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Sal Stewart, 1B/3B, Reds: Every player dreams of reaching the majors, but earning your first career hit elevates that moment to something truly special. Stewart wasted little time making an impression, lining a clean single off Chris Bassitt in his first big-league at-bat on Monday. Stewart went 1-for-3 in his debut, which the Reds won on a two-run walk-off single by Noelvi Marte.

At just 21 years old, Stewart already stands out for his mature approach at the plate, combining advanced pitch recognition with impressive strike-zone discipline rarely seen at his age. While he started at first base in his debut (and was replaced in the eighth inning defensively), he saw the majority of his minor league reps at third, giving the Reds flexibility as they shape the infield around their emerging young core. In the short term, the Reds hope Stewart can inject some energy into their push for the season, as they entered Tuesday four games back of the final NL wild card spot.

Stewart isn’t the only recent callup with a chance to make some noise down the stretch…

Carter Jensen, C, Royals: Kansas City native Carter Jensen is expected to make his big league debut this week for his hometown team after the Royals called him up on Monday once rosters expanded for September. Jensen, 22, ranks as MLB's No. 88 prospect and was in the midst of an impressive stretch with Triple-A Omaha, where he hit .288/.404/.647 with 14 home runs in 43 games. Now, the powerful backstop has a chance to impact the Royals' playoff pursuit. Kansas City entered Tuesday 2.5 games back of the final wild card spot in the American League. As the Baseball America Prospect Report pointed out on Friday, both Jensen and newly-returned slugger Jac Caglianone have the power to reshape the final month of the season for the Royals. Jensen's raw power that he flashed at the Futures Game has started to shine through more consistently in both July and August.

Harry Ford, C, Mariners: Jensen is one of two prominent catching prospects arriving in the big leagues in September. Mariners 22-year-old backstop Harry Ford is the other. Ford has been a steady performer all season for Triple-A Tacoma slashing .283/.408/.460 with 16 homers and nearly as many walks (74) to strikeouts (88). Ford’s combination of plate skills, bat-to-ball and impressive athleticism is unusual for a catcher and will make him an intriguing addition to the Mariners’ mix down the stretch, although it’s unclear how frequently Ford will start given Cal Raleigh’s presence behind the plate and Mitch Garver’s role as Seattle’s backup catcher.

Luis Morales, RHP, Athletics: Morales is quietly making a case as one of MLB's most impressive second half pitching callups. The 22-year-old delivered another electric outing on the road against the Cardinals, striking out a career-high eight batters while issuing just one walk over 91 pitches (60 for strikes). He generated 12 whiffs and touched 98 mph multiple times. Now sporting a 1.59 ERA with 30 strikeouts to 11 walks, Morales continues to gain confidence and command with each start. With the A's pitching development on the rise at all levels of their system, Morales maintaining this trajectory and settling into a long-term rotation spot would be a win for the A's.

Thomas White, LHP, Marlins: White's excellent season will last a little longer. Miami promoted the team's top pitching prospect to Triple-A Jacksonville. This will be White's third stop of the season. He started the year at High-A Beloit, and then dominated in 10 starts with Double-A Pensacola. White is 4-3, 2.13 in 19 starts this season. He's allowed just 52 hits in 80.1 innings, walking 41 while striking out 128. White has been even better lately. In five starts in August, he went 2-0, 1.07 with a .174 opponents average and 42 strikeouts in 25.1 innings.

JR Ritchie, RHP, Braves: Ritchie's breakout this season has been one of the most encouraging developments in the Braves' system. The 22-year-old continued that run Monday, throwing five scoreless innings against Triple-A Durham with seven strikeouts, three walks and just two hits allowed. Ritchie has now thrown 11 consecutive scoreless innings with 18 strikeouts over that stretch. Ritchie mostly cruised on the strength of his 93 mph fastball, but he also mixed in two separate breaking balls and an 86.5 mph changeup that generated a pair of whiffs as well.

Drew Gilbert, OF, Giants: Gilbert connected for his second major league home run on Monday, continuing a solid start to his MLB tenure. The former first-round pick has shown flashes of the bat speed and compact power that made him a top prospect. His approach at the plate remains aggressive, but he’s handled the transition to big-league pitching well so far. Gilbert's passionate style of play has also endeared himself to Giants fans early on. Though it's still early, his combination of tools, effort and presence suggests he could carve out a long-term role in San Francisco’s outfield, especially as the club looks to inject more youth and athleticism into its roster moving forward.

Editor’s Picks

10 Statcast Standouts: Eli Ben-Porat is back with 10 more players of note, headlined by new Royals callup Carter Jensen. Last week, we asked if Jonah Tong's fastball is the closest thing to Spencer Strider's 2023 fastball and took a look at Abimelec Ortiz's magical trifecta of major league skills. This week we'll discuss:

• Why Carter Jensen is a shining example of modern power hitters

• Rainiel Rodriguez looking Top 100-caliber

• Three other young catchers to compare to Rodriguez

• Two players with great tools, but terrible launch angles

• One of the most unusual analytical profiles in the minors

• What to expect from Jimmy Crooks

• A deep dive on Noah Schultz

You can dive deep into all 10 Statcast Standouts here.

RoboScout’s Top Prospects: Somehow, the final month of fantasy is already here. Check out Dylan White’s latest installment of RoboScout. Read more…

Pitching Data Standouts: Geoff Pontes’ last installment of August dives deep on 10 pitchers with noteworthy Statcast data. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

Jaron DeBerry, RHP, Brewers: Promoted to Double-A Wisconsin to begin August, DeBerry has kicked his breakout season into hyperspeed this month. One of the more underrated pitching prospects in baseball, DeBerry has a variety of good traits that could portend future success—something that was very much on display in his first month with Biloxi.

A 2024 third-round pick out of Dallas Baptist, he was viewed as an extreme money-saver at the time, signing for just $25,000. Since then, DeBerry has proven this to be one of the best draft values in recent memory, especially as he looks likely to be headed to the major leagues by the end of 2026.   

In August, DeBerry made four starts, allowing five earned runs while striking out 26 batters to five walks across 24 innings. He went five or more innings in all four appearances and went six or more in three of them. His most impressive outing came on Aug. 23 when he threw seven scoreless against Double-A Chattanooga with nine strikeouts, no walks and four hits. DeBerry doesn’t generate a high number of whiffs, but he does consistently set hitters up by moving the ball around the zone with six different shapes, leading to lots of looking strikes.  

DeBerry’s arsenal, while lacking power, has a variety of interesting shapes. He generates high spin rates on a trio of breaking balls. His primary pitch is a high-80s cutter that might be more of a cut-fastball than cutter. The pitch sits at 88 mph with spin rates in the 2700-2800 rpm range.

He’ll mix in a low-launch, four-seam fastball that plays above its low-90s velocity and could be an above-average or better pitch if he adds a few ticks of velocity in the future. DeBerry additionally mixes a slider, curveball, sinker and changeup, giving him a deep bag of tricks to keep hitters guessing. 

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• The Cubs swapped a pair of outfield prospects, sending Owen Caissie back to Triple-A Iowa while calling up Kevin Alcantara.

• After hitting just .195 with a .623 OPS through 113 big league at-bats, the Angels sent Christian Moore back to Triple-A.

• The Orioles promoted Enrique Bradfield to Triple-A. 

• Jarlin Susana has right triceps soreness, according to Mark Zuckerman.

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