Can anyone get Bryce Eldridge out? The Giants slugger is on a white-hot tear in High-A right now. Baseball America’s Josh Norris was onsite to see both Eldridge and Mariners power bat Lazaro Montes turn in special evenings on Thursday.

Bryce Eldridge, 1B, Giants: Summer is giving way to Autumn, but Eldridge is showing no signs of cooling off. The Giants’ top prospect continued his August barrage by slamming two home runs and two doubles over the course of Eugene’s doubleheader with Everett. The blasts were Eldridge’s third and fourth of the series, giving him a total of 11 in his time with High-A. In August, the hulking lefty swinger is hitting an eye-popping .375/.472/.784 with nine home runs. The longball total ties him for second in the minors over the course of the month, two blasts behind Royals prospect Spencer Nivens. His 1.256 OPS is the best in all the minors in August.

Lazaro Montes, OF, Mariners: Montes is a big man with a big swing designed to do damage. On Thursday, in the second game of his Everett squad’s doubleheader with Eugene, he made his presence felt. The 19-year-old slugger swatted his fifth and sixth home runs as a member of the AquaSox, bringing his total to 19 for the season. Neither blast was cheap, either. The first was a scorching line drive to left-center field, and the second was a laser to the right of the batter’s eye in right-center field. There’s still plenty of swing-and-miss in Montes’ game, but when he connects … look out.

Samuel Basallo, C, Orioles: Basallo is one of the brightest prospects in the game, and he’s already reached Triple-A at just 20 years old. On Thursday, he passed one milestone by clubbing his first home run at the highest level of the minor leagues. The blast was part of Norfolk’s win over Jacksonville, and it came in a lefty-on-lefty matchup against reliever Josh Simpson. The home run was Basallo’s 17th in 109 games between Double-A and Triple-A.

Ian Seymour, LHP, Rays: Very quietly, Seymour has put together an excellent season after missing all of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgery. That string continued on Thursday, when he punched out nine hitters against Buffalo. For the month, Seymour has gone 1-0, 2.37 with 40 strikeouts against 11 walks in 28.1 innings. Between both Double-A and Triple-A, Seymour has 146 strikeouts, which is tied with Mets prospect Jonah Tong for the sixth-highest total in the minor leagues.

Blake Burkhalter, RHP, Braves: When the Braves drafted Burkhalter No. 76 overall in 2022, there was thought he could move relatively quickly given his track record as a reliever at Auburn. But Tommy John surgery waylaid his 2023 season and start to 2024, and Atlanta has also opted to develop him as a starter. Burkhalter returned to the mound in late May and turned in his best outing of the year Thursday for High-A Rome, striking out 11 batters while walking just one over six scoreless innings. Burkhalter has a mid-90s fastball with good carry and has worked on creating more distinction between his 90 mph cutter and mid-80s slider, while also mixing in a changeup. It’s an interesting four-pitch mix and encouraging sign for the 23-year-old righty, who ranked No. 29 in Atlanta’s midseason update, as the season winds to a close.

Chandler Simpson, OF, Rays: Simpson went 2-for-3 and stole a season-high four bases Thursday in Double-A Montgomery’s 7-4 win over Biloxi. The 80-grade runner, who has also turned in a handful of three-steal games this year, now has 94 steals across two levels and 100 games this season while hitting .359. We wondered in a recent Hot Sheet show whether Simpson could steal 100 bases in a big league season if given regular playing time. He’s certainly showing the bat-to-ball skills this year, although his defense needs to take another step forward as he closes in on the majors.

Brice Matthews, SS/3B, Astros: Astros 2023 first-rounder Brice Matthews spent two weeks on the injured list in August with back spasms. He has been quite impactful since returning. Matthews went 3-for-4 with a home run and a double in a 12-3 win over Double-A Tulsa on Thursday. He also stole a pair of bases and made a pair of throwing errors from third base. Matthews now has hits in four of his last five games, including three homers over that span.

Kumar Rocker Pitches His Way Toward Top 100 Consideration

Keep an eye out for our final Top 100 update of the season early next week. When it drops, you’ll likely see Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker return to the list. As J.J. Cooper writes, Rocker is increasingly looking like one of the best pitchers across all the minors, and is pitching his way into the Rangers’ 2025 plans as well.

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Anderson Brito, RHP, Astros: Geoff Pontes identified 10 of his favorite breakout pitching prospects of the 2024 season yesterday. Brito, who entered the year as a virtual unknown in the Astros system, made the list. The undersized righty has a sizzling fastball and serious power despite his 5-foot-10 frame. While his secondaries are still raw, Houston has a lot of interesting ingredients to work with. More below for Baseball America subscribers.

In Case You Missed It

Here’s the full segment on Chandler Simpson’s historic year.