Kumar Rocker leaned on his fastball-slider combination has he ascended the minors this year. Last night you saw why. You’re also going to want to see Travis Sykora’s whiff reel from last night, and we end with strangest story of the 2024 minor league season.

Kumar Rocker, RHP, Rangers: Rocker used his dastardly slider to keep Mariners hitters mostly at bay in his MLB debut. The Rangers righty, who surged to No. 29 in our recent Top 100 update amid a strong second half, struck out seven batters over four innings while allowing just one run, a fourth-inning solo homer to Justin Turner. His 17 swings and misses were fourth-most among big leaguers Thursday and 13 came against his slider. As he has for much of the season, Rocker mostly relied on the combination of his upper-90s heater and wicked slider to get batters out.

Roman Anthony, OF, Red Sox: Earlier this week, Anthony took over the No. 1 spot on BA’s Top 100 list. On Thursday, he showed why he earned that designation. Facing Syracuse, the outfielder went 1-for-2 with a double and drew three walks. All of that added up to four times on base and brought his overall Triple-A numbers to a scintillating .340/.433/.528 with nine doubles, three homers and nearly as many walks (19) as strikeouts (23).

Carson Williams, SS, Rays: Williams has plenty of traits that could one day make him a very valuable player. One of those aspects is his power, which when combined with his stellar glovework should lead to the accumulation of plenty of WAR once he reaches the big leagues. He reached a milestone on Thursday when he crushed his 20th home run of the season.

In doing so, he repeated the feat he achieved last year and joined an interesting group for shortstops 21 years or younger with 20 or more home runs in a season spent solely at the upper levels of the minor leagues.

2023
Jordan Lawlar
Orelvis Martinez

2022
Ronny Mauricio
Anthony Volpe
Orelvis Martinez

2021
Bobby Witt Jr.

Travis Sykora, RHP, Nationals: With a shot at the Carolina League finals on the line, Sykora delivered. The tall righthander was dominant from the jump on Thursday night during his team’s win over Carolina, which sent the team to the championship round. Fredericksburg will face the winner of Friday’s decisive game between Charleston and Kannapolis. Though he did not figure in the decision, Sykora was outstanding for five shutout innings. Before he was lifted, Skyora—the Nationals’ 2023 third-rounder out of high school in Texas—allowed just a hit and a walk while striking out nine. He got 19 swings and misses and retired the final 12 hitters he faced.

Travis Bazzana, 2B, Guardians: Bazzana found himself in the thick of Lake County’s 5-4 win over Dayton Thursday night. The No. 18 MLB prospect delivered. Bazzana hit a solo homer in the fifth inning, then drove in the go-ahead run an inning later with a two-run single to go 2-for-4. The win propelled Lake County into the High-A Midwest League finals. The No. 1 pick in the draft, Bazzana has shown a bit more swing and miss than expected given his proclivity for contact in college, but the Guardians’ top prospect appears to be ending the season on a high note.

Twins Cut Catcher For Tipping Pitches In Game With Playoff Implications

The Twins released catcher Derek Bender, their 2024 sixth-round pick, on Thursday for tipping pitches to opposing batters in a Low-A game last week, as first reported by ESPN and confirmed by Baseball America. Minnesota opted to release Bender following an internal investigation into the catcher’s behavior. Bender alerted opposing batters to which pitch types were coming in a 6-0 loss that ended High-A Fort Myers’ playoff hopes.

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

Santiago Suarez, RHP, Rays: Facing a 1-0 hole against Kannapolis last night, the Charleston RiverDogs needed a win to keep their season—and hopes for a fourth straight Carolina League championship—alive. Suarez gave them just what the doctor ordered. The righthander, acquired from the Marlins before the 2023 season, struck out nine and walked nobody over five one-run innings. The strikeout total marked the third time in 2024 that Suarez has punched out nine more hitters and came one shy of the high-water mark he set on May 31.

In Case You Missed It

Here’s some video of Suarez from earlier this season.