Full-A (Greenville Drive)
I believe last week I mentioned that Triston Casas hadn’t hit a home run in quite some time. He clearly read that and went ahead and hit a homer this week. The third baseman is on a 10-game hitting streak and has risen his average to .254. He now has 24 doubles, five triples, and 18 home runs. He’s also scored 64 runs and driven in 76 more – putting up incredible run production for anyone, let alone a 19-year-old.
Tyler Esplin has been picking up a lot of hits lately. The right fielder is up to .257 and now has 26 doubles, three triples, and five home runs. He turned 20 in July and it looks like he’s taken a big step forward this year. The left-handed hitter had 52 runs scored and 43 RBI, even stealing six bases. He’s silenced any and all doubters this year.
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Brandon Howlett is also extremely young at just 19 (can you see a trend here?) The third baseman is down to a .227 average but has a .342 OBP. Howlett’s hit 23 doubles, one triple, and seven home runs. He’s driven in 34 runs and scored 45 more. While the run production doesn’t seem great, he’s hit behind Casas for a lot of the year, Casas is kind of stealing all the RBI opportunities from him by driving in the runs himself.
Everlouis Lozada has been a little icy lately, but he’s currently on a four-game hitting streak. The second baseman is hitting .230 with 12 doubles, one triple and six home runs. At 5’7″, 150 lbs – the 20-year-old doesn’t look all that imposing. He’s got a great combination of speed and hitting though, and is a great fielder. His pop is surprising for his size as well. Although Lozada isn’t a well-known name he’s someone that should get a lot of attention as he grows as a player.
Chase Shugart has a 2.81 ERA over 89 2/3 innings with Full-A. The 22-year-old has shown a great combination of pitches and a lot of maturity for how little he’s pitched in the minors (97 2/3 career innings). It will be interesting to see what Shugart does with a full year in 2020.
Angel Padron has quietly put together a really strong year. The 21-year-old lefty has thrown 73 innings for Greenville this year and has a 3.21 ERA in that time. Although he’s had a tiny control problem (walked 32 batters), he’s managed to strike out an impressive 82.