Brewers prospect Trent Grisham hit for the cycle last night, going 5-for-5 with two homers (25, 26). That’s now a six-game hit streak for the slugger and multi-hit games in each of his last four. Grisham is batting a ridiculous .381 with 13 homers and six steals in just 34 games for AAA San Antonio. He was a first-round draft pick back in 2015, but struggled prior to this year – hitting just .229 since he left the rookie leagues. He’s always had some patience and some power potential, but this year the breakout is on. He hit 13 homers in 63 games at Double-A earlier this year with the “no-juice” version of a baseball. To put that in perspective, he hit 17 total homers in 299 games across the previous three seasons. To boot, das boot, he’s joined the select “walking more than I strike out” club in 2019. To give you an idea of how big this breakout has been, Grisham went from a guy not even being considered in my Brewers Top 10, to a guy I strongly considered putting in my Midseason Top 50 overall. Here’s what else is happening around the minor leagues…
Andrew Vaughn, 1B | CWS – Promoted to High-A Winston-Salem, where he’ll continue to work on his baseball skills and begin smoking unfiltered Camels. Those suckers will kill you quick, but not as quick as Vaughn might make it to The Show.
Zack Collins, C | CWS – 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and six runs batted in. That’s four multi-hit games in his last six. Just above is the hot young thing, and here we have the dude who is stuck in Triple-A (9 homers, .267). Collins got a nine-game taste of the majors in late-June/early-July, but it didn’t go very well (.077). With an option on Castillo and a cheap McCann, Collins looks more and more like depth or trade fodder. If I’m an owner, I’m hoping for a change of scenery and some opportunities to at least back up in the bigs.
Taylor Trammell, OF | SDP – Traded to the Padres in the Trevor Bauer deal. This week has only served to confirm my hunch that all people named Trevor are emotionally spastic. There’s nothing a trade could do to hurt Trammell’s stock that he hasn’t already done with his play. He’s hit .236 with six homers and 17 steals in 94 games. Good news, he’s walking a bit more. I’m starting to think Trammell’s speed will fail to hide his blemishes and the Reds were just ready to move on.
Evan White, 1B | SEA – Placed on the injured list with concussion symptoms. This was a freak accident as White was hit in the face with a grounder during BP. White is one of my favorites in the Mariners system, and he’d been having a nice year in Double-A – hitting .291 with 13 homers for Arkansas.
Isan Diaz, 2B | MIA – Hitting .308 with six homers and three steals in July. The latest I’ve read on this shituation is that there’s a 50/50 chance Castro gets moved. If you haven’t already stashed Diaz, it might be worth a shot before today’s deadline. But if Castro sticks around Miami, we likely won’t see Diaz until September or next spring.
