Injury Updates For Junior Caminero, Cade Horton And Owen Murphy

Plus: Marcelo Mayer and Xavier Isaac are among the top performers from Wednesday's slate.

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(Photo by Tom DiPace)

Prospect Standouts

Logan Evans, RHP, Mariners: Evans’ breakout 2024 season has left many in amateur departments throughout baseball wondering how they missed on the sinkerballer coming out of college. Evans continued his dominance Wednesday, tossing six scoreless innings against Double-A Amarillo. Evans mixed his sinker, breaking ball and changeup to strong results, striking out six, including four swinging strikeouts. Evans allowed just four baserunners on three hits and a walk while holding the Sod Poodles lineup in check.

Sebastian Walcott, SS, Rangers: The Rangers aggressively moved Walcott to High-A last season, jumping Low-A. Walcott has struggled so far, but last night he showed some signs of breaking out of his slump. Walcott collected three hits for the first time in 2024. Walcott collected a double and two singles on his way to a three-hit night, driving in two runs and scoring a pair himself.

Xavier Isaac, 1B, Rays: Isaac is enjoying a strong start to the season in 2024, and that continued on Wednesday night when he slugged a home run and had two batted ball events over 100 mph that went for extra-base hits. The first came in the bottom of the third when Isaac took a 94 mph middle-middle fastball to the left-center field wall for a double that left the bat at 107.4 mph. Isaac returned to the plate in the fifth when Isaac took a 87 mph pitch down main street to right center field for his ninth home run of the season. The home run left the bat at 106.7 mph and was one of three hard-hit batted ball events on the night for Isaac.

Kristian Campbell, OF, Red Sox: The Red Sox front office was abuzz about Campbell coming into their season. Their enthusiasm has been justified over the first two months of 2024. Campbell went 3-for-5 on Wednesday. All three of his hits were hard-hit balls. In a matchup of former ACC standouts, Campbell collected two hits against Rome starter Drue Hackenberg. The first was a groundball single in the first that left the bat at 96 mph, followed by a 106.5 mph double in the bottom of the fourth. Campbell, however, left the fireworks for his penultimate at bat in the eighth, when he took a changeup from lefthander Samuel Strickland over the monster in left field for his eighth home run of the season. The home run left the bat at 101.5 mph.

Jared Serna, INF, Yankees: Last night, Serna proved why he’s one of the most underrated prospects in the Yankees system as he drove in seven runs. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Serna destroyed an 85 mph fastball in an 0-1 count. The ball flew into left field, clearing the fence at 103 mph off the bat. With two on and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Serna caught a hanging slider and deposited his second home run of the game to nearly the same spot in left. Serna reaches base three times.

Marcelo Mayer, SS, Red Sox: The rebound season for the Red Sox No. 2 prospect continues. Mayer started the game off with a bang, taking a 95 mph fastball from Pirates prospect Bubba Chandler to the opposite field. The home run left the bat at an exit velocity of 98 mph. Mayer stepped up in the bottom of the 7th and took a 2-1 fastball down the line in left field for a double. Mayer continues to show a strong balance of plate skills and power in 2024, and could hit his way to Boston later this summer.

Cade Horton, RHP, Cubs: Horton left last night’s Triple-A Iowa Cubs game in the second inning. As explained by Iowa Cubs broadcaster Alex Cohen, Horton threw warmup pitches in the second inning, but then left the game escorted by the I-Cubs trainer. Horton allowed two runs, including a Rece Hinds’ home run in his one inning of work. He has a 7.50 ERA in five Triple-A starts.

Owen Murphy, RHP, Braves: The Braves No. 4 prospect is expected to have Tommy John surgery in the next week, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo. Murphy was one of the top breakout prospects, not just in the Braves system, but all of minor league baseball this season. Murphy is not the typical fireballer synonymous with elbow injuries as his fastball sits between 90-92 mph 

Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays: Caminero was placed on the IL on Wednesday with a Grade 2 left quad strain. Caminero is expected to miss four to six weeks with the injury. It’s likely the injury took place on the final play of Tuesday’s game when Caminero pulled up lame after running through first base. Caminero is the No. 2 prospect in the game behind only the Orioles Jackson Holliday. The infielder debuted for the Rays late last season featuring in seven games for the team over the final week of the season. Caminero was hitting .261/.333/.478 with eight home runs over 34 games with Durham in 2024.

Get prepared for the 2024 NCAA Tournament this weekend…

Want to get ahead? Each day we’ll surface one prospect from recent Baseball America coverage who could be on the rise.

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Jurrangelo Cijntje, BHP, Mississippi State: Cijntje stands out because he pitches with both hands. And when he takes the mound in Charlottesville–probably Saturday night–more people than ever are sure to be introduced to the sophomore, which could provide a cool moment in the spotlight. But he’s not some parlor trick of a pitcher. Cijntje this season is 8-2, 3.55 with 108 strikeouts and 29 walks in 83.2 innings. He has pitched his way into first-round consideration in the draft, thanks to both his performance and his power stuff. Cijntje is also no sure thing to switch pitch. He’s been focusing more and more on just throwing righthanded, where his fastball pushes into the upper 90s. He’s one of the 10 most intriguing players in Regionals this weekend, and you can see the full list below.

In case you missed it…

We ranked every NCAA Tournament team 1-64.