Minor League Notables & Draft Pick Tracker - April 7th, 2026
Nightly Notables from April 7th across all four levels - 45 write ups & our Draft Pick Tracker keeps rolling
LOW-A — ARMS
Marlon Nieves | RHP | Los Angeles Dodgers | Tower Buzzers
Six innings. One hit. Zero runs. Six strikeouts on 66 pitches.
That’s the line. But the line doesn’t tell you what I saw, so let me tell you what I saw.
Nieves was operating in the upper 90s with a fastball that had late, explosive life — pairing it with a changeup and a slider that gave hitters an entirely different look out of the same hand. The arm speed is the same on everything. The deception is real. And the stuff reminds me of someone.
I don’t throw this comparison around lightly. But the arm speed, the violence in the delivery, the fastball that gets on hitters before they’re ready — it’s reminiscent of the late, young Yordano Ventura from what I saw tonight.
The Dodgers pitching factory keeps producing arms nobody is talking about until everyone is talking about them. Marlon Nieves looks like the next one in that line. Flag planted. There are enough flags planted in the Dodgers system that would make the United Nations blush.
Sean Hermann | RHP | Seattle Mariners | 66ers
5 innings. 1 hit. Zero runs. 7 strikeouts on 73 pitches.
This is now a pattern, not a sample size. Hermann is quietly putting together a case as one of the better arms in Low-A and the stuff generates swing-and-miss consistently enough that these lines are going to keep showing up. The ball comes out easy, albeit a funky-ass delivery, and the command is the carrying feature. It’s almost as if Hermann studied the classical Japanese pitchers and their mechanics because that’s what he looks like on the mound. What works - works, though. Name worth knowing before the promotion conversation starts. Monitoring.
Blake Gillespie | RHP | New York Yankees | Tarpons
6 innings. 4 hits. Zero runs. 6 strikeouts on 73 pitches.
The Yankees system keeps producing arms who know what they’re doing on the mound and Gillespie fits the profile exactly — efficient, ahead in counts, getting through lineups with conviction. Six innings of scoreless ball on 73 pitches is a statement. Love the delivery — slow and steady and then he explodes at the last given second heading towards the mound. Great mound presence. Gillespie doesn’t seem long for Low-A. Keeping an eye out for him.
Angel Jimenez | RHP | Colorado Rockies | Grizzlies
4.2 innings. 9 strikeouts on 89 pitches.
Nine punchouts in under five innings from anyone in any system is worth tracking. The Colorado tax makes evaluation tricky at every level but the raw swing-and-miss stuff seems real.
Winyer Chourio | RHP | San Diego Padres | Storm
4 innings. 1 earned run. 6 strikeouts on 70 pitches.
After his team gave up 16 runs after he exited the game, the contrast was stark. Chourio held down his side of the outing with efficiency and a repertoire that kept hitters uncomfortable all night. 22 years old in Low-A, so not sure what to make of this.
LOW-A — BATS
Ronny Cruz | 3B | Washington Nationals | Nationals
3-for-5. Double. Triple. Home run. 4 RBI.
He’s 19 years old. He has 2 home runs in 4 games. His entire 2025 Low-A home run total was 2. He has already matched it.
The hit tool was always the carrying grade on Cruz but if the power is genuinely arriving ahead of schedule on a 19-year-old frame — and tonight’s extra base hit in every direction suggests it is — the ceiling conversation gets louder in a hurry. When a teenage bat starts matching a full season’s power output in 4 games, you pay attention. I’m starting to become really intrigued.
Kayson Cunningham | SS | Arizona Diamondbacks | Rawhide
3-for-3. Triple. 2 RBI. 3 walks. 18th overall pick in the 2025 draft.
One word: patient. Three walks alongside three hits means Cunningham had six productive plate appearances without recording a single out. He’s making contact when he swings and he’s making pitchers work when he doesn’t. He doesn’t look long for Low-A. The Diamondbacks are going to have to make a decision soon and I think they already know what it is. We’ll see if the power shows up as he develops. That’s not his calling card, but the hit tool is reminiscent of Kevin McGonigle. D-backs have been drafting extremely well recently.
Hayden Jatczak | 1B | San Francisco Giants | Giants
HitTilt+ #1 overall and he followed it up with a 2-for-5, double showing against the Rawhide. The production is not a fluke. Or is it? .462 on the season. Also 24 years old in Low-A. I’ll keep tabs.
Jhonny Level | SS | San Francisco Giants | Giants
2-for-5. Double. 3 RBI. Stolen Base. Hitting .500 on the season with 14 Total Bases in just 4 games.
I’ll say it plainly — Jhonny Level should not be in Low-A much longer. The Giants have a prospect development decision to make and the answer is pointing in one direction. Every game he spends here is a game wasted against competition he’s already lapping. I’m all aboard the Jhonny Level train.
Andy Polanco | CF | San Francisco Giants | Giants
4-for-4. Triple. 4 runs scored. Stolen Base. A perfect night at the plate. The Giants’ Low-A lineup is loaded and when everybody is rolling, Polanco delivered the most complete individual line. Still a 20 year old at Low-A — 11th round pick in the 2024 draft out of High School and didn’t show much power last year. Keeping an eye on him to see if he has something in store for us this season.
Eli Willits | SS | Washington Nationals | Nationals
0-for-2, 3 BB, 3 stolen bases. Season stolen base total: 6.
The 1st overall pick in the 2025 draft is not filling up the hit column every night — but he is absolutely forcing the issue on the bases and working counts to a degree that is rare from a teenager in his first full-season debut. Six stolen bases in the first week is an aggressive base running profile announcing itself. The hit tool will come. The speed and the instincts are already here.
Kleyver Salazar | C | Boston Red Sox | Ridge Yaks
4-for-5. 2 doubles. 2 RBI.
Here is what you need to know about Kleyver Salazar: he was a shortstop before the Red Sox converted him behind the plate. He has a plus arm. He is a defensive wizard. And the bat that showed up in flashes last July is back — 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles tonight. If that version can sustain itself across a full season the story around him changes. The defensive profile carries him regardless. The offense makes him interesting. Really intriguing name here if the offensive profile can match the defensive profile.
Joshua Liranzo | 3B | Baltimore Orioles | Shorebirds
2-for-5. Home run. 3 RBI. One of three Shorebirds to go deep on the night and Liranzo’s was the most impactful. The raw power is there and we’ll continue to monitor if it is showing up in games. Also of note — the K rate and swing decisions. He often works the count out of his favor and gets in trouble for it. We’ll see if he’s made changes this season.
Andrew Salas | SS | Miami Marlins | Hammerheads
4-for-5. Double. Home run. 1 RBI. Repeating the level as an 18 year old after an aggressive assignment to Low-A last year as a 17 year old. He ended up slashing .186/.319/.245 in 104 games to go with 110 strikeouts. A lot of people wrote him off for it. The positive. He stole 39 bases despite the low OBP which shows he has the speed and aggressiveness on the basepaths. I’m expecting better results his second time around. This season? The bat speed is showing up. The big question will be is the power for real?
HIGH-A — ARMS
Carlson Reed | RHP | Pittsburgh Pirates | Grasshoppers