Cameron Flukey, RHP, Tigers: The Tigers’ 2026 first-round pick became the first pitcher selected in the top four rounds of this year’s draft to make his pro debut on Wednesday, striking out two in 1.1 innings. He threw 14 of his 32 pitches for strikes, walking two and hitting a batter. Flukey topped out at 95.5 mph and generated two whiffs, one on his fastball and another on an 83 mph slider. He also showed a cutter, changeup and curveball.

Flukey is likely to pitch more than the typical highly drafted pitcher because he missed two months of the college season with a stress fracture in his ribs. If he stays on a normal schedule, he could make three or four more starts. For comparison, no pitcher selected in the first round in 2025 made more than two appearances after signing.

Ralphy Velazquez, 1B, Guardians: There might not be a hotter hitter in the minor leagues right now than Velazquez, who homered twice on Wednesday to give him eight home runs in his last 10 games.

Velazquez homered off a righthander in his first at-bat, driving a 93 mph fastball 399 feet with an exit velocity of 107.5 mph. He went deep again in his third at-bat, this time off a lefthander, demolishing a hanging breaking ball 422 feet off the top of the scoreboard with an exit velocity of 105.4 mph.

Velazquez now has 20 home runs this season and is hitting .324/.378/.941 in August. During his 10-game power surge, he’s raised his slugging percentage from .394 to .485. He’s now hitting .281/.368/.516 between Double-A and Triple-A. Given the Guardians’ trouble scoring runs, it might only be a matter of time before they turn to Velazquez for an offensive boost.

Carson Tinney, C, Twins: The Twins’ 2026 second-round pick had been off to a slow start to his professional career with Low-A Fort Myers, hitting .111/.385/.222 entering Wednesday’s game against Clearwater. He broke out of that slump in a big way, hitting two home runs, including a walk-off shot.

Tinney’s first home run came in the third inning off a 90.8 mph fastball and left the bat at 103.3 mph. His second was far more dramatic. Tinney came to the plate in the ninth with Vahn Lackey on third after his first professional triple and Fort Myers trailing 5-4. Ahead 1-0, Tinney got a 93.7 mph fastball on the outer third and snuck it over the left field wall. He didn’t get all of it, but he got enough, driving it 363 feet with a 93.0 mph exit velocity.

Tinney is now hitting .156/.386/.438 through 10 professional games with three home runs, 11 walks and 14 strikeouts.

Joseph Dzierwa, LHP, Orioles: Dzierwa ranked No. 9 on this week’s Hot Sheet after throwing six shutout innings in his previous start. He’s likely headed for next week’s Hot Sheet as well after tossing six more scoreless innings on Wednesday. Dzierwa threw only 44 of his 76 pitches for strikes but was still effective, allowing one hit and three walks while striking out seven and generating nine whiffs.

Dzierwa lowered his ERA to 2.01 and his WHIP to 0.86 in 112 innings this season. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since July 24 and could be in line for another promotion soon, given how crowded the Chesapeake rotation has become with the addition of Anthony Eyanson via trade and the promotion of Caden Hunter.

Caleb Bonemer, 3B, White Sox: Chicago’s No. 2 prospect became the eighth minor leaguer to reach 30 home runs this season on Wednesday, homering off Braves top pitching prospect Cam Caminiti. Bonemer got a 2-1 slider up in the zone in his second at-bat and didn’t miss it, driving it deep over the left field wall.

Bonemer also tripled and singled and stole a base in Birmingham’s narrow 4-3 loss to Columbus. It was his first three-hit game since July 21 and his third multi-hit game in his last six. He’s now hitting .269/.384/.556 in Double-A with 12 home runs in 43 games.

Jacob Lombard, SS, Marlins: The Marlins’ 2026 first-rounder went 2-for-4 in Jupiter’s 16-8 victory over St. Lucie on Wednesday. Lombard reached base three times with two singles and a walk, stole three bases and scored four runs. His first single had an exit velocity of 85.2 mph, while his second came off the bat at 94.9 mph. Lombard is now hitting .222/.382/.333 through his first seven professional games.

Editor’s Picks

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

Franklin Primera, C, Red Sox: Primera has been one of the biggest breakout prospects in the system this year, and he continues to show that a promotion to Low-A Salem hasn’t slowed him down. Primera recorded his second four-hit game since the promotion, going 4-for-5 with three singles and a triple on Wednesday.

Primera is now hitting .500/.632/.750 in August with seven walks and five strikeouts. Overall, he’s hitting .385/.512/.610 between Salem and the Florida Complex League, where he ranked No. 1 on Baseball America’s list of the Top 20 FCL Prospects for 2026.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Outfielder Ely Brown joined the White Sox Top 30 in July. Last night, he notched the first multi-homer game of his career, going 4-for-4 with a pair of blasts and four RBIs for High-A Winston-Salem. The 2025 12th-rounder out of Mercer is now hitting .281/.410/.373 with nearly as many walks (76) as strikeouts (80) through 95 games.

• Tigers 2025 first-rounder Jordan Yost entered this week with one professional homer. He now has three after homering for the second consecutive game on Wednesday, bringing his season line to .255/.388/.363 through 67 games for Low-A Lakeland. Yost already has four extra-base hits in August after compiling three in all of July.

• Braves LHP Herick Hernandez can rack up swings and misses and he showed that Wednesday for Triple-A Gwinnett, punching out 11 batters over 6.1 innings. The knock on Hernandez is that he also frequently offsets high strikeout numbers (27.2% strikeout rate) with plenty of free passes (16.1% walk rate) and that was also the case, as he walked four hitters. He has now walked at least four batters in each of his last four outings.

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