TOP NL UTR PITCHING PERFORMANCE LHP Jerry Keel (LoA Fort Wayne – San Diego) 23 years old 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K, Win Season Stats: 3-2, 2.96 ERA, 48.2 IP, 39 H, 16 ER, 14 BB, 50 K in 8 starts
- A 9th round pick in 2015, Keel touches triple-digit K’s for the first time. His fastball flirts in the low to mid 90’s with sink, but a repeatable delivery of varying speeds had batters off-balance.
- King was the Marlins Top UTR Pitcher for April 2017. Take away back-to-back bad outings (10 IP, 18 H, 12 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) on April 27th and May 3rd, and the 12th rounder (2016) has only allowed 2 earned runs in 39 innings with 40 strikeouts and 5 walks.
- Phillies #21 ranked prospect was the Phillies UTR Top Prospect Pitcher for April and was a 2015 UTR Organizational All-Star.
- Brewers #24 ranked prospect has only allowed one earned run over his last 27 innings
- Hasn’t allowed an earned run since his first appearance on April 8th (15 IP) and currently has a 23:1 K:BB rate.
TOP AL UTR PITCHING PERFORMANCE RHP Kyle Funkhouser (HiA Lakeland – Detroit) 23 years old 7.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 K Season Stats: 4-1, 2.35 ERA, 39 IP, 33 H, 13 ER, 13 BB, 59 K in 8 starts
- The longest outing for the 4th round pick out of Louisville in 2016. It was his first HiA start, as he was promoted on May 17th. And his 10 strikeouts marks a career-high. Funkhouser went 4-1 with a 3.16 ERA while at LoA West Michigan with 49 K’s and 13 walks over 31.1 innings.
- Rodgers has been in the Royals system since 2012 (3rd round), but missed a considerable amount of time 2013 & 2014 (55 IP) due to injuries. The 7 innings of work last night was the longest outing by Rodgers since early 2013; and he’s off to the best start of his career, allowing only 2 ER 0ver his last 4 starts.
Under The Radar Minors 