Phillies SS J.P. Crawford, Triple-A Lehigh Valley: 2-for-4, HR, 2 R -- Crawford hadn't even been born yet when Bartolo Colon made his Minor League debut with Rookie-level Burlington in 1994. Fast-forward 23 years and Crawford, the Phillies' No. 1 prospect, found himself facing the ageless right-hander at Triple-A on
Phillies SS J.P. Crawford, Triple-A Lehigh Valley: 2-for-4, HR, 2 R -- Crawford hadn't even been born yet when Bartolo Colon made his Minor League debut with Rookie-level Burlington in 1994. Fast-forward 23 years and Crawford, the Phillies' No. 1 prospect, found himself facing the ageless right-hander at Triple-A on Thursday night. Score this one for the kid: the 22-year-old Crawford homered off Colon on a 2-for-4 night in the IronPigs' 6-1 win over Rochester. Crawford, who also homered in his previous game on July 9, is batting .297 with five homers and eight RBIs in 11 games this month and has seven long balls and 35 RBIs overall. Colon, in his Red Wings debut, allowed four runs over 3 2/3 innings to suffer the loss.
Astros OF Teoscar Hernández, Triple-A Fresno: 2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R -- The Astros' No. 7 prospect homered in consecutive innings to help the Grizzlies past Tacoma, 5-1. The center fielder went deep off Rainiers starter Sam Gaviglio and reliever Ryan Kelly in the fifth and sixth frames, giving him five dingers in his last eight games. Thursday marked Hernandez's second multi-homer game of the year -- he had one last season, on June 15 for Double-A Corpus Christi.
Yankees SS Jorge Mateo, Double-A Trenton: 1-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 R, SB -- The Yankees' No. 4 prospect homered for the second time in three games and raised his average to .396 since earning a promotion to Double-A Trenton on June 27. The 22-year-old shortstop is batting .333 in his last 10 games (13-for-39) with three homers, a dozen RBIs and three stolen bases, with hits in all but one of those contests. He belted his sixth homer of the season on July 8 before adding a two-run shot with one out in the fifth inning last night at Hartford. He stole his fifth base, too.
Braves RHP Touki Toussaint, Class A Advanced Florida: 7 IP, 10 K, 6 H, ER, 3 BB -- The Braves' No. 11 prospect set a season high with 10 strikeouts in his 17th start, an eventual 2-1 loss to Lakeland. The 21-year-old lowered his ERA to 5.46 in the outing, stopping a streak in which he'd allowed three or more runs in each of his previous four starts. The 10 K's were his most in a game since he whiffed a career-best 11 with for Class A Rome on July 21, 2016. The 2014 first-round pick would have been credited with a complete game had the Fire Frogs had the lead in the seventh -- the game was the first of a doubleheader. The start was one of the right-hander's best in a season that has seen him struggle at times -- he's 2-9 and has walked 42 in 92 1/3 innings. Thursday's outing was also the second time Toussaint has pitched a season-high seven frames.
Blue Jays 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Class A Advanced Dunedin: 2-for-4 -- The second-generation duo of Guerrero and Bo Bichette began the season with Class A Lansing, went to the All-Star Futures Game together and joined Dunedin this week. After a quiet 0-for-4 debut Wednesday, Guerrero collected his first two hits last night in the Blue Jays' 4-2 loss to Tampa. Bichette went 3-for-5, while yet another prominent baseball family scion, Cavan Biggio, was 0-for-3. Dunedin is 10-10 in the second half -- four games behind first-place Lakeland -- but the addition of Guerrero and Bichette should make for an exciting playoff push.
Angels OF Jordon Adell, Rookie-level AZL Angels: 2-for-4, HR, RBI -- Adell has hit the ground running after being selected out of Ballard High School in Louisville with the 10th overall pick in last month's Draft. He has hits in each of his first six professional games, has driven in a run in four straight and blasted his first pro home run Thursday in the AZL Angels' 10-3 loss to the Royals. Adell had already hit 25 homers in his senior year of high school this spring -- the most by any high schooler in the country. The 18-year-old, who signed for the slot value $4,376,800, has fanned just three times in his first 23 plate appearances.
