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JJ Wetherholt, SS/2B, Cardinals: Wetherholt went 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs on Sunday. It was his first professional multi-homer game, and it also raised his batting average back up to .300. He's now hitting .300/.425/.466 for Double-A Springfield. In the first inning, Wetherholt yanked a ball onto the grassy berm beyond the right field fence. He then added an even more impressive homer in the eighth inning, as he drove the ball over the 400-foot sign in center field.

Tigers Trio: A week before they all head to Atlanta for the 2025 MLB Futures Game, the Tigers promoted shortstop Kevin McGonigle (ranked third on the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects), center fielder Max Clark (ranked 13th) and catcher/first baseman Josue Briceño (ranked 75th) to Double-A Erie from High-A West Michigan. The trio immediately help make Erie one of the most prospect-laden teams in the minors. McGonigle was hitting .372/.462/.648 at West Michigan. Clark was hitting .285/.430/.427 and Briceño was hitting .296/.422/.602 with 15 home runs in just 55 games. With the help of the trio of Top 100 Prospects, the High-A West Michigan went 54-26 (.675) with the best record in all of the full-season minor leagues.

Marco Luciano, OF, Giants: At this point, Luciano seems stuck in Triple-A. He's shown big power, but not enough to make up for his issues making contact. Sunday was a step in the right direction, as he went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs and a double for Triple-A Sacramento. The homers were his 15th and 16th of the season, while the double was his 13th this year. Luciano is hitting .229/.344/.441 with a 30.4% strikeout rate this year. Luciano is still only 23, so there is still plenty of time for him to correct some of his swing-and-miss issues.

Konnor Griffin, SS, Pirates: Pittsburgh’s No. 1 prospect got a chance to take a breather on Sunday, as he played DH after starting at shortstop in each of the team's past nine games. But he still racked up plenty of action, as he went 3-for-6 with a double, two runs scored, two RBIs and three steals in three attempts. Griffin has been one of the best players in the South Atlantic League since the day he arrived. He's hitting .322/.421/.522 with six doubles, four homers and 14 steals (in 18 attempts) in his 23 games with the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Overall he's hitting .333/.404/.532 with 16 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs and 40 steals in 73 games this season.

Owen Caissie, OF, Cubs: Cassie went 3-for-5 with a double and a walk on Sunday for Triple-A Iowa, continuing what has been a torrid week for the 22-year-old. Cassie has had four consecutive multi-hit games this week, as he's sandwiched a pair of two homer games around a pair of three-hit games with a double. Caissie is hitting .476 this month and is now hitting .280/.388/.556 overall with 16 home runs and 20 doubles in 70 games.

Kaelen Culpepper, SS, Twins: Culpepper, a recent addition to the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects rankings, went 3-for-4 with a walk on Sunday for Double-A Wichita. Since getting promoted to Double-A on June 21, Culpepper has hit safely in 11 of 13 games. He's hitting .321/.406/.429 for Wichita and .299/.389/.469 overall this year with 11 home runs and 18 steals in 67 games.

Editor’s Picks

Staff Draft 3.0: Baseball America staffers reconvened for their final staff draft before the real thing on Sunday. Here’s how they made the first 40 picks of the 2025 MLB Draft. Read more…

RoboScout Rankings: RoboScout fired up its processors for a fresh batch of prospect standouts to target in dynasty leagues. Read more…

Nats Fire Rizzo: Washington axed its key decision-maker just a week before the draft. It’s surprising timing, but a move that isn’t completely unprecedented, as J.J. Cooper explains. Read more…

Baseball America Helium Pick Of The Day

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

Edward Florentino, OF, Pirates: Since his promotion to Low-A Bradenton, Florentino had posted a 125 wRC+ with one home run and six stolen bases across 53 plate appearances entering Sunday. Then he went deep two more times yesterday. We highlighted him a couple of weeks ago for his strong underlying DSL data, and while his production has carried over, there are some early flags. His strikeout rate sits at 29%, and his contact rate remains low, suggesting some passivity at the plate. Still, in RoboScout's recent midseason update, Florentino ranked as a top-30 hitting prospect with a higher peak projection than Max Clark.

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• Orioles righty Braxton Bragg is back on the IL with forearm issues, per MLB.com’s Jake Rill.

• Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana began a rehab assignment over the weekend as he returns from an oblique injury.

• Mets righty Jack Wenninger struck out 11 batters over six scoreless innings yesterday. Keep an eye on him when we update our Mets Top 30 later today.

• Felnin Celesten went 3-for-5 with two doubles yesterday for Low-A Modesto. It hasn’t been the most impactful start to the season for the Mariners infielder, but he had four extra-base hits over the first week of July.

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