The “Curtain Call” will be a countdown of the night’s best performances from the game’s best prospects around the minor leagues. Here is the first edition.
10. Gerrit Cole, the first-overall pick of the 2011 draft by the Pirates, tossed 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out six to three walks en route to picking up his eighth win of the season for double-A Altoona of the Eastern League. Over 22 starts this season, the 6’-4”, 220-pound right-hander is now 8-5 with a 2.89 ERA and 112 K/34 BB over 109 innings across two levels.
9. Reds first-round pick, Jesse Winker, continued to swing a hot bat for Billings of the Pioneer League, going 2-for-4 with a double, home run and two RBI. Over his last 10 games, the 6’-3”, 220-pound left-hander is hitting .405 (17-for-42) with four doubles, a home run and seven RBI. On the season, he is hitting .358 with 11 doubles, two home runs and 28 RBI. He has also drawn 32 walks for a .473 OBP, showing an advanced approach at the plate.
8. Phillies prospect, Jonathan Pettibone, allowed two hits over seven shutout innings for triple-A Lehigh Valley of the International League. A third-round pick in the 2008 draft, the 6’-5”, right-hander is now 11-7 with a 3.19 ERA and 94 K/36 BB over 135.1 innings.
7. There aren’t many bases left in the minors to steal for Reds uber-prospect Billy Hamilton. He went 1-for-4 with a walk and two more swipes to up his total to 135 over 110 games. With 18 stolen bases over his last nine games, and still 22 games left on Pensacola’s schedule, Vince Coleman’s 1983 record of 145 steals is all but broken.
6. The Astros’ farm system is currently one of the best in the game thanks to being able to select at the top of the draft for the last couple of seasons. Daniel Minor, a ninth-round selection this season, is turning into one of the steals of the draft, and gives the team even more depth for their future rotation. The right-hander allowed just one hit over seven shutout innings for Greeneville of the Appalachian League, striking out 11 to just one walk. Over his last two starts, he has tossed 13 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits with 14 strikeouts. Over nine starts this season, he now has a 3.33 ERA with 37 K/9 BB over 46 innings.
5. The third-overall selection in this year‘s draft, and 2012 Golden Spikes winner, Mike Zunino is proving that he is going to be a quick riser to the show for the Mariners. The 6’-2”, 220-pound catcher went 2-for-3 with a double, two RBI and three walks for short-season Everett. Over 27 games, he is now hitting .356 with nine doubles, eight home runs, 28 RBI and has a slash line of .451/.683/1.134.
4. Kyle Zimmer, the fifth-overall selection in the 2012 draft by the Royals, was dominant over 6.2 shutout innings, allowing three hits while striking out 10 to no walks for Kane County of the Midwest league. The 6’-3”, 215-pound right-hander has an unbelievable feel for the mound considering he didn’t start pitching until college. Over 26.2 innings this season, he has 36 strikeouts to just five walks.
3. Mets prospect, Hansel Robles, had a perfect game going with two outs in the top of the eighth inning until A’s 2012 first-round pick, Daniel Robertson, broke it up with a single. The 2009 free agent, signed out of the Dominican Republic, finished with just one hit allowed over eight innings and struck out seven to no walks. Robles has shown remarkable command and power over his last four starts, allowing just two runs on 15 hits over 28 innings with 30 strikeouts to zero walks.
2. A teammate of Zunino’s at Florida, Astros’ 2012 draft pick, Preston Tucker, had himself a day going 4-for-5 with two home runs and six RBI for Tri-City of the New York-Penn League. Over 19 games, the 6’-0”, 220-pound left-hander is now hitting .343 with four home runs, 19 RBI and has struck out just four times over 70 at-bats. Over his last five games, he has three home runs and ten RBI.
1. Vogelboom! That is the nickname going around for Cubs prospect Daniel Vogelbach, and for good reason. The 6’-1”, 250-pound left-hander has been abusing baseballs all season, especially of late. He went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI for short-season Boise, and has now gone deep in five straight games, hitting seven in total with 14 RBI over that span. He is also riding a 10-game hitting streak, and for the season, the 19-year-old is hitting .346 with 17 doubles, 15 home runs, 51 RBI and a .746 SLG over 40 games split across two levels.
