonzalez, ACL White Sox – .500/.563/1.143, 4 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 1/2 BB/K
Waner Luciano, DSL Houston Orange – .417/.533/1.000, 4 R, 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 3/2 BB/K
Ronald Pena, DSL Cleveland Red – .400/.500/1.100, 4 R, 2 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 3/3 BB/K
Onil Perez, ACL Giants Black – .455/.500/.818, R, 2 2B, 3B, 5 RBI, 2/3 BB/K, SB
Pitchers
AAA
Andre Jackson, Oklahoma City – 5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
Michael Plassmeyer, Lehigh Valley – 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 K
T.J. Zeuch, Louisville – 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 12 K
AA
Jake Dahlberg, Richmond – 10 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10 K
Kai-Wei Teng, Richmond – 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
Nolan Watson, San Antonio – 11 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 K
Jordan Wicks, Tennessee – 9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 15 K
High-A
Andrew Painter, Jersey Shore – 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
Jose Salvador, Tri-City – 10 2/3 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 12 K
Single-A
Jose Acuna, Daytona – 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K
Dheygler Gimenez, Stockton – 4 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K
Andry Lara, Fredericksburg – 11 1/3 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 11 K
Samuel Strickland, Augusta – 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 K
Emiliano Teodo, Down East – 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K
Complex Leagues
Anthony Bello, DSL Baltimore Black – 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Gummar Groen, ACL Diamondbacks Red – 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Statistical leaders across minors (qualified min. 180 PA or 80 IP)
Hitting
AVG – Frederick Bencosme .351, Jancarlos Cintron .350, Carter Williams .345, Vaun Brown .343, Juan Zabala .342
OBP – Keiner Delgado .535, Emmanuel Rodriguez .492, Niko Kavadas .470, Werner Blakely .469, Esteury Ruiz .460
SLG – Matt Gorski .664, Kerry Carpenter .653, Niko Kavadas .638, Kyle Manzardo .636, David Villar .636
HR – Kerry Carpenter 30, Moises Gomez 29, Jhonkensy Noel/Nicholas Northcut/Stone Garrett 28
SB – Wilderd Patino 63, Esteury Ruiz 60, Omar De Los Santos/Max Ferguson/Luis Valdez 56
wRC+ – Emmanuel Rodriguez 198, Keiner Delgado/Niko Kavadas 196, Kyle Manzardo 181, Vaun Brown 174
Pitching
GP – Zach Lee 46, Reagan Todd 43, Zach McAllister/Alberto Baldonado/Miguel Del Pozo 42
IP – Peyton Battenfield 121 1/3, Gordon Graceffo 113 1/3, Zane Mills/Ryne Nelson 113, Darren McCaughan 112 2/3
ERA – Gavin Stone 1.35, Gavin Williams 1.66, Taylor Dollard 1.69, Luis Devers 1.94, Mason Montgomery 2.04
WHIP – Jack Leftwich 0.84, Casey Lawrence 0.85, Landon Marceaux 0.91, Chance Kirby 0.92, Gordon Graceffo 0.92
K – Brandon Pfaadt 149, Royber Salinas 147, Mason Montgomery 139, Kyle Harrison 137, Logan Allen 131
FIP – Gavin Stone 2.29, Jack Leftwich 2.32, Brant Hurter 2.56, Nick Zwack 2.70, Robinson Pina 2.73
Benjamin Chase
After 6 years of writing for FanSided on various sites and offering contributions to various other websites, family changes have encouraged me to start this site. I spend a ton of time watching baseball at all levels, but I love watching minor league baseball on milb.tv as I'm hours away from the closest minor league team. This is an effort of all those games I enjoy on a daily basis!
