Minor League Level Review (High-A): George Springer Destroying Baseballs, Tony Cingrani Dominating

it's Wednesday, and it's time for another (slightly abbreviated) look at some of the top performers in the 3 High-A leagues so far this year. We're starting to get to the point where we may see a few of these players get sent up to their AA affiliates, including a pair of pitching prospects who could force their way up toward the top of prospect lists.

California League

Billy Hamilton (CIN) - .311/.386/.467, 37 R, 9 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 13 RBI, 40 for 50 SB, 19 BB, 32 K

Hamilton has cooled off a bit of late (.190/.292/.333) in his last 10 games, but that doesn't seem to affect his speed all that much, as he was 7 for 10 on stolen base attempts during that time.

Chris Owings (ARI) - .333/.372/.574, 36 R, 13 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 21 RBI, 4 for 7 SB, 10 BB, 53 K

George Springer (HOU) - .333/.376/.594, 32 R, 8 2B, 4 3B, 9 HR, 33 RBI, 9 for 10 SB, 11 BB, 49 K

I wrote about Springer last week, and he has been completely nuts in his last 10 games, hitting 7 homers and posting a 1.701 OPS.

Tony Cingrani (CIN) - 4 W, 0.78 ERA, 46 IP, 28 H, 2 HR, 10 BB, 65 K

Cingrani seems a likely candidate for a midseason promotion based on his performance, and looking at his peripherals, he's not really due for that much regression. His strand rate is a bit high so far (82%), but the rest of his numbers look similar to his last season.

Carolina League

Jackie Bradley Jr (BOS) - .373/.491/.575, 35 R, 14 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 24 RBI, 11 for 15 SB, 30 BB, 23 K

Craig Goldstein wrote about Bradley yesterday, and I'm inclined to agree that he will be in AA before too long. There's very little left for him to show down in High-A at this point.

Cheslor Cuthbert (KC) - .221/.301/.276, 12 R, 5 2B, 1 HR, 17 RBI, 2 for 3 SB, 17 BB, 26 K

Cuthbert has really been struggling so far this season, and at this point in the season I'm wondering how well he would have to hit for the remainder of the season to make his full season numbers look better.

Matt Barnes (BOS) - 2 W, 1.00 ERA, 18 IP, 11 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 25 K

Barnes has already made 3 starts in High-A, and it's starting to look like he may be too advanced for this level as well. I need to watch more video of Barnes, but he could very well be one of the top 10 pitching prospects still in the minors.

Yordano Ventura (KC) - 2 W, 2.97 ERA, 39 1/3 IP, 33 H, 5 HR, 14 BB, 49 K

Florida State League

Nick Castellanos (DET) - .411/.474/.554, 28 R, 14 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 27 RBI, 3 for 5 SB, 19 BB, 29 K

Castellanos just continues to hit everything in sight, as he went 4 for 4 last night against Bradenton, including 3 against Jameson Taillon.

Wilmer Flores (NYM) - .310/.347/.497, 21 R, 8 2B, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 2 for 4 SB, 9 BB, 16 K

It's hard to remember sometimes that Flores is still just 20 years old, but he is really starting to show some of the promise that made him a top prospect 3 years ago. If he can remain at 3B and hit for a decent average, he should be a solid power producer once he's in the Majors.

Jameson Taillon (PIT) - 3 W, 2.61 ERA, 48 1/3 IP, 38 H, 2 HR, 12 BB, 43 K

Taillon has been going longer into games this season, as he has pitched 6 innings in 4 of his last 5 starts. It's hard to find a ton of fault in a 6 hit, 2 earned run outing last night when we know that Castellanos had 3 of those hits.

Adam Morgan (PHI) - 2 W, 3.63 ERA, 52 IP, 44 H, 3 HR, 19 BB, 64 K

Morgan was the 3rd round pick for the Phillies in last year's draft, and he's currently leading all starting pitchers in High-A in K/9 and strikeouts.