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Brock Wilken, 3B, Brewers: Wilken has been unstoppable in May. On Wednesday, he homered for the third consecutive game, and now has seven homers over his last 10 games for Double-A Biloxi. Wilken's first professional season got off to a rocky start last year when he was hit in the face by a fastball in early April. The pitch resulted in multiple facial fractures that required surgery. After a long road to recovery, Wilken looks back to his best form, as he's enjoying a renaissance season with Biloxi, hitting .241/.426/.560 with 35 walks to 39 strikeouts. Wilken is a slugging corner infielder with good on-base skills and plus power.

Max Clark, OF, Tigers: This week is a homecoming of sorts for the Tigers’ No. 2 prospect, who returns to his home state of Indiana with High-A West Michigan to take on Fort Wayne. After a quiet game on Tuesday, Clark went 2-for-5 with a home run as the Whitecaps defeated the TinCaps 7-0. Clark is hitting .310/.441/.440 on the season with an impressive 27 walks to 19 strikeouts. Padres top prospect Leo De Vries was on the other side of the field. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, in what was billed as a clash of two of the top positional prospects in baseball.

Gage Jump, LHP, Athletics: The A's 2024 supplemental second-round pick has been on a rocket ship this spring. After dominating the High-A Midwest League for his first six appearances of the season, Jump was promoted to Double-A Midland after last week's series with West Michigan concluded. The lefthander out of LSU made his Double-A debut on Wednesday night tossing six scoreless innings against San Antonio, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out six. Jump displays a combination of velocity, movement and release traits that make his fastball a plus offering. The development of his command of his secondaries has led to excellent results in his professional debut.

T.J. Nichols, RHP, Rays: The Rays drafted Nichols out of Arizona in 2023 and after a solid professional debut with Low-A Charleston, Nichols has been excellent to begin 2025 with High-A Bowling Green. On Wednesday, Nichols allowed just two of the 20 batters he faced to reach, as he struck out 12. After seven appearances with Bowling Green to begin 2025, Nichols has pitched to a 1.93 ERA with 45 strikeouts to three walks and a .192 opponent's batting average. Nichols mixes a four-seam fastball at 95-97 mph with a mid-to-high-80s slider and a changeup at 86-88 mph. Nichols is an underrated name in a Rays farm system that often has more than a few hidden gems.

Chase Burns, RHP, Reds: In a Wednesday afternoon matinee against Double-A Birmingham, Burns, one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, tossed five innings, allowing one run on two hits, no walks and seven strikeouts. Burns made one mistake on the afternoon, as outfielder DJ Gladney homered to lead off the fifth inning. Up to that point, Burns had retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced and none had reached second base. Burns generated 10 swinging strikes during the contest as he once again leaned on his fastball and slider combination to overwhelm Birmingham's lineup. On the season, Burns has now made seven starts pitching to a 2.35 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 48 strikeouts to seven walks over 30.2 innings. He is one of the top pitching prospects in the game, and Burns could be in line for a promotion to Triple-A by the end of May.

Check out additional wires on Zach Ehrhard, Dalton Rushing, Grant Taylor and Sem Robberse below.

Editor’s Picks

Rule 5 Success: Behind a new pitch, Shane Smith has emerged as a very unlikely Rule 5 success story for the White Sox. Read more…

Comparing Statcast Data: Geoff Pontes dives into the early-season numbers for Sebastian Walcott, Jesús Made and Leo De Vries. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

Esmerlyn Valdez, 1B/OF, Pirates: It's been a dream opening month for the Pirates outfield prospect. On Wednesday, Valdez hit his 10th home run of the season in a 3-for-5 effort at the plate. Over 34 games with High-A Greensboro to begin the season, Valdez is hitting .323/.389/.623 with 10 home runs and 31 RBIs. Valdez leads the South Atlantic League in home runs, RBIs, total bases and hits. He also ranks second in OPS, slugging, isolated slugging and doubles. Despite the excellent production, Valdez shows higher whiff rates and fringe-average swing decisions, leading to some questions around how he'll fare against more experienced pitching. His exit velocity data and launch angles are excellent, as Valdez has a max EV of 114 mph this season and an average launch angle of 15 degrees on balls hit in play at 95+ mph. Valdez is a pop-up prospect from the first month of the season with plus raw power that deserves monitoring.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Roki Sasaki will be shut down from throwing, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

• Yankees OF Spencer Jones is dealing with an intercostal injury.

• Brewers RHP Logan Henderson has earned himself a longer look in the majors.

• Astros prospect Shay Whitcomb and Phillies prospect Gabriel Rincones each had two-homer days yesterday.

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