Carlos Correa has been the talk of baseball for a few weeks. When was baseball’s best prospect going to make it to the big leagues? Maybe that was what lit a fire under fellow shortstop prospect Francisco Lindor’s bat.
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Lindor, Grading on the Curve’s No. 8 prospect heading in to 2015, joined Christian Villanueva as the Triple-A players of the week.
Lindor was off to a slow start in 2015. Manning shortstop for the Columbus Clippers, Lindor was slashing a mere .249/.327/.348 heading into June. He had a mere one home run on the season and was looking distracted, if not lost, at the plate. That changed as quick as the calendar page flipped to June 1st.
Lindor went 4-for-6 in a double header to open the week and month of June last Monday. The 21-year old former first round pick (2011) closed the week with three consecutive multi-hit games. It was a great week from start to finish, which earned him his first International League Player of the Week Award of 2015.
Altogether, Lindor went 11-for-26, good for a .423 average which raised his season average to .271. He had four extra base hits on the week, a double, two triples and a home run, doubling his season output. Lindor may have missed his most recent opportunity to be called up when Jose Ramirez was sent down yesterday, but he will surely be up soon for the Indians.
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Kris Bryant. Addison Russell. Kyle Schwarber. Billy McKinney. Christian Villanueva? The Chicago Cubs continue to show week in and week out why they were the top rated farm system in baseball heading into the season and continue to remain near the top despite already calling up their cream of the crop to the big leagues.
Villanueva had a big week for the Iowa Cubs en route to the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week Award. Homering in four straight games will always put you on the radar. The 23-year old third baseman got hot at the right time. The No. 21 prospect in the Cubs system will now have the opportunity to take the reigns, and perhaps make the big league roster, while Javier Baez recovers from his broken finger.
Villanueva went 10-for-30 this past week, hitting those four home runs and driving in 12 while scoring 9 runs. He only struck out twice over that span. He’s now slashing .274/.340/.506 with 9 home runs and 32 RBI over Double and Triple- this season.