Minor League Update: Games of Thursday, June 9th

Prospect of the Day:

Rafael Devers, 3B, Boston Red Sox (High-A Salem): 5-5, BB, R, 2 RBI.
Theeeeere it is. Devers is the youngest player in the Carolina League and has struggled mightily in the season’s early going because baseball is hard. But he’s picked it up of late, with hits in 10 of his last 11, and yesterday’s five-hit effort gives him some kind of something to hang his hat on going forward.

Others of Note:

Francis Martes, RHP, Houston Astros (Double-A Corpus Christi): 6 2/3 IP, 5 H, BB, 9 K. Theeeeere it is. Martes is the second-youngest pitcher in the Texas League and has struggled mightily in the season’s early going because baseball is hard. He also may not have shown up to work in the best of shape, and it’s taken him a while to iron out the mechanical kinks. His command has improved, and he looked much more like the kid I saw last summer in shutting down the league’s best offense yesterday.

Amed Rosario, SS, New York Mets (High-A St. Lucie): 4-6, BB, R, RBI, 2 K. Rosario’s bat has really begun to flower this season despite residing in the awful swamplands of Florida, and he’s quickly emerging as one of the most complete shortstop prospects in the minor leagues.

Willy Adames, SS, Tampa Bay Rays (Double-A Montgomery): 4-5, 3 R, HR, 4 RBI, SB. Speaking of quality six-spot prospects, Adames has begun tapping into his nascent power in a big way this year, already tying his season-high for dingers in less than half the at-bats (and against far superior competition). He’s drawing walks too, and doing it all as a 20-year-old at Double-A. Not bad.

Carson Fulmer, RHP, Chicago White Sox (Double-A Birmingham): 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER (4 R), 8 H, BB, 10 K. Fulmer’s strikeout-an-inning stuff has played to its level, and he hasn’t been the easiest guy to square this year, but he’s made an awful lot of unforced errors, and the command just hasn’t been good enough to consistently cheat Double-A hitters. After a seven-walk meltdown he’s rebounded nicely over his last two.

Franklyn Kilome, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies (Low-A Lakewood): 7 IP, ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 9 K. Speaking of rebounding, Kilome struggled mightily in the cold winds of April, but has found better consistency with his mechanics lately. He’s still raw with both the control and command, but the stuff appears to be back.

Francisco Mejia, C, Cleveland Indians (Low-A Lake County): 4-4, 2 R, 2B, RBI. Mejia has been absolutely stinging the ball lately, hence his inclusion in about 47 consecutive Updates. He’s now riding an 11-game hit streak with five multi-hit efforts in his last six, and coupled with a well-regarded defensive package he’s starting to look more and more like an eventual big-league starter.

Mike Clevinger, RHP, Cleveland Indians (Triple-A Columbus): 6 IP, 3 H, 8 K. Clevinger’s big league trial wasn’t the stuff of legend, and it bled over into his first post-demotion start. Yesterday? All better. He remains at the top of Cleveland’s rotation depth chart and should get another crack at some point this summer.

Frankie Montas, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers (Triple-A Oklahoma City): 4 IP, ER, 2 H, 6 K. Presumably in light of like six full rotations-worth of big league injuries, the Dodgers are gradually building Montas’ innings up as a starter once again, and he responded well in his longest outing since last August.

Mauricio Dubon, SS, Boston Red Sox (High-A Salem): 4-5, BB, 2 R, 2B, SB. Dubon has put together a really impressive campaign on a loaded Salem team, taking a big step forward with his approach and developing into a strong contact profile. The lack of any discernable lift or power may make it a tough sell to keep up the trajectory against more advanced pitching, but at this rate we’ll find out if he can hack it against the big boys sooner than later.

Dylan Davis, RF, San Francisco Giants (Low-A Augusta): 3-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI. Davis was the club’s third-rounder in 2013, but had struggled mightily with contact issues and over-aggressiveness through his first couple professional campaigns. He’s old for the Sally now after a second-half cameo in San Jose didn’t work out so hot, but he’s made a couple strides with the approach and there’s a classic power-and-arm right-field profile here if he can continue building on his early-season progress.

Kohl Stewart, RHP, Minnesota Twins (Double-A Chattanooga): 6 IP, 3 H, 5 K. Stewart has figured out how to miss more bats this year while limiting hard contact, and yesterday in his second attempt he produced his first solid Double-A start. There’s still three potential above-average to plus pitches here, along with solid command, and it’ll be interesting to see if the strikeout gains hold at the higher level.

Daniel Palka, OF, Minnesota Twins (Double-A Chattanooga): 2-3, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, K, SB. I don’t know what this kid needs to do to get more love, but I’m going to continue writing about him until he does. Yes he strikes out a bunch, but he’s on just about exactly the same pace this year at Double-A as he was in the Cal last year, and all of a sudden he’s learned how to hit left-handed pitching to the tune of a massive, out-of-nowhere reverse split.

Dillon Tate, RHP, Texas Rangers (Low-A Hickory): 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K. Tate had hit a bit of a rough patch of late, and he’s gotten hit some this year overall, but this marks consecutive solid outings for him.

Tyler Davis, RHP, Texas Rangers (High-A High Desert): 6 IP, 4 H, 11 K. The Rangers liked what they saw out of last year’s 23^rd-rounder in the Low-A bullpen enough that they bumped him up to High Desert after a wave of starting pitching promotions and promptly tossed him into the rotation. He’s responded by allowing just five earned in 22 innings with 28 strikeouts and five walks. He’s undersized at 5-foot-10, and he struggles to scrape 90, but word ‘round the campfire describes a bad-news changeup and some moxie.

Anfernee Seymour, SS, Miami Marlins (Low-A Greensboro): 4-5, R, K, CS. Seymour is one of the fastest men in the minors, but the whole of the skillset—including his baserunning—remains extremely raw.

Greg Allen, CF, Cleveland Indians (High-A Lynchburg): 4-5, 3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI. I highlighted Allen here about six weeks ago, and he’s continued to steady-eddy his way through the season since then, showing an excellent approach and tool-maximizing effort in all phases.

Donnie Dewees, OF, Chicago Cubs (Low-A South Bend): 2-3, BB, 2 R, 3B, 2 SB. Dewees has hummed along in his full-season debut this year, showing strong bat-to-ball skills and a stellar command of the zone. He’s also shown plenty of utility on the bases for his plus wheels, swiping 16-of-19 and legging out 11 triples to date. The nascent fringe-average over-the-fence pop hasn’t arrived yet, but he’s finding ways to stack the Total Base tally while he bides his time before a needed bump to High-A.