The Daily Briefing — Thursday, September 10
By Morgan Davis ·
Yesterday's best performances across the minor leagues, with scouting context from 80Grade.
Rodriguez Keeps Punishing Double-A Pitching
Rainiel Rodriguez, the Cardinals' #15 prospect and top-ranked player in the St. Louis system, went 4-for-5 with a double, his 25th home run of the season, and three RBI for Double-A Springfield on Wednesday, hitting a homer for the second straight game. The 19-year-old right-handed catcher has been excelling over the last 30 days with a .414/.495/.747 line across 107 plate appearances at Double-A, with seven home runs, eight doubles, a 12.1% walk rate, and a strikeout rate that has dropped to 9.3%. This combination of contact and power is impressive for a teenager catching in the Southern League, rivaling what many prospects in their mid-20s achieve.
The scouting report gives him a 55 hit tool and a 60 power grade, projecting an everyday role if the receiving holds. The power grade is performing well: 25 home runs across High-A and Double-A in 517 plate appearances, with 21 at Double-A. The contact story is where Wednesday stood out. Rodriguez carries a 72.3% contact rate on the season and a 51% swing rate that grades aggressive, so strikeouts have been a real part of the profile. Cutting the K rate to 9.3% over a 107-plate-appearance stretch at Double-A suggests he's squaring up pitches at a different rate lately. The defensive question at catcher remains central: below-average mobility and a profile still developing behind the plate mean the bar is not set at gold glove, just functional, and the offensive case he is building makes that bar easier to clear even if the catching work stays in the below-average band. Right now, the bat is the argument, and it is a loud one.
Quick Hits
Josue De Paula, OF, Dodgers (AA, Tulsa) · #3 · went 2-for-5 with his 37th double and his 27th home run, driving in three. The 21-year-old left-handed outfielder has been a standout bat in Double-A all season: .303/.401/.547 with a 13.8% walk rate and a contact rate of 84.3%, a combination that aligns with a 60 power grade and a profile projecting to an everyday right-field role. Over the last 30 days he is slugging .510 with six home runs in 114 plate appearances, maintaining the pace despite the level. The 104 RBI on the season indicate consistency. The bigger news is the Dodgers are placing Ohtani on the IL and calling up De Paula for his Major League debut.
Jackson Ferris, LHP, Dodgers (AAA, Oklahoma City) · #309 · struck out 7 over six innings of one-run ball Wednesday, holding the opposition to 2 hits and 2 walks on 79 pitches. He generated 13 swinging misses, which showcases the left-hander's complex delivery and a plus fastball (94-97 mph). The last-30-day numbers at Triple-A have been sharp: a 1.29 ERA over 28 innings with a 31.3% strikeout rate against a walk rate of 8.9%. The season ERA of 5.51 reflects the other version of Ferris, when the command wavers, but the recent stretch keeps a mid-rotation ceiling alive.
Franklin Arias, SS, Red Sox (AAA, Worcester) · #6 · went 2-for-3 with a double and two walks, posting a clean zero-strikeout line in his five-plate-appearance game at Triple-A. The 20-year-old's contact floor at Worcester has been the headline of his September: a 10.8% strikeout rate over the last 30 days at the Triple-A level, with a .366/.419/.500 line in 93 plate appearances. A 60 hit tool grade and a 65 work ethic grade are both showing up in those results, and the shortstop defense remains above-average. The combined season slash of .324/.403/.561 across both levels with 23 home runs at age 20 is as complete a line as you will find from a teenage shortstop.
Bishop Letson, RHP, Brewers (AA, Biloxi) · #293 · struck out 9 and allowed 1 earned run across 6.2 innings Wednesday, scattering 4 hits against 1 walk on 85 pitches and generating 16 swinging misses. The 21-year-old has been running a 5.56 ERA over the last 30 days entering Wednesday, so the nine-strikeout, near-complete-game performance was a notable step in the right direction. He gets swings and misses with a fastball that touches 98 and a sweeping slider that flashes plus; the issue most of the season has been connecting those outings, with command sitting below average and walks climbing to 11.1% of batters faced on the year. Wednesday is the version that makes the #4 starter projection look achievable.
Liam Doyle, LHP, Cardinals (AA, Springfield) · #147 · worked 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 1 hit, issuing 2 walks and fanning 5 on 73 pitches with 10 swinging misses. The 22-year-old's numbers over the last month at Double-A have been the sharper story: a 1.71 ERA in 26.1 innings with a 29.7% strikeout rate and an 87% WHIP, with the fastball-slider combination already grading 60/60. The season ERA sits at 3.76 through 103 innings, and the walk rate of 12.5% remains the main thing keeping a legitimate #3 starter projection anchored closer to a #4 reality. Wednesday's two-walk, five-inning outing was efficient enough to stay within that recent upward trend.
Joseph Dzierwa, LHP, Orioles (AA, Bowie) · #221 · earned his fourth win of the season Wednesday, throwing five scoreless innings on 71 pitches: 2 hits, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts, 10 swinging misses. Dzierwa's ERA at Double-A is 2.29 through 90.1 innings, backed by a WHIP of 0.94 and a 5.6% walk rate that ranks among the sharpest in the level. The carrying weapon is a plus changeup in the low 80s that contrasts cleanly with a sinking fastball that can reach the mid-90s, and the size and arm slot create a difficult pickup. Wednesday's win moved him to 4-1 on the season; the Orioles' own MiLB player of the day designation was a reasonable call.
Jonny Farmelo, OF, Mariners (AA, North Little Rock) · #92 · drove in three on a solo homer and a walk in four plate appearances, also striking out twice. The 22-year-old left-handed center fielder has a 60 speed grade and a 55 power grade, and the home run was his fourth at Double-A after posting 13 at High-A earlier this season. The strikeout rate at Arkansas has climbed to 27.4% in 201 plate appearances; the hit tool sits at 50 with real questions about contact quality against upper-level pitching, and the 26.4% K rate over the last 30 days has not moved in the right direction. The power-speed combination keeps the everyday projection credible, but the bat has to sharpen for it to hold.
Jeferson Quero, C, Brewers (AAA, Nashville) · #191 · went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. The 23-year-old right-handed catcher has a 60 field grade and a 55 arm, with the bat grading more at the fringe-average tier; the season line at Nashville is .254/.323/.416 with a 21.1% strikeout rate in 459 plate appearances. Over the last 17 games his walk rate has dipped to 3.1%, reflecting an aggressive approach that is not generating enough contact to sustain it. Two doubles and no strikeouts Wednesday was a cleaner offensive showing than his recent form suggests.
Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Orioles (AAA, Norfolk) · #312 · went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 RBI for the Tides. The 24-year-old left-handed center fielder has an __ speed grade and a 70 field grade, with the bat projecting as more of a contact-and-on-base profile than a power one; the 35 power grade is honest, and the three home runs in 337 plate appearances at Triple-A back it up. Over the last 30 days he is hitting .289 with a 14.3% walk rate and a 40.7% swing rate that grades as genuinely selective. The 30 stolen bases on the season reflect what the profile is built on, and Wednesday's two-RBI game added offensive texture to a lineup entry that usually earns its keep another way.
Jefferson Rojas, SS, Mets (AA, Binghamton) · #126 · went 2-for-4 with a double in his four-plate-appearance game. The 21-year-old right-handed infielder has been a hot bat at Double-A over the last month: nine home runs and a .653 slugging mark across 107 plate appearances in the last 30 days, with a 16.3% strikeout rate on the season that reflects the compact, above-average hit tool. Combined across both Double-A stops this year, he is at 24 home runs and an .496 slugging mark in 520 plate appearances; the power output has outrun the 45 power grade he carries, and the question now is whether that grade gets revised before the offseason.