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Prospect Watch

Published

7 months ago

May 16, 2025

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Welcome to Prospect Watch, CBS Sports’ regularly scheduled check-in on the minor leagues. For those new to the Watch, we publish this feature every other week, alternating between the American and National League farm systems.

This go around, we’re focusing on some strong early season performers for AL organizations. We did the same exercise for their NL counterparts back on May 2.

Let’s get to it.

The A’s took a gamble on Jump last summer, popping him with the 73rd overall pick after injuries limited him to 18 collegiate starts. He’s validated their faith to date, compiling a 1.95 ERA and a 8.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in seven High-A appearances. Jump is a shorter lefty with a plunging arm action who gets far down the mound, creating a tough angle on the opposition when he elevates his low-to-mid-90s fastball. To wit, the data I have on him from spring suggests he imparts more than 17 inches of induced vertical break on his heater from a release height around 67 inches; for reference, that would put him in company with the likes of Freddy Peralta and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, among others. If he stays healthy, he’ll be an interesting arm to track.

I’m giving Hiraldo this spot over more notable prospects because he has the opportunity to become a fun story. Originally a Diamondbacks farmhand, he spent the last few years in assorted indy leagues. The Orioles signed him to a minor-league pact last fall, and have rushed him through their minor-league system. Hiraldo has a steep release point and, predictably, a vertical-based arsenal built around a mid-90s fastball. If Baltimore’s pitching staff continues to struggle, I could see them tapping Hiraldo for an audition later this summer.

Anthony, the best prospect entering the spring, has the highest OPS of any qualifying Red Sox minor-league hitter. Not only is his average exit velocity over 95 mph, but he’s drilled three balls over 112 mph. If he were in the majors, his maximum exit velocity this season would rank alongside, oh, Yordan Alvarez and Gunnar Henderson. Not bad, not bad at all. The Red Sox have resisted the urge to play Anthony at first base. Even if they maintain their resolve on that front, I think he’s going to force their hand to find a spot for him in the lineup.

Elko just received a promotion to the majors, but he’s getting the nod here anyway after batting .348/.431/.670 with 10 home runs in 31 Triple-A games. He’s a right-right first baseman nearing his 27th birthday, so you can probably figure out the score — for posterity’s sake: he’s prone to striking out because of his patient approach and his lackluster bat-to-ball skills. At the same time, he has legitimate thunder. Nearly all of his home runs were launched to center or the opposite field, and he’s cleared the 114 mph mark on two separate occasions already. It’s not as though the White Sox lineup has a particularly high standard to meet, so there’s no reason not to give him a look.

Doughty was a personal favorite heading into last summer’s draft despite being a prep right-hander. The Guardians popped him at No. 36, which I think offsets some of the risk that comes with this profile. Whatever the case, the polished Doughty doesn’t have the shiniest ERA to date. What he does have is the best strikeout-to-walk ratio among his affiliate’s starters. That may seem unimpressive, but mind you: he’ll play the entire season at 19, making him the youngest pitcher on the staff.

Those Pete Crow-Armstrong comparisons that have been applied to Clark since his amateur days hit a little different now, huh? Clark is holding up his end by hitting .300/.433/.425 with seven more walks than strikeouts over his first 31 High-A games despite being more than a couple of years younger than his average opponent. He still needs to improve against left-handed pitching, but you have to be pleased with how things are going for the former No. 3 pick.

Gordon, like Elko before him, just made his big-league debut. He’s a tall lefty with a face that looks like someone went into Photoshop and combined Justin Verlander with Matt Harvey’s. Anyway, he releases the ball from a lower arm slot, giving him an east-west (or is it west-east?) arsenal. Gordon threw five pitches with decent regularity in the minors, including a pair of low-90s fastballs. His best bat-misser is a slider that generated nearly 30% whiffs in Triple-A. He has a chance to establish himself as a back-end starter in the majors.

Caglianone was one of the most interesting players in last year’s draft, and that remains the case now that he’s batting .324/.400/.563 over 36 Double-A games. While performing so well at the separating level for real prospects should be encouraging, I’ll note that he continues to employ a swing-happy approach that has resulted in twice as many strikeouts as walks. If you had an issue with that aspect of his game last summer, I’m not sure there’s been much reason to change your mind. Conversely, if you adored Caglianone’s raw strength and feel for loud contact, then I think you’re more than justified in imagining him as something like the Royals’ answer to Yordan Alvarez.

The Angels don’t offer many compelling candidates. Nicholson, a 10th-round pick from last summer, gets the spot here because he’s hit .284/.436/.505 with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in 32 High-A games. Nicholson has legit pop, having homered to both fields; unfortunately, he’s shown some serious problems with left-handed pitchers. He’ll turn 25 come August, so the clock is already ticking.

As with Nicholson, McCusker is not the kind of player you would traditionally think of as a prospect. He’ll turn 27 in May and he has fewer than 100 Triple-A games to his credit. Unlike Nicholson and the Angels, I’m exercising my creative liberty here out of desire rather than obligation. While McCusker has some serious swing-and-miss issues that will limit him to a Quad-A perception, he’s also listed at 6-foot-8 and has the power to match. He’s hammered eight balls over 110 mph already, including a 115 mph home run just a few days ago. There are few things more fun in baseball, no matter the level, than a big man who hits the ball this hard.

Lombard, New York’s first-round pick in 2023, won’t celebrate his 20th birthday until June. That hasn’t prevented him from batting .299/.469/.421 with 10 extra-base hits, 14 stolen bases, and three more walks than strikeouts against High- and Double-A competition. Depending on how he fares the rest of the season, there’s a real chance he’ll be knocking on the big-league door before the end of his age-21 campaign.

I ranked Montes as the second-best prospect in the Mariners system because of his middle-of-the-order upside. He’s making good on that declaration, hammering High-A pitching to the tune of a .266/.387/.547 slash line with seven home runs across 34 games. Montes has pole-to-pole strength, albeit in addition to some serious swing-and-miss tendencies. He’s also whiffing on a full one-third of his offerings. That’s not ideal. If there is a positive here, it’s that Montes has the kind of slugging and on-base capacity to atone for a high strikeout rate. He’s also playing the duration of this season at age 20, which, if nothing else, affords him additional time to up his bat-to-ball skills.

For those who find Kinney’s name familiar, he was a supplemental round choice back in 2021. He missed the entirety of the 2022 season after injuring his shoulder during spring training. Last year, he made up for lost time by hectoring High-A pitchers. So far this season, Kinney is doing the same at the Double-A level, hitting .296/.333/.536. He’s a left-handed batter with plus raw strength (he’s homered several times to left field already) who is a skilled enough defender to remain on the dirt. Do note that while Kinney’s topline statistics don’t show a platoon split, he’s whiffed on more than 40% of his swings versus lefty pitchers to date, suggesting he’ll probably become more of a most-days player in the majors.

Davalillo is a short right-hander with a good splitter who ought to find himself en route to Double-A sooner rather than later. I write that because he’s struck out more than 37% of the batters he’s faced to date while walking just 4.9% of them. Oh, and he has a ground-ball percentage over 55%. It’s hard to do much better than that.

Nimmala has been a personal favorite dating back to his draft cycle in 2023. At the rate he’s going, a lot of other people are going to grow fond of his game, too. Nimmala has hit .277/.354/.515 with seven home runs and 10 other extra-base hits across 32 High-A games. Granted, he’s done that while striking out more than twice as often as he’s walked, and while whiffing more frequently than I would consider ideal. I’m willing to cut him some slack at this point given that he’s a 19-year-old shortstop playing against competition that is on average three years his senior.

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Volleyball Falls at No.4 Pitt in NCAA Tournament

Published

10 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

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PITTSBURGH – The America East champion UMBC Volleyball team season came to end as No.4 Pitt swept an NCAA Tournament first round match-up (25-10, 25-17, 25-13) on Friday night.

Jalynn Brown led the Retrievers with eight kills, while Pittsburgh-area native Hannah Dobbs added seven kills, three digs and a block.

Hannah Howard tallied a match-best 11 digs and ended the season with 457 digs, the tenth most in a single season in UMBC history.

Laura Fuehrer had four kills and two blocks and finished the season with 114 blocks and 101 assisted blocks, good for sixth and fifth most, respectively, in a single season in program history.

Claudia Lllamas picked up six kills, Helen Frankovich had four on .500 hitting with two blocks and Izzy Ostvig added a kill with 12 assists and a team-high three blocks

Serin Maden had 13 assists and finished her stellar career in the black and gold with 2,461 assists.

Ella McAllister chipped in with two digs and Ema Djordjevic also saw action in the contest.

This was both the Retrievers fifth America East championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in the past six seasons.

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Michigan Sweeps Xavier to Advance to NCAA Tournament Second Round

Published

26 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

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» Michigan swept Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

» Allison Jacobs tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage.

» Maddi Cuchran recorded four aces, becoming just the fifth Wolverine with four or more aces in a tournament match.

» Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The University of Michigan volleyball team swept eighth-seeded Xavier 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 on Friday (Dec. 5) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center.

Michigan (22-10) was led by Allison Jacobs, who tallied a match-leading 19 kills on a .326 hitting percentage. She was the only player who recorded double-digit kills in the match. Ella Demetrician had nine kills, including Michigan’s final two and Serena Nyambio hit .583 with eight kills on 12 swings. Maddi Cuchran tallied four service aces to become just the fifth Wolverine in program history with four aces or more in an NCAA Tournament match. Morgan Burke and Camille Edwards led the U-M offense to a .287 hitting percentage, with Burke recording 17 assists and two aces while Edwards had 18 assists and one ace.

A kill from Nyambio opened the match, but Xavier (26-5) responded with a kill. The Wolverines used a kill from Jacobs and an ace from Cuchran to take the lead. Xavier tied the set at five and six, but U-M kept the Musketeers from taking the lead. Michigan followed with a 4-1 run, led by an ace from Burke and a block from Nyambio and Cymarah Gordon. Xavier brought the set to within one at 10-9, but a Nyambio kill ended the threat and jump-started four straight Michigan points. A block from Gordon and Jenna Hanes put Michigan up 15-11 going into the media timeout. The Musketeers took two of the next three points out of the timeout, and Michigan followed with a 5-2 run with kills from three different players and an ace from Burke to go up 21-15. Xavier took four of the next five points to force a Michigan timeout. Out of the timeout, Jacobs recorded a kill followed by a block from Hanes and Gordon to reach set point. The Musketeers called their second timeout of the set, and out of the timeout, Jacobs ended the set with a kill for a 25-19 set one win.

Xavier started the second set with two quick points to take an early lead, but it was all Michigan after that. A 5-0 run led by Cuchran, who recorded her third ace of the match, put the Wolverines ahead 8-3. After the teams traded points midway through the set, U-M went on a 4-0 run to build a 15-7 advantage, but Xavier countered with a 4-0 run of its own. A Nyambio kill and Musketeers attack error forced Xavier’s second timeout of the set, trailing 17-11. After the timeout, Michigan took eight of the final 12 points, with a kill from Demetrician finishing off the set 25-15.

In the third set, the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, once again 8-3, led by service runs from Edwards and Jacobs. Xavier hung around and tied the match at 11 before taking the lead. A kill from Gordon tied the match at 12 and Cuchran’s fourth ace put Michigan back in front. From there, neither team held a lead bigger than two points the rest of the way, with the final 14 points alternating back and forth. Demetrician tallied the final two Michigan points as U-M took the third set 25-23 to advance to the second round.

The Wolverines will take on either top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Pittsburgh or UMBC on Saturday (Dec. 6) at 7 p.m. in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Petersen Events Center. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.

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Men’s, women’s track & field unveil 2025-26 indoor schedule

Published

40 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Holy Cross Richard L. Ahern ’51 Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Egetta Alfonso has announced the Crusaders’ 2025-26 indoor track & field schedule for the men’s and women’s programs.

The Crusaders are set to open the season on Saturday, Dec. 6 at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener hosted by Boston University and the Alden Invitational hosted by Brown. Next weekend, Holy Cross heads to New Hampshire for the Dartmouth December Invitational that will be held on Dec. 12 and 13.

Following a break for the holidays, the team returns to action on Jan. 17 at the URI Invitational and the Suffolk Ice Breaker on Jan. 18. The women’s team will compete on Jan. 30 at the David Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston followed by the men on Jan. 31 with the order of events staying the same for the River Hawk Invitational hosted by UMass Lowell on Feb. 6 and 7.

Holy Cross will then compete in meets at Boston University/URI (Feb. 14) and Brown (Feb. 21) in preparation for the 2026 Patriot League Indoor Track & Field Championships that will be hosted by BU on Feb. 28 and March 1.

The annual New England Indoor Championships are slated to be held on March 7-8 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS

Be sure to follow the Holy Cross track & field and cross country teams — and all things Crusader Athletics — on social media!

X – @HCrossTFXC | @goholycross

Instagram – @hcrossmxctf | @hcrossWXCTF | @goholycross

Facebook – Holy Cross Men’s Track & Field | Holy Cross Women’s Track & Field | Holy Cross Athletics

YouTube – GoHolyCross

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Phoenix Athletes Shine On Day Two At Liberty Kickoff

Published

56 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

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LYNCHBURG – Coming home with a pair of event titles and several personal bests, the Elon University women’s track and field team wrapped up competition Friday at the Liberty Kickoff inside the Liberty Indoor Complex.

Isabella Johnson led the Phoenix in the shot put with a fourth-place finish. The sophomore recorded a personal-best throw of 13.99m, moving into fifth on the program’s indoor performance list. Adriana Clarke placed fifth with a personal-best toss of 13.01m.

On the track, Elon earned two event wins as Jasmine Young and Winter Oaster claimed titles in the 5,000 meters and the mile, respectively. Young posted a time of 17:26.66, while Oaster crossed the line in 5:10.95. Shayla Cann added a sixth-place finish in the 500 meters with a time of 1:15.63.

In the high jump, Hannah Schonhoff finished third after clearing 1.68 meters. Newcomer Eloise Mulready placed fifth with a clearance of 1.63 meters. In the 400 meters, Duna Viñals finished fourth with a time of 57.73 while Mary Sollars took sixth in a personal-best 58.74.

Caden Cerminara finished seventh in the pole vault, clearing 3.75m, while Ja’Mia Johnson placed eighth in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 8.91.

ON DECK
Select members of the Phoenix distance group will compete at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Opener tomorrow, hosted at Boston University.

— ELON —

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Big day for Hillsdale’s throwers as Charger men kick off season at GVSU Holiday Open

Published

1 hour ago

December 6, 2025

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The Hillsdale College men’s track and field team got off to a strong start in the throws on Friday, kicking off the 2025-26 indoor season at the GVSU Holiday Open.

All four of Hillsdale’s season-opening provisional qualifying marks came in the shot put and weight throw at the meet, showing why the Chargers are one of the best throws programs in NCAA DII.

Leading the way was senior and defending NCAA DII weight throw national champion Ben Haas, who began his title defense by taking second overall and first among collegiate throwers in the event on Friday with a provisional qualfying throw of 21.33 meters.

Haas was joined in setting a provisional qualifying mark in the weight throw by not one, but two teammates on Friday. Redshirt freshman Dominic Scharer had an collegiate debut to remember on Friday, opening his career with a 20.02 meter mark that makes him the just the fourth Charger in program history to break 20 meters in the weight throw. Along with Scharer, junior Dimitry Ermakov had a massive new personal best in the weight throw to earn a provisional mark in the event for the first time with a distance of 18.58 meters. That mark gives Ermakov the sixth-best weight throw mark in Hillsdale College history as well.

Along with his performance in the weight throw, Haas also started strong in the shot put, placing fourth with a throw of 17.24 meters to give himself a second provisional mark on the day. Scharer also had a notable debut in the shot put, with a top throw of 14.99 meters that gives him the eighth-best mark in program history as well.

On the track, Hillsdale had a few notable standouts. Senior Gabriel Phillips ran well against an elite field in the fastest heat of the 5,000m run, finishing ninth in a new personal best time of 14:30.62, the fourth-best mark in the event in program history. Freshman John Richardson also had a strong first collegiate 5K, finishing in a strong time of 15:02.60 for the Chargers as well, and junior Caleb Youngstedt also ran a new personal best in the 5K of 15:06.17 for Hillsdale.

Two freshmen put together impressive first races as well for the Chargers. Watson Magwenzi had a debut to remember for Hillsdale, becoming just the 11th Charger in program history to go under seven seconds in the 60m dash with a time of 6.99, and also running a solid 22.53 in his first collegiate 200. In the 400m dash, freshman Jack Polizzi also started fast for Hillsdale, placing sixth in 49.48 just ahead of teammate Zealand Tarrant, who ran a new personal best 49.77 to take ninth. Magwenzi also was pushed in the 60 and 200 by sophomore Sam Jones, who a personal best 7.03 in the 60 and a 22.63 in the 200.

Senior Mark Masaka placed 10th (1:56.19) and freshman Wyatt Widolff placed 14th (1:57.48) in the 800m run as well for Hillsdale, and freshman Luan Kummle took 14th in the long jump (6.26 meters).

Hillsdale now heads into the Christmas break, and will pick back up in 2026 with the Al Campbell Invite hosted by the University of Akron on Jan. 16.

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Men’s Track & Field: Stefanowicz Tops Hurdles Record at M City Classic

Published

1 hour ago

December 6, 2025

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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Macalester College men’s track & field team opened the 2026 indoor season at the M City Classic, hosted by the University of Minnesota on Friday. Senior Sebastian Stefanowicz (Portland, Ore./Valley Catholic) broke the school record in the 60-meter hurdles.

Stefanowicz finished fifth in the 60-meter hurdles behind three Division I athletes and an unattached runner with a time of 8.63. The performance betters the old record of 8.68, set by John Shepard ’01 in 1999. Senior Hamza Mahamud (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) finished seventh in 9.10. Stefanowicz also placed 12th in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.15, which ranks sixth on Macalester’s all-time performance list.

In the 600 meters, seniors Henry Schonebaum (Faribault, Minn./Faribault) and Thomas Malecha (Faribault, Minn.) finished sixth and seventh, respectively. First year Aj Baehr (Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) took seventh in the 400 meters (51.18) in his first collegiate race.

In the field events, first year Alex Peters (Belle Plaine, Minn./Jordan) took fourth in the shot put with a mark of 12.55 meters (41-2.25) in his first competition as a Scot. Sophomore Ataa Mensah (St. Paul, Minn./Roseville) finished fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 12.77 meters (41-10.75), followed by first year Garner Miyagawa (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) in fifth with a mark of 12.26 (40-2.75).

Macalester resumes competition in January by hosting the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic on Jan. 24 in the Leonard Center Fieldhouse.

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