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If Tigers fans want a glimpse into their team's future, they'd do well to look at the top third of High-A West Michigan's lineup. There, they'll find a potent mix of power, patience and positional value. Their names are Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle and Josue Briceño. On Tuesday, those three hitters were responsible for six of their team's 13 hits, all four of its extra-base hits and six of its nine runs. Briceño went 4-for-4 with a double, a walk and his 13th home run of the season. McGonigle added a longball of his own, and Clark collected three hits—including a double—out of the leadoff spot. Talk about earning your stripes.

Cooper Ingle, C, Guardians: Ingle has put together an excellent first third of the season. That trend continued on Tuesday when, as the leadoff man for Double-A Akron, he showed hittability, power and patience during his team's win over Chesapeake. By the time the night was finished, Ingle—Cleveland's fourth-rounder two drafts ago—had racked up three singles, a walk and his sixth home run of the year. He scored half of his team's six runs and drove home a pair as well.

Cristian Hernandez, SS, Cubs: It's taken a bit longer than expected—beginning one's career in a pandemic has a way of delaying development—but Hernandez looks like he's delivering on the promise he showed as an amateur, when he was one of the top players available in his class. Hernandez turned heads on the backfields during spring training, and has continued doing so in the Midwest League. His excellent day on Tuesday helped South Bend bury Great Lakes. In all, Hernandez went 4-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and scored twice. He also stole his 23rd base of the season, vaulting him into a four-way tie for third place in the league.

Khal Stephen, RHP, Blue Jays: Before earning a promotion to High-A Vancouver, it was becoming painfully clear that Stephen was just a touch too good for the Florida State League. With Dunedin, Stephen—a Mississippi State product drafted by Toronto in the second round last summer—rung up 48 strikeouts in 39.1 innings while allowing just 29 hits and seven walks. FSL hitters breathed a sigh of relief when Stephen was shipped north on May 20. Now, they must have thought, he's the Northwest League's problem. They were right. Stephen dazzled on Tuesday, striking out 11 Tri-City hitters over six two-run frames. In doing so, he eclipsed the career high of nine strikeouts he set in his second turn of the season.

Aroon Escobar, 2B, Phillies: A recent addition to the Top 100 Prospects, Aroon Escobar has continued to mash in the Florida State League. His latest display came Tuesday, when he swatted a pair of home runs in Clearwater's loss to Bradenton. The homers were Escobar's ninth and tenth of the season, catapulting him past Yankees prospect Dillon Lewis (who was promoted on Tuesday to High-A Hudson Valley) and into the Florida State League lead. The blasts also helped Escobar bolster his league-best .324 batting average and creep within one of Pirates prospect Konnor Griffin for the top spot in total bases.

Editor’s Picks

Improving Draft Stock: Carlos Collazo examines how the top 30 prospects in our preseason draft rankings fared this spring. Read more…

Winners & Losers: With the NCAA Tournament regionals in the books, Jacob Rudner runs through some winners and losers. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

The backfields in Arizona, Florida and the Dominican Republic are prime places to unearth hidden gems. With a dazzling outing on Tuesday, Giants righthander Keyner Martinez looks like he might fit that description. The 20-year-old signed with San Francisco in 2023 but did not debut until a season later, when he took the mound for the first time in the Arizona Complex League. He worked solely as a reliever in 2024 and struck out 23 hitters over 32.2 innings.

He's moved into a starter's role this season—though his outing Tuesday was a piggyback in relief of rehabber Nick Zwack—and has already punched out two more hitters than a year ago. ... and he's done it in exactly half the innings.

On Tuesday, he mainly used two pitches—a crispy fastball between 95-97 mph that topped out at 98 and a sweepy slider in the low 80s—to strike out six hitters over 3.2 innings of four-hit, one-run ball without a walk to blemish his line. He also threw a couple of nascent changeups in the high 80s. The strikeout total matched the career high he set on May 23.

Beyond its velocity, the fastball showed plenty of life and angle, and Martinez proved adept at dotting it on the outside corner to righties. He also demonstrated an ability to land his breaking ball for called strikes or sweep it into the dirt to get hitters to corkscrew themselves into the dust of the batter's box.

There's plenty more development to come, but with two excellent pitches and a solid ability to command the strike zone, it's easy to see why Martinez's arrow is pointing up.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Rays righty Brody Hopkins struck out nine batters over six innings last night. He has 17 strikeouts to just one run allowed over his last 11 innings with Double-A Montgomery.

• Orelvis Martinez and Samuel Basallo each homered twice on Tuesday.

• The Reds activated Cam Collier off the IL and assigned him to High-A Dayton.

• The Mets called up infielder Ronny Mauricio.

• Brewers catcher Jeferson Quero is back in Triple-A after a lengthy rehab assignment.

• Pirates infielder Wyatt Sanford was promoted to Low-A Bradenton and promptly homered in his first at-bat.

• Bryce Eldridge was promoted to Triple-A.

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