Minor League Baseball Featured Series of the Week: Buies Creek vs. Carolina
Carolina Mudcats Offense
Carolina may have one of the deepest lineups in all of minor league baseball as many of the best prospects in the Milwaukee Brewers system are either at AAA or high-A in 2017.
Last season’s top pick, outfielder Corey Ray, is the highest-rated player on the MLB Pipeline Brewers top 30 prospects list at #2, but he’s joined by four more members of the top 30 in the lineup, including three more top-10 players.
Ray was slow to open the season as he returned from a knee injury that he suffered last season. He made his debut in the last week, and in 11 at bats, he’s slashed .273/.333/.545.
The pair of prospects I’m watching closest in Carolina are on the left side of the infield, shortstop Isan Diaz and third baseman Lucas Erceg.
Diaz was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Jean Segura trade, and he’s been a revelation for the team. While he’s opened with rough numbers at the plate in 2017, he hit 20 home runs while flashing solid speed at low-A in 2016. He has played some second base this season as well as that will be his likely major league home, should he make that level.
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Erceg was the Brewers’ second round selection in the 2016 draft, and he’s shown to be an excellent choice. After posting an .895 OPS in 2016 across two levels, he’s hitting .3016/.342/.389 to open the season. While the power hasn’t shown this year, Erceg controls the zone well and has legit 20-25 home run power in his bat.
Patrolling the outfield along with Ray is Trent Clark, a seemingly forgotten prospect in the Brewers system. Clark was the Brewers’ first round selection in 2015, and he’s flashed solid athleticism along the way, though with mixed results at the plate, though his 2016 could be viewed through the lens of injury as well.
The last top-30 guy in the lineup is first baseman Jake Gatewood, a competitive balance selection in 2014, who has progressed well, albeit with some considerable swing-and-miss concerns. This year, he’s really calmed those concerns thus far, slashing .310/.420/.476 to open the season with an 8/13 BB/K over 42 at bats.
Mudcats Pitching
The real depth of the Mudcats is in their pitching. While top prospect Phil Bickford is out due to a suspension currently, their staff still contains six members of the Brewers’ top 30 prospects.
This has led to some starter piggy-backing and some interesting pitching alignments that has left the series starting assignments in question currently.
The one sure assignment is Cody Ponce on Thursday. Ponce has opened the season with two solid starts, throwing 14 innings, allowing just two earned runs with a 0/10 BB/K rate.
The rest of the series is currently marked as “to be determined” on the Carolina Mudcats website. Part of that is due to a double header on Wednesday this week that threw off the pitching rotation some, and part is due to starter-pairing that the Brewers have done this season.
Friday would be the normal spot for where Marcos Diplan and Freddy Peralta have been paired this season. Both are electric young arms, with Diplan having just ridiculous stuff. They’ve combined for 23 strikeouts over 17 innings.
Saturday could see one of Diplan or Peralta or one of the guys that have been doing piggy back starts this season in righty Eric Hanhold, a sixth round selection out of Florida in 2015, or righty Conor Harber, also selected in the 2015 draft in the 16th round out of Oregon.
Sunday still says TBD, but that would fall on Corbin Burnes‘ rotation spot, and that’s one of the few guys who has been making every single start this season. Burnes, the #20 Brewers prospect, per MLB Pipeline, had some helium early in the process last season, but ended up being selected in the fourth round out of St. Mary’s. He threw very well across two levels in 2016 and has thrown 16 innings this season already with an 0.56 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a 6/14 BB/K ratio.
Next: Rancho Cucamonga/Lake Elsinore Series Review
We will look back on Tuesday and see how things went between these two clubs!