- Escobar starts the 2017 season cracking the Pirates Top 30, coming in at #29 according to Baseball America. The 20-year-old already has a fastball with a 60-rating with reports stating that he generates outstanding arm speed that clocks his fastball up to 97 mph. The start yesterday marks the first year of full season ball with West Virginia. For a really good comprehensive report about Escobar, check out Pirates Breakdown.
- Perez gets assigned to the new Houston Hi-A affiliate Buies Creek in a season where he’ll only be a ripe 19 years old. The converted infielder is already ranked within the Astro’s Top 5 across many publications. He was regarded as having the best arm coming out of the 2014 International signing class in 2015. Perez has three near plus pitches working for him and throws them with decent control. Small sample sizes from 2015 (50 IP) and 2016 (66.2 IP) with LoA Quad Cities had Perez registering a very impressive strike out percentage of 27%. The right-hander’s fastball runs at 92-94 and tops out at 96 mph.
TOP NL UTR PITCHING PERFORMANCE RHP Luis Escobar (LoA West Virginia – Pittsburgh) 20 years old 5 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 1.80 ERA National League – Starters RHP Ryan Olson (LoA Dayton – Cincinnati) 22 years old 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, Win 1-0 LHP Manuel Rondon (LoA South Bend – Chicago Cubs) 22 years old 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1.59 ERA, Win 1-0 LHP Jerry Keel (LoA Fort Wayne – San Diego) 23 years old 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1.42 ERA LHP Cole Irvin (HiA Clearwater – Philadelphia) 23 years old 6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, Win 1-0 RHP Ryan Helsley (HiA Palm Beach – St. Louis) 22 years old 5 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K RHP Cody Ponce (HiA Carolina – Milwaukee) 22 years old 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, Win 1-0
- The 2nd round pick from 2015 dropped out of the Brewers 2017 Top 10, falling to #16 from #9 in 2016. He was a UTR-OAS last season, but was dealt a set-back last season dealing with an arm issue out of Spring Training.
- The big-bodied (6′ 8″- 240 lbs) lefty is off to a great start.
TOP AL UTR PITCHING PERFORMANCE RHP Franklin Perez (HiA Buies Creek – Houston) 19 years old 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, Win 1-0 American League – Starters LHP Tim Viehoff (LoA Clinton – Seattle) 23 years old 5 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K RHP Reggie McClain (HiA Modesto – Seattle) 24 years old 6.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 1.35 ERA American League – Relief RHP Max Cordy (LoA Cedar Rapids – Minnesota) 23 years old 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
- Doesn’t get any more UTR than a 40th round draft (2015) pick. Cordy can get the strikeouts (11.6 K/9) inducing an 85% K-swinging rate from his 42 K’s last season in 32.2 innings. He needs to cut down on the free passes (5.2 BB/9) which we should see this season.
Under The Radar Minors 