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A.J. Blubaugh, RHP, Astros: In the first day of Pacific Coast League-International League interleague play, Blubaugh retired 10 in a row at one point for Houston’s Triple-A Affiliate Sugar Land and held the Durham Bulls to just four hits in six scoreless innings. Blubaugh struck out three in the first, and worked out of a jam in the second by striking out Kenny Piper. From then on, he was untroubled. He allowed just one more baserunner (a Chandler Simpson single) and Simpson was quickly retired on a double play when Eloy Jimenez flew out while Simpson was attempting to steal second. Blubaugh topped out at 97 mph, and he was consistently in the zone with his fastball, but it was his sweeper that stifled the Bulls. He got six swings-and-misses on the pitch and threw 13 of 16 sweepers for strikes.

Maximo Acosta, SS/2B, Marlins: In clear fruits of Miami’s efforts to revamp its farm system, the first five hitters in Jacksonville’s lineup on Tuesday were originally signed by other organizations. Four of those five were acquired in trades. One such hitter was Acosta, an infielder who came over from Texas in a deal that sent Jake Burger to the Lone Star State. Acosta had a breakout campaign in 2024 during the regular season and in the Arizona Fall League, and he’s started hot in Triple-A in 2025 as well. His latest feats of strength included a 2-for-4 night against Worcester that included a three-run home run off of Boston prospect Hunter Dobbins. The homer was Acosta’s first of the season.

Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Braves: Waldrep has long had excellent stuff, though its effectiveness has been muted by slipshod command and control. He had no such issues on Tuesday in his first start of the season. Facing Nashville, the Florida alum and 2023 first-rounder punched out seven Sounds and allowed just one run on three hits and a walk before yielding the hill to Brian Moran. Waldrep got five whiffs on 18 swings, including a pair apiece on his splitter and curveball. He threw three of his four pitches for strikes better than 70% of the time.

Zebby Matthews, RHP, Twins: In 2024, Matthews was one of the best-performing pitchers in the minor leagues. The Twins righthander smoked the competition from High-A to Triple-A and earned his first big league callup in the process. Striking out 114 hitters and walking just seven tends to have that effect. He was back on the hill on Tuesday and the song was the same. The Saints blanked Columbus and Matthews spun the first five frames. By the time he’d exited, he’d allowed just one hit, struck out four and—shocker—walked nobody.

Robert Hassell III, OF, Nationals: Slowly but surely, the pieces the Nationals acquired from the Padres in the deal that sent Juan Soto to San Diego to coalesce. Lefty MacKenzie Gore has established himself as rotation stalwart who can put together ace-quality outings. Shortstop CJ Abrams has produced 3-plus WAR seasons in each of the last two years and fireballing righty Jarlin Susana turned a corner in 2024 and looks like one of the sport’s finer pitching prospects. Could Hassell be next up? The lefty-swinging outfielder put together an outstanding Grapefruit League and his turned it on early in the regular season at Triple-A Rochester. The 23-year-old Tennessee native collected three hits, including a double, in the Red Wings’ bludgeoning of the visiting IronPigs. Hassell also swiped a bag, scored twice and drove in a run.

Editor’s Picks

Predicting 2026 No. 1 Prospects: J.J. Cooper puts on his prognosticator hat to predict the top prospect in each farm system at this time next year. Read more…

Dynasty 500 Update: With MLB’s season in full swing, see the risers and fallers in our April update to our flagship dynasty rankings. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Each day, we’ll pick a prospect that has our attention.

Jack Bauer, LHP, Lincoln-Way East HS (Ill.): We typically don’t use this space for amateur prospects. But we typically don’t see high school pitching prospects already touching 100 mph, either. Bauer is the exception, as he has mesmerized scouts early this spring with a velocity bump that puts him in rare territory among the prep arms we’ve scouted dating back to 2000. Carlos Collazo dives into the data and explains more here.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Thomas Harrington’s Pirates debut was a rough one. He allowed six runs over four innings and the typically-precise righthander walked four batters.

• Nick Kurtz hit his second home run of the season for Triple-A Las Vegas, a 426-foot shot to left field

• Marcelo Mayer also homered and, more notably, started at third base for Triple-A Worcester

• White Sox RHP Shane Smith pitched 5.2 innings and showed off this impressive changeup

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