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Agustin Ramirez, C, Yankees: Ramirez is one of the system’s most powerful players. Among those with 50 or more balls in play, his 90th percentile exit velocity of 108.1 mph is second only to Rafael Flores. On Tuesday, he took the starring role in a prospect-laden tilt between his Somerset club and Portland, which featured Red Sox top prospects Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel. Ramirez finished the game 4-for-5 with a home run. The blast was his 12th of the season, which vaulted him into a three-way tie for second in the minors.

Braxton Ashcraft, RHP, Pirates: After missing the 2022 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Ashcraft returned in 2023 and opened eyes. On Tuesday, he authored one of the finest outings of his career. Facing Harrisburg—which houses powerful prospects Dylan Crews and Brady House, Ashcraft was masterful. He completed seven shutout innings on 85 pitches while surrendering just four hits and a walk and racking up 10 strikeouts and 20 whiffs. The strikeout total established a new career best for Pittsburgh’s 2018 second-rounder.

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Jairo Iriarte, RHP, White Sox: The White Sox are in the middle of revamping their farm system, and the trade of Dylan Cease to the Padres provided the latest boost. One of the prospects Chicago brought back in that trade was Iriarte, a powerful righthander who is part of a Double-A Birmingham club that is one of the system’s most talented in years. Iriarte faced Chattanooga on Tuesday and spun six innings with 11 strikeouts mixed in along the way. The effort set a career-high in strikeouts for Iriarte, who also finished with 21 whiffs, the best of the night in Double-A.

Ivan Melendez, 1B, D-backs: Melendez has long been prized for his big-time power. On Tuesday, he introduced two more pieces of evidence. The Texas alum touched up Frisco righty Josh Stephan twice in the first six innings for a pair of solo home runs in his team’s extra-inning win. The blasts were part of a four-hit night for Melendez, who finished a triple short of the cycle. He’s got six home runs this season.

Junior Caminero, 2B, Rays: Caminero is one of the minor leagues’ foremost power brokers, and he proved it again on Tuesday night. Facing Charlotte, the 20-year-old slugger went 3-for-6 with his seventh longball of the season. The blast came off of a curveball from Cory Abbott and left the bat at 104 mph. He had three EVs of better than 100 mph in the game. Caminero also appeared at second base for the first time this season. 

Quinn Mathews, LHP, Cardinals: Mathews is one of the more intriguing arms at the lower levels early in 2024. The 2023 fourth-rounder out of Stanford owns a 1.47 ERA and 52 strikeouts over 30.2 innings with Low-A Palm Beach. As Ben Badler noted, Mathews is showing much better stuff compared to his college days, touching 97 with good riding life. The caveat is that he quickly appeared too advanced for the level as a college arm against more inexperience competition. Now we’ll get a chance to see whether the gains stick against better hitters, as the Cardinals promoted him to High-A Peoria on Tuesday.

Mathews was one of several notable promotions detailed on the Prospect Wire on Tuesday, which also has an injury update on Evan Carter and highlights a masterful outing from a Braves righthander. 

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

Angel Genao, SS, Guardians: In 2022, Genao ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the Arizona Complex League. A year later, he struggled at Low-A Lynchburg while recovering from offseason knee surgery. In 2024, he opened scouts’ eyes in minor league spring training and has gotten off to a whizbang start in a return to the Carolina League. He’s already shown a big-time power rebound, with a 90th percentile exit velocity of 1.5 mph more than he showed during the 2023 season. He’s also raised his launch angle 2 full degrees year over year, from 5.4° last season to 7.4° through the first month of this season. The improvements to his ball flight have come with a little bit less contact but more power, including as many home runs (4) as he hit in 72 games at Lynchburg a season ago. Continuing that trend could mean even bigger gains on his prospect stock.