Minor League Ball Morning Report: Monday, April 16th, 2018

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Morning Report for Monday, April 16th, 2018.

*****First, my personal thanks to Wayne Cavadi and the Minor League Ball staff for keeping everything running smoothly over the weekend while I was away.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM YESTERDAY

****St. Louis Cardinals outfield prospect Oscar Mercado went 2-for-3 with a home run for Triple-A Memphis against Iowa and is now hitting .361/.395/.472 in his first nine games.

****Oakland Athletics pitching prospect James Naile threw seven shutout innings for Triple-A Nashville against Omaha, giving up five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. He now has 17.2 scoreless innings over three starts to open the season, with a sharp 15/2 K/BB.

****San Diego Padres rookie Joey Lucchesi had another excellent start, allowing one run in six innings against the San Francisco Giants, fanning nine. The Padres also got a superb outing from prospect Eric Lauer at Triple-A El Paso: no runs on six innings, three hits, two walks, 10 strikeouts against Las Vegas.

****Los Angeles Dodgers catching prospect Connor Wong went 3-for-4 with two homers and five RBI for High-A Rancho Cucamonga in California League action. He’s hitting .361/.431/.889 through nine games, 36 at-bats. He was a third round pick from the University of Houston in 2017 and should not be overlooked.

****More highlights can be found in the Sunday afternoon discussion thread.

RECOMMENDED READING

****Ben Badler continues his international signing class reviews at Baseball America, looking at the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers.

****Devan Fink at Beyond the Boxscore looks at Gabe Kapler’s early adjustments as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies.

****David Laurila at Fangraphs took at look at Tampa Bay Rays rookie Yonny Chirinos and Cardinals catcher Carson Kelly.