The BAPR is a free daily morning newsletter. Please consider help spreading the word by forwarding to your friends and helping us grow the Baseball America community!

Nick Kurtz, 1B, Athletics: Eight games into the season, Kurtz has an eight-game hit streak. He also leads all MiLB hitters with four home runs after ripping a 419-foot home run into the right field berm at Las Vegas. Kurtz has had no problems handling the aggressive assignment of being sent to Triple-A. He has eight extra-base hits in eight games, and is hitting .412/.459/.882.

Kyren Paris, OF/2B, Angels: In his brief stints in the majors in 2023 and 2024, Paris didn’t hit. He posted a .300 OPS in 2023 and a .440 OPS in 2024. But Paris’ eight games to start the 2025 season have been excellent. Paris went 2-for-4 with a home run and a stolen base on Sunday, raising his slash line to .444/.545/.889. Paris has four steals in four attempts and he has eight runs scored in eight games, and he’s shown his versatility, as he’s played center field and second base.

Chase Dollander, RHP, Rockies: Dollander allowed seven hits and four runs in his big league debut, thanks to home runs from Lawrence Butler and Tyler Soderstrom, but he got the win with five innings of work and he struck out six. Dollander sat at 97-98 mph and touched 99 with his fastball, and he relied heavily on his cutter and curveball. Dollander gave up two runs in the first on Soderstrom’s homer. He settled down to throw scoreless innings in the second and third. He gave up three straight singles and a walk in the third, but he struck out Jhonny Pereda and Max Muncy to avoid worse damage.

Brody Brecht, RHP, Rockies: While his team Low-A Fresno was being no-hit, Brecht struck out seven of the 11 batters he faced in three hitless innings. Brecht did walk two batters, and had a throwing error while trying to pick off one of the batters he walked, but he was barely hit. Only two batters put the ball in play against him.

Zac Veen, OF, Rockies: The Rockies are planning to call up Veen to the major leagues for Tuesday's game, the Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported on Sunday night. Veen, the Rockies No. 7 prospect, is hitting .387/.472/.677 with four doubles, one triple and a home run in 37 plate appearances with Triple-A Albuquerque. Veen missed time in 2023 with a wrist injury and some time in 2024 with a back injury. But he had a strong spring training (.270/.352/.460) and has gotten off to a fast start in Triple-A. Veen has over 1,500 pro plate appearances, but he does have only 129 Triple-A plate appearances before his call to the majors.

Chase Meidroth, SS, White Sox: Meidroth went 3-for-3 with two walks and hit his third home run of the young season on Sunday for Triple-A Charlotte, continuing his excellent start to the season. Meidroth scored four runs. He’s now hitting .333/.500/.750 in seven games for the Knights this season.

Max Clark, OF, Tigers: Clark hit his first home run of the season on Sunday for High-A West Michigan, as his three-run homer in the eighth tied up the game, setting the stage for the Whitecaps to win in the 10th inning. Clark also singled in a run earlier in the game. After going 2-for-5, he’s hitting .400/.625/.700 with six walks and three strikeouts in three games.

Billy Amick, 3B, Twins: Amick, the Twins’ 2024 second-round pick, went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a triple, a walk, a RBI and three runs scored on Sunday for High-A Cedar Rapids. It was an excellent day for the slugger. He started it off by doubling in Brandon Winokur in the first inning. In the third, he motored to a stand-up triple on a ball that hit off the base of the center field wall. He walked in the fifth and then doubled to left in the seventh. Amick is now hitting .385/.467./.769 three games into the Kernels season.

Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP, Blue Jays: Watts-Brown set a career high in strikeouts as he fanned 10 in 4.2 innings against High-A Tri-City. Watts-Brown’s breaking ball was especially effective as he balanced locking hitters up with bigger breaking balls in the zone, combined with getting them to chase sliders below the zone. Watts-Brown, the Blue Jays’ No. 23 prospect, was pulled after 76 pitches, one out before he could log the win. He finished his outing with five straight strikeouts.

Editor’s Picks

10 Statcast Standouts: Eli Ben-Porat’s weekly series returns with a focus on a Cubs prospect who is putting a charge into the ball so far in 2025. Read more…

Breakout Pitching Prospects: In case you missed it on Friday, check out Geoff Pontes’ annual breakout pitching predictions. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

Matt Allan, RHP, Mets: Allan is one of the ultimate blasts from the past. The righthander was taken by New York in the third round of the 2019 draft, then got his feet wet as a pro in the Gulf Coast and New York-Penn leagues. He hasn’t pitched since. Now, five full seasons after his last professional appearance, it appears that Allan is ready to return. Scouts in Florida were impressed by what they saw, especially considering his long layoff. Allan’s fastball peaked at 99 mph and paired with an 87-90 mph slider with plenty of plane and break. He mixed in a changeup as well, but it was significantly behind his fastball and slider. Allan will begin this season at High-A Brooklyn, where he’ll hope to author baseball’s next great comeback story.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle will miss time with an ankle injury, per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi

• Andrew Painter is set to return to the mound on Friday for Low-A Clearwater

• Pirates 2B Nick Yorke hit the injured list with right shoulder soreness.

In Case You Missed It'

baseballamerica

235K followers

View more on Instagram