We identified Mathews as a potential breakout early in 2024, but we’re hard-pressed to find anyone who could’ve envisioned this type of dominant campaign from start to finish. Elsewhere, Jack Perkins turned in the latest strong start for an Athletics pitching prospect. He has teamed with Mason Barnett to form an impressive duo in Double-A Midland’s rotation.

Quinn Mathews, LHP, Cardinals: Mathews has had one of the best pitching seasons in the minor leagues. In one year, the Stanford alum ascended from Low-A Palm Beach to Triple-A Memphis, where on Thursday he struck out five hitters over six innings of three-run ball. In doing so, he reached 202 strikeouts for the season. According to Memphis’ press release, Mathews is just the 10th Cardinals minor leaguer to reach 200 Ks in a season. The previous minor leaguer to achieve the milestone was Arizona’s Brandon Pfaadt in 2022, when he struck out 218 hitters.

Jack Perkins, RHP, Athletics: Perkins is one of the more interesting arms in the Oakland system. Two stints on the injured list limited his season to 76 innings. Even so, he still managed to rack up 100 strikeouts while walking 35. On Thursday, he put forth one of finest efforts of the year. Facing Frisco in the Texas League playoffs, Perkins lasted six two-hit innings while striking out a dozen and walking nobody. Though unofficial, Perkins’ dozen Ks established a season high and marked the fourth time this season he’d finished a game with 10 or more strikeouts.

Deyvison De Los Santos, 1B, Marlins: All season long, De Los Santos has been putting on one of the best displays of power in the minor leagues. On Thursday, he put an exclamation point on his year. The slugging first baseman crushed his 40th home run of the season. The blast left the bat at 112.5 mph and traveled an estimated 476 feet. He is the first minor leaguer to hit 40 or more home runs since MJ Melendez in 2021.

Adael Amador, 2B, Rockies: Amador hasn’t had the season he wanted. In the regular year, Amador—who entered the season as Colorado’s top prospect and made his big league debut—hit .230/.343/.376 over 100 games with Double-A Hartford. The Yard Goats’ season ended on Thursday with a loss to Somerset, but not without one of Amador’s best performances of the year. The 21-year-old went 4-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs. On the downside, Amador’s two errors did lead to an unearned run.

Cooper Pratt, SS, Brewers: For the second time this year, Pratt will be part of a minor league playoff series. On Wednesday, he was at shortstop as the High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers fell to the Lake County Captains in the Midwest League Championship Series. A day later, he got another crack in the ring. The Brewers promoted Pratt, 20, to Double-A Biloxi on Thursday, which trailed Montgomery 1-0 in the Southern League South Division Series. Pratt, whom the Brewers chose out of high school in Mississippi in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, has been a part of three playoff teams in the same season. He helped Low-A Carolina to the first-half division title in the Carolina League, then spent the latter part of his regular season boosting Wisconsin to the second-best record in the MWL. Pratt played shortstop and batted second in Biloxi’s 5-1 win to even the series Thursday, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. For the year, Pratt hit .277/.362/.406 with 15 doubles, eight home runs and 27 stolen bases.

Check Out The Logos For MiLB’s Two Newest Teams

The 2025 season will see the debut of two new clubs: the Columbus Clingstones (Double-A Braves) and the Hub City Spartanburgers (High-A Rangers). Columbus will replace Atlanta’s current Southern League affiliate (the Mississippi Braves) in Pearl, Miss., while Hub City (aka Spartanburg, S.C.) will replace Texas’ current Low-A affiliate (the Down East Wood Ducks) in Kinston, N.C. and then flip levels with the Hickory Crawdads, the club’s current High-A affiliate in the South Atlantic League.

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

K.C. Hunt, RHP, Brewers: Hunt played a leading role in keeping Double-A Biloxi’s season alive last night, allowing just one run on three hits over 7.2 innings while striking out five batters and walking none. Hunt was one of 20+ pitchers Dylan White identified earlier this week as someone to target after Hunt emerged as a potential midrotation starter despite minimal draft pedigree.

In Case You Missed It