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Prospect Roundup: Games of April 6

Robert stays hot for Dash; Singer impresses in pro debut
Luis Robert ranks second among all Class A Advanced players with seven RBIs in his first three games. (Chris Robertson/MiLB.com)
April 7, 2019

White Sox OF Luis Robert, Class A Advanced Winston-Salem: 3-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 2B -- For the first time in team history, the Dash are 3-0 to begin a season. The main catalyst behind the early success is the fourth-ranked White Sox prospect, who's off to quite the start in his own

White Sox OF Luis Robert, Class A Advanced Winston-Salem: 3-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 2B -- For the first time in team history, the Dash are 3-0 to begin a season. The main catalyst behind the early success is the fourth-ranked White Sox prospect, who's off to quite the start in his own right. After homering twice in the season opener on Thursday, Robert rapped out a pair of hits Friday and strung together his third consecutive multi-hit effort Saturday with a 3-for-4 showing. MLB.com's No. 39 overall prospect showed off his 65-grade speed by beating out an infield single in the second inning that plated a run. Three innings later, the Cuba native lined a double to left field and scored on Zach Remillard's infield single two batters later. In his final at-bat, Robert shot a single to center for his seventh hit in 13 at-bats. Gameday box score 

Rangers OF Julio Pablo Martinez, Class A Hickory: 2-for-4, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 3 R -- One of the more intriguing prospects in the Rangers system because of his potential to move up quickly, MLB.com's No. 86 prospect went 1-for-8 in his first two full-season contests. He may have turned the page against Lakewood, legging out a triple, stealing a base (60-grade speed on full display, clearly) and scoring three times to help lead the Crawdads to victory. Gameday box score
Royals RHP Brady Singer, Class A Advanced Wilmington: 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K -- Although the Blue Rocks pushed across a lone run against Salem, putting the right-hander to be on the losing side of the decision, Singer impressed in his Minor League debut. Kansas City selected him with the 18th overall pick in last year's Draft, then shut him down following a heavy workload from his college season at Florida. In the Royals top prospect's introduction to professional ball, the Red Sox greeted him with three straight hits and pushed across a pair of runs in the first inning. But Singer coaxed a double-play grounder to escape the inning and, aside from a two-out walk to Deiner Lopez in the second, the Leesburg, Florida, native retired every other hitter he faced. Gameday box score
Indians RHP Jean Carlos Mejía, Class A Advanced Lynchburg: 5 IP, 8 K, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 R -- The good news for the Hillcats? Mejia was perfect over five innings. The bad news? The bullpen wasn't and the offense could not muster a run as the team fell, 2-0, to Myrtle Beach. But the Indians' 16th-ranked prospect shined, whiffing two batters in four of the five innings he was on the mound. Five of his outs came on the ground, and the right-hander threw 41 of 65 pitches for strikes. The native of the Dominican Republic gave up four earned runs over six innings in his lone start for Lynchburg in 2018, but over 17 games (15 starts) for Class A Lake County, he was 4-9 with a 3.13 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 92 frames. The 22-year-old owns three plus pitches (fastball, curveball and slider) and got is second full year in the Minors off to a stellar start. Gameday box score
Phillies RHP Enyel De Los Santos, Triple-A Lehigh Valley: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 10 K, 0 BB -- Rochester's Randy César thwarted the Phillies No. 6 prospect's shutout bid by belting a solo homer with one out in the fifth inning, but De Los Santos had been on a warpath to that point. He fanned the side in the first and recorded his first seven outs via the punchout. By the time the 23-year-old exited, he racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts. Acquired from the Padres in the Freddy Galvis swap in December 2017, De Los Santos broke through to the Majors last year, allowing 10 earned runs over 19 innings in seven games, including two starts. If the native of the Dominican Republic turns in more performances like Saturday's, his days in the International League coud be numbered. Gameday box score
Angels RHP Griffin Canning, Triple-A Salt Lake: 5 IP, 5 K, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB -- The 2017 first-rounder debuted in the Minors last year, but he never completed six innings in a campaign that saw him jump from Class A Advanced Inland Empire to the Pacific Coast League. That's still true through Saturday as the Bees pulled their starter after five strong innings and 74 pitches (49 strikes). The Angels' second-ranked prospect avoided trouble in the first, but an unearned run crossed the plate in the second. Canning settled down, retiring nine of his final 10 batters. The No. 62 overall prospect has never thrown more than 89 pitches in a game, so it will be interesting when Los Angeles finally allows its future potential rotation piece to start going deeper in games. Gameday box score

Cardinals 3B Nolan Gorman, Class A Peoria: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 BB -- As an encore to Friday's four-hit night, the top Cardinals prospect produced another multi-hit effort. MLB's 60th overall prospect struggled during his first stint with Peoria last season after St. Louis took him with the 19th overall pick in the Draft, but he's quickly proving he's more than capable of handling Midwest League pitching. Gameday box score
Reds OF Taylor Trammell, Double-A Chattanooga: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 1 BB -- Trammell's first extra-base hit of the season was a big one, a three-run long ball to right-center off Montgomery starter Kenny Rosenberg in the second inning. The Reds' No. 2 prospect was 1-for-6 with three walks in his first two games. His power numbers dropped off in the Florida State League last season (eight homers, 41 RBIs) compared to his production with Class A Dayton in 2017, when the 16th overall prospect drilled 13 homers and drove in 77 runs. This year, Trammell's quest will be to regain that pop. Gameday box score

Chris Bumbaca is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @BOOMbaca.