It's Wednesday again, and that means it's time to take a look at some of the top prospects and performers at the High-A level. At this point, I would honestly say that the three High-A minor leagues may have the most interesting pitching prospects of any of the levels right now. You have last year's top draft pick, as well as a number of high-ceiling types in both the California and Carolina Leagues. All statistics for hitters are for the last 10 games and all statistics for pitchers are season long. All stats are courtesy of MILB.com, and are through Monday's games unless noted otherwise.
Florida State League
Nick Castellanos (DET) - .371/.400/.486, 4 R, 4 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB/5 K
Just 20 years old, Castellanos is hitting .386 on the season, and does have a home run as well. The more Castellanos hits, the more likely I think it is that the Tigers use him as a trade chip to get what they need for a post season run.
Christian Yelich (MIA) - .400/.514/.800, 9 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1/1 SB, 7 BB, 6 K
Yelich missed time early with an injury, but has really come back with a vengeance since returning on April 15th. He came into the season as the consensus top prospect in the Marlins' system, and it is looking more and more like he could be a top outfielder for fantasy purposes once he gets there.
Marcell Ozuna (MIA) - .176/.243/.235, 4 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2/3 SB, 2 BB/7 K
Jake Marisnick (TOR) - .214/.313/.381, 5 R, 2B, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB/6 K, 3 SB
Wilmer Flores (NYM) - .394/.425/.697, 7 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 4 BB/3 K, 2 SB
Flores has definitely lost some of the shine as a top prospect, but he's still extremely young, and it's good to see him performing this well.
Gerrit Cole (PIT) - 0-0, 5.25 ERA, 12 IP, 18 K, 4 BB, 13 H
Jameson Taillon (PIT) - 0-1, 1.93 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 24 K/3 BB, 12 H
I'm interested to see if the Pirates allow Taillon to really open it up a bit more this season. My understanding was that he was only allowed to use a couple of his pitches last year in Low-A.
Jesse Biddle (PHI) - 0-2, 7.94 ERA, 11 1/3 IP, 16 K/5 BB, 18 H
Jed Bradley (MIL) - 2-1, 1.50 ERA, 24 IP, 23 K/4 BB, 18 H
Taylor Jungmann (MIL) - 2-2, 3.18 ERA, 22 2/3 IP, 14 K/9 BB, 21 H
Carolina League
Xander Bogaerts (BOS) -.308/.357/.538, 4 R, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB/7 K, 1/2 SB
Cheslor Cuthbert (KC) - .326/.375/.395, 2 R, 3 2B, 10 RBI, 4 BB/7 K, 1/2 SB
Cuthbert started off pretty slow, but has been hitting better as we've moved into late April. I think as the temperature starts to rise, we will very likely see his power continue to improve.
Jackie Bradley (BOS) - .395/.460/.526, 12 R, 5 2B, 10 RBI, 8 BB/7 K, 3/3 SB
Jason Adam (KC) - 1-1, 0.40 ERA, 22 2/3 IP, 21 K/7 BB, 18 H
Cody Buckel (TEX) - 2-0, 0.84 ERA, 21 1/3 IP, 29 K, 8 BB, 7 H
Buckel looks like this may be too easy for him. I can't remember seeing a pitcher who had more walks than hits at this point in the season who was actually pitching well.
California League
Billy Hamilton (CIN) - .350/.422/.575, 11 R, 3 2B, 4 3B, 2 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K, 9/11 SB
Hamilton's speed continues to play at a ridiculous level. In addition to the 9 stolen bases in the last 10 games, Hamilton also managed to score on a sacrifice fly to the second baseman. I haven't seen video of it, but it sounds like it was basically a pop-up just outside the infield.
A.J. Kirby-Jones (OAK) - .343/.429/.771, 8 R, 3 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 11 K
Last week's Cal League player of the week, Kirby-Jones had a 3 homer game to help with those numbers. It will be interesting to see if he can keep up his plate discipline numbers (11 BB vs 15 K on the season)
Miles Head (OAK) - .324/.350/.568, 7 R, 2 2B, 2 3B, HR, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 12 K
One of the prospects acquired for Andrew Bailey, you don't really want to see a 3-to-17 walk to strikeout rate to start the season.
Rymer Liriano (SD) - .194/.297/.323, 8 R, 1 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 5 K, 1/3 SB
Liriano appears to be doing his usual of struggling in the month of April.
George Springer (HOU) - .150/.182/.275, 3 R, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, 2 BB, 14 K, 2/2 SB
Cory Spangenberg (SD) - .216/.310/.343, 3 R, 2B, 6 RBI, 4 BB, 9 K, 6/7 SB
I love seeing him run this much despite not being on base that often, but it would be nice to see some batting average or on base percentage to go with it.
Garrett Gould (LAD) - 0-3, 6.06 ERA, 16 1/3 IP, 28 K, 8 BB, 21 H
Andrew Chafin (ARI) - 2-0, 2.61 ERA, 20 2/3 IP, 33 K, 5 BB, 15 H
As if the Diamondbacks needed more pitching prospects. Chafin is leading the Cal League in strikeouts, and I wonder if he could be moved up to AA whenever one of the top pitchers there gets moved up.
David Holmberg (ARI) - 1-3, 3.09 ERA, 23 1/3 IP, 27 K, 5 BB, 20 H
Tony Cingrani (CIN) - 1-1, 0.53 ERA, 17 IP, 20 K/4 BB, 8 H
Cingrani hasn't been getting a ton of buzz as a top prospect, but based on his performance last year, I don't see any indication that he can't keep pitching well.