Hot Week & The Top 100: Rookies Reign Supreme

The rookies reigned supreme last week across Minor League Baseball as three rookie-level players were among the top-five hitters of the week. They were joined by two High-A players. This week’s top-five hitters from throughout the minor leagues included Douglas Hodo III, outfielder from the Frederick Keys (High-A, Baltimore Orioles); Angel Guzman, shortstop out of the Florida Coast League Blue Jays (Rookie level, Toronto Blue Jays); Tre Richardson III, shortstop with the Peoria Chiefs (High-A, St. Louis Cardinals); Aaron Pinero, shortstop from DSL Tampa Bay (Rookie level, Tampa Bay Rays); and Eriel Dihigo, shortstop from the ACL Rockies (Rookie level, Colorado Rockies).

All five players had huge OPS’ this week, with the lowest OPS among the five being a 1.767.

Douglas Hodo III, OF – Frederick Keys (High-A, Baltimore Orioles)

Hodo III was placed on the seven-day injured list by the Double-A Baysox back in April. He is currently playing with the Frederick Keys on a Double-A rehab assignment. He and the Keys just wrapped up a six-game series against the Hudson Valley Renegades (New York Yankees). They took four of six from the Yankees’ High-A affiliate and remain in first place in the South Atlantic League North.

Hodo III, rehabbing and rebuilding in playing volume, appeared in three of the six games, hitting .643/.688/1.500, with a huge 2.188 OPS, the largest OPS among players this week. He was 9-for-14 with three doubles, three home runs, and walked twice. He drove in seven RBIs and had eight runs scored. June 7th was his strongest performance of the week, going 4-for-6 on the night with two doubles, a home run, and four RBIs.  

Including his time on the injured list and on rehab assignment, he has split the season between the FCL, High-A, and Double-A. He is hitting a combined .353/..421/.667, with a 1.088 OPS through just 14 games played this season. He also has a .405 BABIP and eight extra-base hits. Prior to injury, he was hitting .258/.324/.387, with a .711 OPS in Double-A. He wasn’t on the IL long and, barring any setbacks, should find himself back on the road to being sent back to Chesapeake soon.

Angel Guzman, SS – FCL Blue Jays (Rookie, Toronto Blue Jays)

Guzman is in his first season in the Florida Coast League. He was signed by Toronto as a free agent in 2024 from the Dominican Republic and played his first two years with the DSL Blue Jays before being promoted to the Florida Coast League this year.
This week, the FCL Blue Jays had matchups against the Tigers’, Yankees’, and Phillies’ FCL affiliates. Over the course of those eight games last week, Guzman hit .391/.481/1.043, with a 1.829 OPS. He was -for-23, with three doubles, four home runs, 11 RBIs, and eight runs scored. He walked four times this week.

On June 4th, the 19-year-old was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two home runs, with five RBIs, and four runs scored. He also walked once in that game.

Over the course of his first year in the FCL, he is slashing .307/.376/.545, with a .921 OPS. He has five doubles, two triples, and five home runs with 12 walks, four stolen bases, 26 RBIs, and 21 runs scored. His BABIP is .321, and he has 12 extra-base hits.
With having already surpassed his 2025 numbers, it would be no surprise if we see Guzman called up to Single-A Dunedin this season.

Tre Richardson III, SS – Peoria Chiefs (High-A, St. Louis Cardinals)

Richardson, drafted in 2023 by the Cardinals in Round 15 (Pick No. 455 overall) out of Texas Christian, has had a strong start to his professional career, making his way in his first three seasons to High-A Peoria and making a strong case for a call-up to Double-A with the numbers he’s putting up this year.

It was a great week for Richardson III and the Chiefs. They swept the Beloit Sky Carp (Miami Marlins) in six games, and Richardson was named the Midwest League Player of the Week with the sky-scraping stats he put up.

The 24-year-old shortstop from Oklahoma City played in five of the six games against Beloit. He was 7-for-17 on the week, hitting .412/.500/1.294, with a 1.794 OPS. He hit five home runs, driving in nine RBIs and eight runs scored. He also walked three times. On June 3rd and 5th, he had two home runs each, and on June 5th, he drove in five of his nine RBIs for the week.
Over the course of 26 games in High-A this year, he is batting a combined .337/.426/.733, with a 1.159 OPS. He has two doubles, one triple, and 10 home runs. He has driven in 26 RBIs and 28 runs scored. He also has a .413 BABIP and 13 extra base hits credited to his stats. With some of his stats (home runs and triples included) already surpassing 2025 and some of his stats close to that mark in just a quarter of the games, it can be expected that Richardson III could get his call to Double-A this year.

Aaron Pinero, SS – DSL Tampa Bay (Rookie affiliate, Tampa Bay Rays)

Pinero is in his second season with DSL Tampa, but his third year in rookie ball, as he looks to break through and get his number called to head to Florida to play in the FCL or FSL.

This was the first series he played in this year, and it was a strong start for the 19-year-old from Venezuela. He was 13-for-23, hitting .565/.688/1.043, with a 1.785 OPS. He hit two doubles, three home runs, and drove in 10 RBIs and 11 runs scored. He also walked six times and had four stolen bases this week, showing how dangerous he can be on the base paths when you put him on.
Having just played in those six games this season, those are his season stats. However it’s already improvement from the 23 games he played last year. He had just two home runs last year and this year has three already, and he’s on track to surprise his RBI count from last year, too. His BABIP is already improved so far this year, with a .556 right now over a .313 last year. He also already has five extra-base hits this year.

Eriel Dihigo, SS – ACL Rockies (Rookie affiliate, Colorado Rockies)

This is Dihigo’s first year in ACL with the Rockies, and already some of his stats have tied those of the numbers he hit last year, showing improvement like many of the other young rookies mentioned above.

This week, Dihigo was 7-for-14, hitting .500/.668/1.100, with a 1.767 OPS through five games. He had six doubles, with four RBIs, and five runs scored. He also walked four times, reaching 11 times across 14 at-bats.

Across the course of the season, his first with the ACL, he is batting .273/.443/.455, with a .898 OPS. He has a total of six doubles, three triples, with 10 RBIs, and 15 runs scored. His BABIP is .375, and he has nine total extra-base hits on the season.

MLB Pipeline Top-100 Prospects

With an MLB Pipeline Top-100 Prospects mid-season update coming, there were quite a few players who graduated out of the Top-100 prospects this week.

Out of all of MLB Pipeline’s Top-100 prospects currently still on the list, just one had a decently strong week, and that was Jonny Farmelo (No. 70) from the High-A Everett AquaSox. He batted .409/.536/1.000, with a 1.536 OPS, three home runs, five RBIs, and eight runs scored.