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Minors  | General | 12/1/2021

PG Down on the Farm: AL Central

David Rawnsley
Photo: Bobby Witt Jr (Perfect Game)
It’s been especially difficult to follow the minors over the past two years, with the pandemic-canceled 2020 season and the complete restructuring of the minor leagues by Major League Baseball in 2021. So, over a two-week period, Perfect Game will be taking a look at former PG standouts who are continuing to build their baseball skills and resumes in the minor leagues in an attempt to bring things into a bit more focus.  One player from each organization will be highlighted, with the schedule as follows: 
 
American League East: November 29
American League Central: December 1
American League West: December 3
National League East: December 6
National League Central: December 8 
National League West: December 10

 
American League Central 



Chicago White Sox: RHP Matthew Thompson 
 
High School: Cypress Ranch HS (Texas) 
Travel Team: Banditos Black 
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 22 (2019) 
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 45th overall, Chicago White Sox (2019), $2.1M 
Highest 2021 Level: A
2022 Age: 21 
 
Most Perfect Game All-Americans and future Day One draft picks stand out on their high school teams.  That wasn’t the case for Matthew Thompson, whose 2018 Cypress Ranch HS team featured future first round picks Colton Cowser (Orioles), Ty Madden (Tigers) and JJ Goss (Rays).  After Cowser and Madden graduated, Thompson stepped up to share the spotlight with Goss as a senior in 2019, going 13-0, with a 0.87 ERA and 124 strikeouts in 72 innings while hitting .352-2-26. 
 
Thompson stood out on the mound for his combination of athleticism and pure stuff.  He regularly pitched in the 91-94 mph range and would touch a 95 or a 96 occasionally.  His best pitch, both in command and in quality, was often a nasty curveball in the low-80s that had big swing/miss potential.  Thompson’s fastball command would waiver at times despite his above-average athleticism.   

2021 was Thompson’s first steady taste of pro ball and he made 20 starts in A ball, striking out 78 hitters in 73 innings.  The White Sox system is very young right now, especially with their top pitching prospects, and the expectation would be for the organization to take their time with young arms such as Thompson and his 2018 All-American teammate and fellow Texan Jared Kelley. 
 
 
Cleveland Guardians: RHP Daniel Espino 
 
High School: Georgia Premier Academy (Ga.) 
Travel Team: GBSA Rays 
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 4 (2019) 
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 24th overall, Cleveland Guardians (2019), $2.5M 
Highest 2021 Level: A+
2022 Age: 21 
 
Espino’s unusual background is well documented and a big part of his story as a prospect.  Born and raised in Panama, he moved to the United States as a teenager and enrolled at Georgia Premier Academy.  He was already throwing in the low-90s at his first events early in the summer of 2017 and kept building on that over the next two years as he got stronger and more physically mature.  He set the PG All-American Classic record with a 99 mph fastball in 2018 (since broken by Nazier Mule) and had his signature outing at the 2019 PG High School Showdown-Academies, working 96-98 mph for four innings with a plus mid-80s slider while striking out 11 hitters in front of a huge crowd of scouts. 
 
Despite his absurdly overpowering raw stuff and history of throwing strikes, teams had some reservations about Espino, especially with his unusually long arm action, and it wasn’t even a lock that he would go in the first round in 2019, although he eventually did so. 
 
The Guardians look initially like they might have pulled off a draft coup in grabbing Espino with the 24th pick.  After a successful debut in 2019 and three months at the team’s alternate training site in 2020, Espino emerged as one of the most dominant pitchers in minor league baseball in 2021.  Making 10 starts in both A and A+, he struck out 152 hitters in 91 innings while allowing only 64 hits.  He was more dominant against the older A+ level hitters, striking out 88 in 49 innings (16.2/9) while only walking 16.  Espino’s fastball has continued to sit in the mid- to upper-90s and his slider is a true swing-and-miss pitch. 
 
 
Detroit Tigers: OF Riley Greene 
 
High School: Hagerty HS (Fla.) 
Travel Team: FTB Tucci 
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 3 (2019) 
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 5th overall, Detroit Tigers (2019), $6.18M 
Highest 2021 Level: AAA
2022 Age: 21 
 
If there were Perfect Game 13U or 14U Select Festivals back in 2014, it’s a pretty good bet that Greene would have been selected, as he was already well known in the travel baseball world for his hitting ability.  That hitting ability never seemed to take a week off, either, as consistency was as much a part of Greene’s development as anything.  He hit .408 in his documented PG tournament appearances, including a .600-3-9 with 8 walks performance at the 2017 WWBA 16U National Championships, and .422-8-27 as a high school senior. 
 
Scouts did have some concerns about Greene’s athleticism and feared that he would end up as a left fielder as his body matured, despite Greene being a 6.65 runner with 92 mph outfield arm strength.  That didn’t impact Greene’s draft stock, though, as the 2018 PG All-American was the second high school player taken after Bobby Witt Jr. 
 
To say that Greene has raced through the Tigers minor league system might be selling that phrase short, especially considering the canceled 2020 minor league season.  Greene signed almost immediately after the draft, which enabled him to get into 57 games in 2019.  His bat enabled him to brush quickly past the two rookie levels and spend all of August in the Class A Midwest League.  In 2021, Greene played the first three months of the season in AA before spending the last 40 games of the season as a 20-year old in AAA, hitting .308-8-30/.921 OPS in those 40 games. 
 
While Greene’s bat has been as advertised, his athleticism, which scouts had questioned, has been well beyond what was predicted.  Greene played almost 70% of his innings in center field in 2021 and even stole 16 bases in 17 attempts.  Reports are that he can stay in center field for at least the short term.  Given Greene’s production thus far as a professional and the Tigers 2021 outfield, that might come as soon as opening day, 2022. 
 
 
Kansas City Royals: SS Bobby Witt Jr. 
 
High School: Colleyville Heritage HS (Texas) 
Travel Team: East Coast Sox 
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 1 (2019) 
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 2nd overall, Kansas City Royals (2019), $7,789,900 
Highest 2021 Level: AAA 
2022 Age: 22 
 
Perfect Game doesn’t keep track of who spends how much time in the No. 1 slot in each class rankings through their career but if they did, Witt would likely be the all-time career leader in weeks spent at No. 1.  He was the top player in the 2019 class as a precocious freshman in 2015 and remained that way all the way through his high school/PG career.   
 That type of profile can lead to plenty of scrutiny, especially when one is the son of an 18-year former Big League pitcher, and Witt came through it very well, improving every year on the field and always conducting himself with maturity and humility.  He was always the best player on the field, with a very rare combination of speed, arm strength, defensive grace and raw bat speed, but never carried himself like the best player on the field. 
 
No one will second guess Baltimore for taking Adley Rutschman with the first pick in the 2019 draft; the Oregon State catcher was clearly the top college prospect in the class and is considered by many to be the best minor league prospect in the game now.  But it did leave Kansas City the opportunity to select Witt, who has already caught up to Rutschman in minor league level and projected big league debut. 
 
Witt’s 2021 season, split evenly between AA and AAA, was one for the ages.  His final numbers were .290-33-97/.936 OPS, with 29 steals and 35 doubles.  Impressively, he performed just as well in AAA as AA after his mid-season promotion.  Defensively, Witt made 8 errors in 102 games at shortstop and none in 18 games at third base.  One never knows with potential service time manipulations but it’s pretty clear that Witt is ready for the Major Leagues right now and has the potential to be the face of the Royals franchise moving into the future. 
 
 
Minnesota Twins: 3B Spencer Steer 
 
High School: Millikan HS (Calif.) 
College: Oregon 
Travel Team: GBG Marucci 
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 171 (2016) 
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 3rd round, Minnesota Twins (2019), $575,000 
Highest 2021 Level: AA 
2022 Age: 24 
 
Steer was a standout for the outstanding 2013-2015 GBG Marucci teams that won three WWBA championships, and also won the 2015 WWBA 17U National Championship with CBA Marucci, not only as a slugging third baseman with plus defensive skills but the team’s emotional leader as well.  He was named to the All-Tournament Team in all 12 of the PG tournaments he played in, including being named the MVP of the 2013 EvoShield National Championship (Upperclass). 
 
Steer’s father, Chris, pulled me aside once at a tournament and asked a very reasonable question, “Given all that Spencer has achieved playing for one of the top teams in the country, why isn’t he ranked higher?”  I explained that the PG player rankings were based on high ceiling athletic potential and that his son, while obviously an outstanding baseball player, was going to have to be one of those players who grinded it out at every level, that he wasn’t going to sign out of high school, he’d have to go to Oregon for at least three years and improve each year, would then get drafted and have to grind through every level to eventually reach the Big Leagues.  A 5-foot-11, 180-pound right-handed hitting corner infielder without a plus tool needs to do that. 
 
And that is exactly what Steer has done since that 2015 conversation.  Cleveland spent a 29th round pick on Steer out of high school and Steer went to Oregon and started for all three years in addition to spending a summer in the Cape Cod League.  He hit .349-6-57/.958 OPS as a junior and was picked by the Twins in the third round in 2019, higher than I would have speculated three years prior to be honest.  In two years in the Twins system (2019, 2021), Steer has played at four different levels already, finishing 2021 with two-plus months in AA. 
 
For the first time in his career really, Steer hit for over-the-fence power in 2021, slamming 24 home runs, including 14 in AA, while hitting .254-24-66/.833 overall.  Just as importantly, he played 46 games at second base, 41 games at third base and even 15 games at shortstop while playing solid defense.  The Twins are clearly grooming Steer to become a utility infielder at the Big League level who can move around the infield and provide some right-handed pop at the plate.  Another big season in 2022 will likely make that a reality. 
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Minors | General | 12/13/2024

PG Down on the Farm: NL West
David Rawnsley
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It’s the time of the year again (i.e. the off-season) for the annual PG Down on the Farm feature.  We identify a top prospect in each of the 30 Major League organizations with as much Perfect Game background as possible and delve into that PG history for some insight into his development as a prospect.  Some of them might be high profile, high draft pick, ex-PG All-American talents who fans have been long familiar with.  Others might be more obscure prospects who have significantly improved either in college or as professionals.  Note that players who have used up their rookie eligibility are not considered. The idea isn’t to necessarily pick the best PG background prospect in each organization but the one who might be closest to the big leagues.  Sometimes that is the same player, other times not. And there is plenty of variation among organizations...
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High School | General | 7/1/2026

PG High School All-Americans

Tyler Russo
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High School Top 50: Final Update With the High School season all wrapped up, today we take a look at our First, Second and Third Team All-Americans from around the country. Below you'll find three teams with stats that seem otherworldly from players who'll likely hear their names called in the coming week's MLB Draft. Within the "Notable Stats" section you'll see the individual award winners as well. First Team All-American Pos.  Name Class School State Commitment Notable Stats C Cole Prosek 2026 Magnolia Heights MS Ole Miss .595 BA, 18 HR, 79 RBI 1B Will Adams 2026 Hoover AL LSU .489, 13 HR, 52 RBI IF James Tronstein 2026 Harvard-Westlake CA Vanderbilt .531, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 21 XBH IF Grady Emerson 2026 Fort Worth Christian TX Texas .508, 8 HR, 56 RBI, 34/35 SB, National POY IF Jacob Lombard 2026 Gulliver Schools FL Miami .477, 10 HR, 52 R, 42 H, 14 SB OF Martin Shelar 2026 Marist GA...
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Tournaments | Story | 7/1/2026

Performance Baseball Rolls On

Kinley Kitchens
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Championship teams often reveal themselves when the game isn’t going their way. Performance Baseball 2028/Milwaukee Brewers Scout Team did exactly that. Trailing Florida Burn 2028 Scout through four innings, the Brewers refused to panic. Instead, they relied on timely hitting, consistent pitching, and an unselfish approach at the plate, rallying a five-run fifth inning before pulling away for a 9-5 victory to clinch their spot in the semifinals. The comeback was fueled by contributions throughout the lineup. Six different players drove in runs, including two RBIs each from Aiden Capobianco and Cameron Massey, while Matthew Heredia, Parker Weston, Ethan Smith, and Aj Bonnette each added an RBI of their own. On the mound, Derek Wenzel set the tone with 3.2 solid innings before Ethan Smith shut the door in relief, helping preserve the comeback victory. Although the Brewers have had a...
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Tournaments | Championship | 7/1/2026

JK Select Hawaii Tackles 14u West WS

Emily Hicks
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JK Select Hawaii capped off an impressive tournament run by defeating GBG Vegas 14u Red14-4 in the championship game on Sunday at Goodyear Ballpark, claiming the 14u West World Series title. From the opening pitch, JK Select controlled the pace of the game. The offense jumped out early, scoring 6 runs in the 1st inning after timely hits from MVP Sean Shindo and Kade Manarpaac. The early lead gave the pitching staff confidence as they worked efficiently through the opposing lineup. “I've worked hard to get better at my game for the past few months; it means a lot that I did well and performed in a tournament like this” said Shindo. Starting pitcher Maddox Prones turned in a strong performance, allowing 3 runs while striking out 5 batters over 3 innings. The defense backed the effort with great plays in the middle infield, preventing GBG Vegas from building momentum....
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Tournaments | Story | 7/1/2026

"Wow" Swings Catch Eyes at 16u Elite

Kinley Kitchens
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On the second day of the 2026 Perfect Game National Elite Championship, one swing turned heads across the ballpark. The next one brought everyone to a stop. With Wow Factor Nation 16U trailing midway through its matchup against Sandlot Scout Team 2028, Micheal O'Connor launched a solo home run to spark the offense. Just one batter later, Aaron Frink stepped into the box and sent another ball over the fence, delivering back-to-back home runs that quickly became one of the most talked about moments of the tournament’s opening days. Parents gathered along the nets, players from previous games stopped to watch, and college scouts turned their attention toward the action as the two towering swings energized the crowd and brought new life to the game. Although Wow Factor Nation ultimately lost 5-3 after a hard-fought performance, the back-to-back home runs served as a reminder of the...
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Tournaments | Story | 6/30/2026

Stacked Runs the Table at 17u WWBA

Will Dembo
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Following a jam-packed week of entertainment at the 17u WWBA Championships, the top nationally ranked program, USA Prime 17u National/Detroit Tigers Scout Team, faced off against Stacked Baseball 17u (No. 80 nationally) in the highly anticipated championship matchup as both teams looked to earn one of the most prestigious titles in all of travel baseball. Each talented squad entered the finale undefeated, but Stacked Baseball continued their dominance throughout the tournament, defeating the Detroit Tigers Scout Team 10-2 in mercy rule fashion to become national champions behind explosive bats and impressive pitching. Stacked Baseball was the overwhelming top team throughout the week as the WWBA Champions outscored opponents by an absurd 117-12 during their 11-0 run. “We got some talented kids, but we played against a little bit of Goliath over there,” Stacked Head Coach Mike...
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Tournaments | Story | 6/30/2026

17u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 7

Perfect Game Staff
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17u WWBA Scout Notes: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4  Day 5 | Day 6 Shea Corona (2027, Brooklyn, N.Y.) showcased some loud stuff out of the bullpen for MLB Breakthrough Series 2027. The New York native and primary shortstop topped out at 93 with the fastball, sitting comfortable in the 90-92 range. Corona paired it with a sharp and tight slider at 81-83, staying on the same plane until late. The pitch plays well already and the delivery is very athletic. The uncommitted right-hander went three scoreless and was in the zone plenty, striking out two while not allowing a walk. '27 SS Moises Gudino (FL) continues to stay red hot, working a long AB & cracking an oppo 2B on the 8th pitch. Really seeing ing well. #WWBA @Florida_PG https://t.co/OjNJ8Bmzao pic.twitter.com/WoDDp35EI1 — Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) June 30, 2026 Moises Gudino (2027, Tampa, Fla.)...
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Tournaments | Story | 6/30/2026

Texas Twelve Firing On Full Cylinders

Kinley Kitchens
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Every team hopes to start a tournament with momentum, but few make a statement quite like Texas Twelve Maroon 2028. Matched up against defending champion Excel Blue Wave National to kick off their debut in the 2026 Perfect Game National Elite Championship, Texas Twelve Maroon delivered a complete team performance, earning a hard-fought 3-2 victory and immediately establishing themselves as one of the top teams to watch this week. The win showcased the balance that has made Texas Twelve Maroon a powerful team. Strong pitching, timely hitting, and steady defense all played a role as the team held off one of the tournament’s premier programs. Right-hander Ty Antley turned in an outstanding performance on the mound, throwing a complete game while allowing only five hits and two walks over seven innings. The High Follow prospect worked consistently between 85-89 mph and mixed in a sharp...
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Tournaments | Championship | 6/30/2026

Flames Capture 18U BCS Title

Alyssa Golden
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Flames Natty used timely hitting and a dominant start from Beau Collier to defeat NLB American 7-3 and capture the 18U BCS National Championship on Monday at Lee Health Sports Complex. Despite being assembled just hours before the tournament began, the Flames quickly developed chemistry throughout the tournament. “This team was put together 12 hours before this tournament, and they went on a crazy run,” head coach Adam Vasquez said. “These kids know each other locally, but they don’t play together. For them to come together last minute like that, it’s crazy. I’m proud of them for that.” The game opened as a pitchers’ duel, with David Acevedo recording the lone hit through the first two innings. NLB American starter Hayden Graham kept the Flames in check early, allowing just one hit while striking out one over 2.0 innings. The right-hander...
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Tournaments | Story | 6/30/2026

Ohio Valley BCS Champ. Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
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‘28 C Keegan Sawyer (OH) showcased the toolshed in this one. A top player in the OH ‘28 class. LOUD (Hit & Defense) #OVBCS @KeeganSawyer10 Clip 1: 3-R 💣 to LF Clip 2: 2B to LC Clip 3: SEED, Caught Stealing @ 2B Name for August 1 @MidlandBasebal pic.twitter.com/FvIpEU7Llz — Jordan Gates (@JGatesPG) June 27, 2026 Keegan Sawyer (2028, Cleves, Ohio) The stock continues to go up and up for Keegan Sawyer. Fresh off a state championship for Bading High School, he has picked up where he has left off this spring. It seems that he gets bigger each time I see him, but the frame really works on both sides of the ball at 6-feet, 190-pounds. It’s athletic and the actions on both sides are extremely advanced. Sawyer took home MVP honors after finishing with nine hits, six going for extra bases including two home runs, nine RBIs and eight runs scored. It’s electric at...
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Tournaments | Story | 6/30/2026

Texas Region Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
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Austin Lyons (2028, Cibolo, Texas) put on a display for Canes Southwest Prime 16U. Went 7-14 at the plate with a pair of doubles and triples, while driving in 13 runs. He won Tournament MVP for his efforts. Physical left-handed frame with feel to hit to all fields. Utilizes the middle of the field as well as the opposite field efficiently. Should be a force to be reckoned with as he grows into some more power. Evan Rosales (2027, Houston, Texas) was dominant on the mound for HP 2027 Allen. Went five shutout innings over the weekend, surrendering just one hit and two walks while striking out ten. Fastball lives 83-87 with some carry. Curveball is a heavy 12/6 downer at 69-74. North-south approach with a super steep release. Showed some really good feel for the zone and sequenced effectively to keep hitters off balance. Tristan Wright (2028, Magnolia, Texas) put on a show for Banditos 2028...
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