Prospect Wire, powered by Louisville Slugger, is Baseball America’s new free home for in-season daily news, analysis and filterable season stats for every player ranked in a Top 30. Check that out here.

Heston Kjerstad, OF, Orioles: Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer reported that the Orioles are recalling Kjerstad. The outfielder/first baseman is hitting .349/.431/.744 this year with a minor league leading 10 home runs. Kjerstad has a whole fields approach, as despite his power numbers, he’s not particularly pull happy. He’s as comfortable hitting to the opposite power alley as he is yanking a ball down the line. He’s played 11 games in the outfield this year (seven in right field and four in left field) and eight games at first base. You can find Kjerstad in our weekly Hot Sheet as well. 

Parker Meadows, OF, Tigers: Meadows doesn’t have to hit a lot to be a useful regular thanks to his excellent center field defense, but he has to hit more than he has so far this season. Meadows hit his second home run of the season on Monday, but he also struck out in his other three at-bats, so it was somewhat of a mixed bag. Meadows is hitting .093/.222/.241. Meadows is striking out in 38% of his plate appearances this season. He has swiped three bases in three tries.

Colton Cowser, OF, Orioles: Cowser had a brutal big league debut last season, hitting .115/.286/.148 in 77 plate appearances. His follow-up is going much, much better and serves as a useful reminder as Jackson Holliday struggles. Cowser hit his sixth home run in 60 plate appearances this season in Baltimore’s 4-2 win over the Angels. Cowser is hitting .364/.400/.800.

Jared Jones, RHP, Pirates: Jones was battling for a spot in the Pirates rotation during spring training. Now, he’s arguably the club’s ace. Jones allowed four hits and just one run (a Rhys Hoskins home run) in six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Jones has struck out seven or more in every one of his five MLB starts. Jones’ fastball/slider combo was as devastating as usual. He got 13 swings and misses with his fastball, which touched 101 mph, and he got another 11 swings and misses on his slider. He also has been filling the strike zone. He had a 69% strike percentage yesterday.

Prospect Wire Has Updated Season Stats!

Our new tool for 2024, the Prospect Wire powered by Louisville Slugger, has filterable season stats for every player ranked in a Top 30 at the bottom of the page. The image above shows leaders by total bases, headlined by recent Orioles callup Heston Kjerstad. Here are some other leaders below.

Home runs

Heston Kjerstad, Orioles (10)
Joey Loperfido, Astros (10)
Coby Mayo, Orioles (7)
Agustin Ramirez, Yankees (7)

Steals

Chandler Simpson, Rays (14)
Ryan Bliss, Mariners (12)

Strikeouts

Cade Povich, Orioles (33)
Jared Jones, Pirates (32)
Luis Gil, Yankees (29)
Chayce McDermott, Orioles (28)
Jack Leiter, Rangers (28)

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

Trystan Vrieling, RHP, Yankees: The best pitching performance of the season might belong to Vrieling, who pitched 7.2 no-hit innings against a talented Hartford lineup on Friday. The Yankees drafted the Gonzaga product in 2022, but he missed all of 2023 with an elbow fracture. Vrieling struggled in his return to the mound in the Arizona Fall League. This spring, Vrieling was a helium name on the backfields and was then aggressively assigned to Double-A Somerset despite zero affiliated innings. Over his first three starts Vrieling’s numbers speak for themselves. He’s 2-0 with a single earned run and five hits allowed over 18.2 innings. Vrieling has showed a solid four pitch mix, with a four-seam fastball at 92-94 mph, a mid-to-high-80s cutter, a gyro slider at 84-86 mph, a curveball and changeup. Vrieling’s rapid ascent hints at a early 2025 ETA. He’s showing starter traits and the early returns are excellent.