Rays Minor League Roundup: Week 6

Suddenly Seymour is leading the Rays organization in homeruns

This week’s minor league roundup will only feature the numbers accumulated prior to the start of play on Monday.

This was the sixth week of minor league play with all of the Rays full season minor league teams having completed their first full week of pla; the Complex League just played their game on Saturday (I’ll include their stats in next week’s recap).

According to FanGraphs (which factors in age and proximity to the big leagues), the overall top hitter in the Rays farm system is 22-year old Cooper Kinney. The 2021 34th overall pick is an infielder that is hitting .337/.385/.663 with 7 HR in Double-A, registering a 202 wRC+.

Meanwhile, the top pitcher continues to be Ian Seymour, continues to be a model of consistency. He now has a 1.73 ERA | 3.77 FIP with a 31.7 K% & 5.5 BB% over 36 ¹⁄₃ IP. Although, Joe Boyle and Santiago Suarez may challenge Seymour’s supremacy in the near future.

Before we get to the statistical breakdowns. Here is some news or somethings I have noticed from around the Rays system.

• RHP Evan Reifert has been the best strikeout pitcher in minor league baseball. Among pitchers who have faced at least 30 hitters, Reifert has the highest K% (60.0%) and whiff rate (29.1%), the 2nd place pitchers aren’t all that close either. Overall, Reifert has faced 30 hitters; he has 18 strikeouts and four walks.
• INF Mac Horvath, acquired from the Orioles last trade deadline, had a great week. Overall he hit .368/.500/1.053 with 4 HR over 24 PA
• 1B Bob Seymour is crushing the ball over his last five games. He is hitting .364/.391/1.136 with 5 HR over 23 PA. Baseball America highlighted Seymour on their Statcast Standouts article, suggesting the slugging first baseman has teetering 80-grade raw power.
• RHP Paul Gervase was also highligted by Baseball America among their Statcast Standouts. Gervase currently sports a 5.54 ERA | 5.90 FIP with a 33.3 K% & 12.3 BB% over 13 IP.
• LHP Ian Seymour was among Baseball America’s top 20 prospects of the past week.

He now has 46 Ks in 36.1 innings. In the age of velocity, Seymour has done his work without making radar guns break a sweat. None of his pitches in either outing topped 93 mph and just three even reached that threshold. Still, he managed to get 24 whiffs, including 18 in the series finale.

PLAYERS PLACED ON THE INJURED LIST

• Tony Santa Maria
• T.J. Fondtain

TEAM LEADERS

• (minimum of 50 PA for hitters and 50 TBF for pitchers)
• Baseball America top ten prospects are featured below each team they’re currently assigned to.

Tampa Bay Rays

• Chandler Simpson
  AAA: .301/.325/.329 | 9.0 K% | 3.8 BB% | 0 HR | 8 SB | 76 wRC+ | 78 PA
  MLB: .296/.333/.315 | 12.1 K% | 5.2 BB% | 0 HR | 6 SB | 93 wRC+ | 58 PA | 0.0 fWAR

Durham Bulls

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .280, Tristan Peters
OBP: .371, Tre’ Morgan
SLG: .559, Tres Barrera
HR: 9, Bob Seymour
wRC+: 128, Tres Barrera
SB: 5, Tristan Peters

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.73, Joe Boyle
FIP: 3.25, Joe Boyle
K%: 33.7%, Joe Boyle
BB%: 5.5%, Ian Seymour
WHIP: 0.85, Joe Boyle
AVG: .138, Joe Boyle
WHIFF%: 20.0%, Joe Boyle

Top 10 Prospects

• Carson Williams:
  AAA: .172/.305/.333 | 38.1 K% | 15.3 BB% | 3 HR | 4 SB | 75 wRC+ | 118 PA
• Tre’ Morgan
  AAA: .250/.371/.346 | 21.0 K% | 11.3 BB% | 0 HR | 0 SB | 102 wRC+ | 62 PA

Montgomery Biscuits

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .337, Cooper Kinney
OBP: .453, Tatem Levins
SLG: .663, Cooper Kinney
HR: 7, Cooper Kinney
wRC+: 202, Cooper Kinney
SB: 11, Colton Ledbetter

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.46, Austin Vernon
FIP: 3.25, Austin Vernon
K%: 32.0%, Duncan Davitt
BB%: 3.0%, Duncan Davitt
WHIP: 0.97, Ty Cummings
AVG: .182, Ty Cummings
WHIFF%: 21.4%, Austin Vernon

Top 10 Prospects

• Brayden Taylor:
  AA: .150/.277/.313 | 27.7 K% | 14.9 BB% | 3 HR | 1 SB | 78 wRC+ | 94 PA
• Xavier Isaac:
  AA: .235/.435/.559 | 32.6 K% | 26.1 BB% | 2 HR | 1 SB | 188 wRC+ | 46 PA

Bowling Green Hot Rods

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .298, Tony Santa Maria
OBP: .465, Noah Myers
SLG: .509, Tony Santa Maria
HR: 5, Mac Horvath
wRC+: 165, Noah Myers
SB: 10, Aidan Smith & Adrian Santana

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.73, Gary Gill Hill
FIP: 2.57, Hayden Snelsire
K%: 36.6%, T.J. Nichols
BB%: 3.1%, Marcus Johnson
WHIP: 0.71, Hayden Snelsire
AVG: .143, Hayden Snelsire
WHIFF%: 16.0%, T.J. Nichols

Top 10 Prospects

• Gary Gill Hill
  A+: 1.73 ERA | 4.01 FIP | 19.2 K% | 4.8 BB% | .204 AVG | 10.4 WHIFF% | 26 IP
• Santiago Suarez
  A+: 1.85 ERA | 3.24 FIP | 29.2 K% | 5.2 BB% | .176 AVG | 14.8 WHIFF% | 24 ¹⁄₃ IP

Charleston River Dogs

Team Offensive Leaders:
AVG: .322, Larry Martinez
OBP: .412, Larry Martinez
SLG: .386, Angel Mateo
HR: 2, Angel Mateo & Connor Hujsak
wRC+: 128, Larry Martinez
SB: 8, Narciso Polanco

Team Pitching Leaders:
ERA: 1.69, Jose Ubina
FIP: 2.71, Andy Rodriguez
K%: 37.3%, Noah Beal
BB%: 1.9%, Andy Rodriguez
WHIP: 0.87, Noah Beal
AVG: .170, Noah Beal
WHIFF%: 24.4%, Noah Beal

Top 10 Prospects

• Trevor Harrison
  A: 5.40 ERA | 3.52 FIP | 27.2 K% | 16.3 BB% | .247 AVG | 13.2 WHIFF% | 20 IP
• Theo Gillen
  A: .095/.269/.238 | 40.7 K% | 18.5 BB% | 1 HR | 2 SB | 58 wRC+ | 27 PA