Jack Leiter is hot, Walker Jenkins is hurt: Minor League notes on AL teams’ top prospects

The minor-league season may be a marathon, but it’s never too early to race to conclusions about top prospects. Let’s look at some early trends from top prospects in every American League farm system and catch up on injury news.

Note: The ranking numbers after each prospect’s name are from Keith Law’s preseason top-20 lists for each farm system.

AL East

Baltimore Orioles: The Triple-A Norfolk Tides’ offense has cooled some after its red-hot start, but Heston Kjerstad (No. 4) and Coby Mayo (No. 3) are still putting up big numbers. Kjerstad homered again Friday and has seven in 49 April at-bats. His OPS for the season is 1.208. Mayo homered three times over the weekend and is up to five for the year. His OPS is 1.109, though he’ll likely need to improve his 23:5 K:BB to get the call from Baltimore.

Boston Red Sox: Marcelo Mayer (No. 1) has hit safely in all seven games he’s played this season for Double-A Portland. After a 2023 season wrecked by injuries, Mayer is off to a good start (10-for-28 with a homer). He’s part of a star-studded Portland roster that includes Roman Anthony (No. 2), Kyle Teel (No. 4) and Nick Yorke (No. 9). Anthony has a .333/.385/.700 line with two homers in six games, Teel is batting .300 in six games and Yorke has a .269 average in six games.

New York Yankees: Everson Pereira (No. 2) has four home runs in 14 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but is batting .216 with a .333 on-base percentage in 60 plate appearances. He has a 23:7 K:BB. Roderick Arias (No. 3) has struck out in nearly half of his 41 plate appearances (20 Ks). He’s homered once but is hitting .194 for Low-A Tampa. Spencer Jones (No. 4) missed the start of the season with a neck strain but debuted Saturday and went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk for Double-A Somerset. Agustin Ramirez (not ranked) homered in five of his first six games for Somerset before New Hampshire got wise Sunday and walked him three times.

Spencer Jones’ second hit is an RBI double to go with 3 runs scored in the game. pic.twitter.com/HoIuKf4Hjw

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) April 13, 2024

Tampa Bay Rays: Triple-A Durham welcomed back Junior Caminero (No. 1) on Sunday after he missed two weeks with a quad strain. Naturally, he homered and drove in five in his return. Carson Williams (No. 2) is off to a torrid start for Double-A Montgomery with 12 hits — including five extra-base hits — in 27 at-bats. He’s also stolen four bases and walked three times in seven games. Chandler Simpson (No. 19) stole 94 bases in 115 games last season and is outpacing that so far this year with 10 steals in seven games for High-A Bowling Green. He’s batting .448/.529/.448.

Toronto Blue Jays: Left-hander Brandon Barriera (No. 8), the Blue Jays 2022 first-round pick, left his season debut start on April 6 with an apparent left arm injury and has been placed on the 7-day injured list by Low-A Dunedin. Barriera missed much of last season with injuries. The Jays’ 2023 top pick Arjun Nimmala (No. 3) hit his first professional homer on April 7 for Dunedin and has walked six times in eight games but is batting .194. Ricky Tiedemann (No. 1) is being brought along slowly for Triple-A Buffalo. In three starts, he’s thrown eight innings total. He went 3 2/3 innings on Thursday, allowing two solo homers and striking out seven but also walking three.

AL Central

Chicago White Sox: Nothing is going right for the Sox in the majors but Colson Montgomery (No. 1) is heating up in the minors with two homers over the weekend and a two-walk game on Sunday. After a slow start for Triple-A Charlotte, he’s up to .263/.354/.421 on the year. Edgar Quero (No. 2) has four homers in eight games for Double-A Birmingham. The catcher had only six homers in 101 games last season. Right-hander Nick Nastrini (No. 4) will reportedly make his major-league debut for Chicago on Monday. He’s allowed six earned runs in seven innings over two starts for Charlotte.

Cleveland Guardians: Jaison Chourio (No. 4) is keeping pace with his older brother, Jackson, in the hot-start department. In seven games for Low-A Lynchburg, Jaison has a .333/.500/.542 slash line and the 18-year-old already has seven walks. The Guardians’ 2023 top pick, Ralphy Velazquez (No. 7), has two homers, two doubles and four walks in seven games for Lynchburg. Chase DeLauter (No. 3) is still looking for his first multi-hit game of the season but he’s reached base safely in all eight games for Double-A Akron. He’s batting only .167 but has a .324 OBP. Kyle Manzardo (No. 2) has eight walks in 12 games but only four extra-base hits for Triple-A Columbus. He has a .250/.353/.400 line.

Detroit Tigers: Jackson Jobe (No. 2) has made two starts for Double-A Erie, allowing two earned runs in 5 2/3 total innings with eight strikeouts and seven walks. He walked six all of last season in 64 innings. Much was made of Max Clark’s struggles with Low-A Lakeland in his debut season and the online chatter intensified when the Tigers’ top prospect collected only one hit in his first 16 at-bats this year, but the 2023 first-round pick has four hits in his past 14 at-bats and has walked four times in that span. He’s also played some spectacular defense in center field.

Max Clark with a terrific diving catch in center. pic.twitter.com/PE4NbTTVY7

— Tigers ML Report (@tigersMLreport) April 7, 2024

Kansas City Royals: Blake Mitchell (No. 1) hit his first professional homer Saturday for Low-A Columbia. He’s walked nine times in 41 plate appearances but also has 15 strikeouts. Right-hander Ben Kudrna (No. 2) has dominated in his first two starts for High-A Quad Cities, allowing two runs in 9 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts and four walks. Peyton Wilson (No. 17) is off to a fast start for Double-A Northwest Arkansas, with five extra-base hits in nine games and a .314/.385/.600 line. He’s repeating the Double-A level.

Minnesota Twins: The Twins’ injury issues have extended into their farm system. Walker Jenkins (No. 1) left the first game of the season for Low-A Fort Myers with a left hamstring injury after making a running catch in center field. He’s been on the IL ever since. 2020 first-round pick Aaron Sabato (not ranked) is on the Double-A Wichita injured list with a left oblique strain. The former North Carolina star played just 77 games last season due to injury. He’s hit for power in his minor-league career but has just a .774 OPS in 287 games. Byron Chourio (No. 15) isn’t related to Jackson and Jaison but is also red hot at the plate, with a .303/.439/.485 line in nine games for Fort Myers.

AL West

Houston Astros: There is no hotter slugger in affiliated baseball right now than Joey Loperfido (No. 6), who has homered 10 times in 14 games for Triple-A Sugar Land, including five times in his past four games. Luis Baez (No. 2) is also swinging a hot bat, with 11 hits in 33 at-bats (including two homers) in eight games for High-A Asheville. Jacob Melton (No. 1) is off to a slow start for Double-A Corpus Christi, with six hits in 20 at-bats and no extra-base hits.

Los Angeles Angels: Many of the Angels’ top prospects are off to slow starts, including Nelson Rada (No. 2), who has five hits (all singles) in his first 32 at-bats for Double-A Rocket City. Kyren Paris (No. 4) has two hits and one walk in 32 plate appearances over his first eight games for Rocket City. On the upside, right-hander Caden Dana (No. 3) made his season debut Wednesday for Rocket City. He allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Caden Dana with two K’s and a 1-2-3 first inning in his AA debut: pic.twitter.com/subwxeNet8

— AngelsMiLB (@AngelsMiLB) April 10, 2024

Oakland A’s: Max Muncy (No. 1) has been one of Triple-A Las Vegas’ most consistent hitters and has a .293/.396/.463 line in 12 games. Jacob Wilson (No. 2) was 10-for-23 with a homer and two doubles in his first six games, but he left Friday’s game with Double-A Midland after diving awkwardly into second base and hasn’t played since. The hottest hitter in the A’s system is Colby Thomas (not ranked), who has a .472/.524/.821 line with four homers, four walks and three stolen bases in nine games for Midland. Denzel Clarke (No. 5) struck out 18 times in his first 31 at-bats but homered Sunday for Midland. Right-hander Ryan Cusick (not ranked), acquired in the Matt Olson trade with the Braves, has allowed only one hit and three walks in 10 innings over his first two starts. He’s struck out 11. Righty Gunnar Hoglund (No. 20) has 11 strikeouts and a 2.70 ERA in 9 2/3 innings over his first two outings for Midland. Luis Morales (No. 7), the A’s pitching prospect, is currently at extended spring training building up his pitch count. He got a late start to his throwing program this past offseason after finishing last year on the IL.

Seattle Mariners: The speedy Jonatan Clase (No. 9) parlayed a fast start with Triple-A Tacoma into a promotion to the big leagues, reports ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. Clase had a 1.010 OPS in 12 games before joining Seattle on Monday. Colt Emerson (No. 1) was on fire to start the season, with two homers and a .318 average in five games for Low-A Modesto, but he hasn’t played since being hit in the elbow on April 10, though there were rainouts Saturday and Sunday. Lazaro Montes (No. 8) is also hitting well for Modesto, with a .379/.471/.517 line and a homer in seven games. Cole Young (No. 2) is still looking for his first homer of the season but is batting .300 with four stolen bases in nine games for Double-A Arkansas. Harry Ford (No. 3) is batting only .156 in eight games for Arkansas.

Texas Rangers: Jack Leiter (No. 14) has looked like a first-rounder so far this season, with a 25:3 K:BB in 14 1/3 innings over his first three outings for Triple-A Round Rock. He has a 3.77 ERA. Abimelec Ortiz (No. 13) is leading the way with a 1.143 OPS in eight games for Double-A Frisco. He’s walked eight times and has six extra-base hits. Sebastian Walcott (No. 3) is off to a slow start with four hits in 33 at-bats and a 13:1 K:BB for High-A Hickory. Brock Porter (No. 5) has allowed two runs in five innings with a 5:7 K:BB in five innings over two starts.