Down on the Farm - 4/12/23

Jackson Chourio (MIL) goes deep x2, including a walk-off, Kumar Rocker (TEX) punches out 8, Brett Baty (NYM) homers, Chad Dallas (TOR) strikes out 11, 90th percentile exit velocity leaders in Triple-A

The Rundown ⭐️

Brett Baty (23) - NYM (AAA) has seemingly shaken off the hand injury that caused an early season scare, going 3-5 with a homer and a double last night against Scranton Wilkes-Barre — he’s now hitting .391/.481/.870. His teammate, Ronny Mauricio (22) - NYM (AAA), also had a nice night, going 1-2 with a home run, a walk, and a stolen base. He’s also been scorching hot to start the year, hitting four homers with a slash line of .361 / .439 / .806. Nice start to the season for two of the top Mets prospects.

Jackson Chourio (19) - MIL (AA) had an odd night that ended on a positive, where he struck out three times, but also hit two dingers, including a walk-off. Chourio received an aggressive assignment from the Brewers, going straight to Double-A as a 19 year old, which makes the strikeouts a little less concerning and the homers more impressive.

Zach Neto (22) - LAA (AA) hit his first home run of the year, going deep off of Hunter Dollander (26) - CWS (AA) in the first inning last night, and went 4-5 overall, continuing his hot start to the year. Hudson Valley (High A-Yankees) smoked Aberdeen (BAL) 15-1 yesterday, and they were led by two of their top prospects, Spencer Jones (21) - NYY (A+) and Anthony Garcia (22) - NYY (A+). Jones, a first round pick in 2022 out of Vanderbilt, went 3-5 with two homers and a double to put him at .500 on the year, and Garcia went 3-5 with a homer and a double. Finishing up with the hitters, James Wood (20) - WSH (A+) had an excellent night showing off his speed and hitting ability, going 3-4 with a triple and a stolen base.

On the mound, Gordon Graceffo (23) - STL (AAA) bounced back from a rough first start to throw four innings, striking out six and walking two, while giving up no runs or hits. This is a pitcher to watch given where the Cardinals rotation is at this point — he could earn himself a midseason call up if he keeps pitching like this. Kumar Rocker (23) - TEX (A+) made his 2023 debut for High-A Hickory last night, pitching five innings, striking out eight and walking none, while allowing two hits.

Emmett Sheehan (23) - LAD (AA) also made his 2023 debut and put up nearly an identical line — he struck out eight and walked none, but didn’t give up a hit. The tenth pick in last year’s draft, Gabriel Hughes (21) - COL (A+), continued the shutout debut theme, going five innings, striking out six while walking none and giving up no hits. Rounding things out with a relatively unknown pitcher, Kai-Wei Teng (24) - SF (AA) struck out ten for Richmond last night, while walking none and allowing just two hits in four innings pitched. A 24 year old repeating Double A, he has shown the ability to strike out guys (169 K in 136.1 IP last year), but has been walk prone as well. If he shows he can limit walks like he did last night, he’ll be an interesting pitcher to follow this year.

Notable Performances

Hitters