Reds LHP Tosses An Immaculate Inning

Plus: Carson Williams continues to rake for the Rays, and the prospect injuries continue to pile up.

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Prospect Standouts

Carson Williams, SS, Rays: Williams is having a standout season in Double-A. He continued his strong year on Thursday when he swatted his 11th home run of the season in his team’s win over Birmingham. The blast was part of a 2-for-3 night that also included a walk. He is one of nine minor leaguers with 10 or more of both doubles and homers and 15 or more stolen bases. Four of them are in the Rays’ system.

Moises Ballesteros, C, Cubs: The Iowa Cubs’ only offense on Thursday came from a solo home run from Ballesteros. Fortunately, that’s all they needed. The burly backstop crushed his first Triple-A longball—and 14th of the year overall—while also catching a shutout spun by Trey Supak, Ethan Roberts and Hunter Bigge. Ballesteros is now 6-for-12 in three games with Iowa.

Adam Serwinowski, LHP, Reds: Serwinowski could not have started his night any better. Literally. The lefthander opened his outing against Dunedin by striking out the first three hitters on just nine pitches. He continued cruising the rest of his outing and finished with seven Ks in four shutout frames as part of his team’s eventual 11-inning loss to the D-Jays. Serwinowski has 50 strikeouts in 48.2 innings this year.

Samuel Aldegheri, LHP, Phillies: Aldegheri has been one of the Phillies system’s most productive pitching prospects in 2024. The lefthander has dominated all season at the Class A levels, and he continued doing so on Thursday night. Facing Brooklyn, he struck out nine over five two-run innings with two walks. The outing brings his season total to 83 strikeouts in 59 innings.

Jasson Dominguez, OF, Yankees: The hits keep coming. It’s been a season where the top prospects who haven’t had a notable injury are outnumber by those on the injured list. Yankees’ outfielder Jasson Dominguez has already spent time on the injured list as he continued his rehabilitation from last year’s Tommy John surgery. Now he’s back on the IL. Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone told the reporters on Thursday that Dominguez’s oblique strain is significant and likely will require eight weeks of rest and rehab before he returns to action. That means that Dominguez will likely not be back until mid-to-late August.

Jake Bloss, RHP, Astros: In a surprise move, the Astros promoted their 2023 third-round pick to the major leagues on Thursday, skipping him over Triple-A in the process. Drafted out of Georgetown last July, Bloss has been a big riser in the Astros system in 2024. After a dozen starts between High-A Asheville and Double-A Corpus Christi, Bloss had accumulated a 4-2 record with a 1.74 ERA, 0.82 WHIP and 60 strikeouts across 62 innings. Bloss is the first player from the Astros 2023 draft class to reach the majors and the first Astros draftee to reach MLB since Spencer Arrighetti of the 2021 draft class. Bloss is set to debut today against the Orioles.

A Tigers Infielder To Watch

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

Hao-Yu Lee, 2B, Tigers: Lee has been a fixture of RoboScout’s Double-A rankings all year — to the point where Dylan White highlighted Lee two weeks ago. White noted Lee’s penchant for power despite playing in a ballpark that isn’t exactly conducive to home runs, calling him one of the most underrated hitting prospects in the minor leagues from a fantasy perspective. Lee kept it going yesterday, going 3-for-5 with another home run and a stolen base. Lee is now hitting .306/.379/.533 with 11 homers through 61 games in his first taste of the upper levels. The 21-year-old has had a monster June, hitting .418 with five homers and a 1.244 OPS in 77 plate appearances.

In case you missed it…

This week’s Hot Sheet Show went in-depth on the concerning number of injuries in the minors.