Baseball America Prospect Report — September 10, 2019
Image credit: Nico Hoerner (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
Nico Hoerner, SS, Cubs. Dealing with a rash of injuries at shortstop and a playoff outlook that’s anything but guaranteed, the Cubs called up and immediately insert him into the starting lineup. The 2018 first rounder answered decisively, going 3-for-5 with a triple and four RBI, leading the Cubs to a 10-2 win over San Diego as “Nico, Nico!” chants grew louder at Petco Park.
Hoerner missed two months this year with a broken wrist and was slated to make up some of those at-bats in the Arizona Fall League. Instead, he looks like Chicago’s answer at shortstop for the foreseeable future, as Javier Baez, Addison Russell and Dixon Machado contend with injuries.
While the decision to elevate Hoerner seemed somewhat surprising — he has just 337 career minor league ABs, none of which are above Double-A — the results Monday night were not. The Stanford product can put the ball in play, as evident by his .284/.344/.399 line with Double-A Tennessee this year.
He now finds himself in the middle of a competitive NL playoff race. Chicago is four games back of St. Louis in the NL Central, but is two games clear of the Brewers for the second Wild Card spot. The D-backs (2.5 GB), Phillies (3 GB) and Mets (4 GB) are still within striking distance.
Wander Javier, SS, Twins. Javier had a good night with the bat for low Class A Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League semifinals against Clinton. The infielder had a base knock and also smacked two doubles while coming around to score once. It was a solid performance for Javier, who hit just .177/.278/.323 in 80 games after missing all of 2018 with a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder.
Gilberto Jimenez, OF, Red Sox. Jimenez had the decisive hit for Lowell in game two of the New York-Penn League finals against Brooklyn. The outfielder batted leadoff and hit a two-run single in the second inning which provided enough cushion for Lowell to hold on for the victory. Jimenez had been 3-for-16 during the playoffs, but his two RBIs proved to be the difference maker.
Ronny Henriquez, RHP, Rangers. Henriquez tossed six strong innings for low Class A Hickory in the South Atlantic League finals against Lexington. While his team lost, the righthander allowed two runs on three hits while walking one batter. He also struck out seven batters along the way. Henriquez has completed at least five innings in each of his last four starts.
HITTERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER, POS | AB | R | H | BI | AVG | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Kelly, Carson C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.254 | |
| ARI | MAJ | Kelly, Merrill P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.022 | |
| ARI | MAJ | Lopez, Yoan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| ARI | MAJ | Rojas, Josh LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.260 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Travis, Sam 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.228 | |
| CHC | MAJ | Hoerner, Nico SS | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0.600 | 3B (1) |
| CLE | MAJ | Chang, Yu 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0.220 | HR (1), BB (8) |
| CLE | MAJ | Mercado, Oscar CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.272 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Alvarez, Yordan DH | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.314 | 2 HR (24) |
| HOU | MAJ | Straw, Myles PR-SS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.233 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Stubbs, Garrett LF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.214 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Toro, Abraham 3B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.255 | 3B (2) |
| HOU | MAJ | Tucker, Kyle RF-1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.286 | |
| LAA | MAJ | Rengifo, Luis 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.244 | |
| LAA | MAJ | Walsh, Jared PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.233 | HR (1) |
| MIA | MAJ | Diaz, Isan 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.145 | |
| MIA | MAJ | Dugger, Robert P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| MIL | MAJ | Black, Ray P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| MIL | MAJ | Grisham, Trent LF | 6 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0.264 | 2B (4), 3B (1) |
| NYM | MAJ | Alonso, Pete 1B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.267 | 2 HR (46) |
| OAK | MAJ | Murphy, Sean PH-DH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.222 | BB (1) |
| OAK | MAJ | Neuse, Sheldon 3B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.130 | |
| PHI | MAJ | Garcia, Edgar P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |
| PHI | MAJ | Haseley, Adam CF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.266 | |
| PIT | MAJ | Kramer, Kevin PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.250 | |
| PIT | MAJ | Newman, Kevin 2B | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.316 | |
| PIT | MAJ | Reyes, Pablo LF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.187 | |
| PIT | MAJ | Reynolds, Bryan CF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.329 | 2B (34) |
| PIT | MAJ | Tucker, Cole SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.207 | 2B (9) |
| SD | MAJ | Allen, Austin PH-C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.228 | |
| SD | MAJ | France, Ty 3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.223 | |
| SD | MAJ | Naylor, Josh RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.252 | BB (20) |
| SD | MAJ | Quantrill, Cal P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.083 | |
| SD | MAJ | Urias, Luis SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.186 | |
| SF | MAJ | Dubon, Mauricio 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.286 | SB (2) |
PITCHERS
| TEAM | CLASS | PLAYER | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | ERA | NOTES |
| ARI | MAJ | Kelly, Merrill | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4.68 | L (10-14) |
| ARI | MAJ | Lopez, Yoan | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.93 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Brewer, Colten | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.59 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Hernandez, Darwinzon | 0.1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3.86 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Lakins, Travis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.93 | |
| BOS | MAJ | Shawaryn, Mike | 0.2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8.22 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Abreu, Bryan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0.00 | |
| HOU | MAJ | Perez, Cionel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10.00 | |
| LAA | MAJ | Jewell, Jake | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 6.86 | |
| LAA | MAJ | Sandoval, Patrick | 3.1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5.28 | L (0-3) |
| MIA | MAJ | Dugger, Robert | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4.29 | L (0-2) |
| MIL | MAJ | Black, Ray | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2.45 | |
| PHI | MAJ | Garcia, Edgar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6.34 | |
| SD | MAJ | Quantrill, Cal | 4.1 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 5.12 | L (6-7) |
Comments are closed.