Hillsboro Arms Lead Last Week's Best Prospect Performances

For the week, there were a lot of strong performances throughout the D-backs minor league system worthy of highlighting. Instead of a three up, three down this week will feature a six up, no down.

Dylan Ray bounced back from a rough start two weeks ago, allowing just two runs on five hits, three walks, and 14 strikeouts in his past two starts with Hillsboro. The 6'3" right-hander is showing a solid changeup to pair up with his fastball and slider. On the season, he has a 4.86 ERA which may be unlucky considering opposing hitters are batting just .232 with a .652 OPS against him on the season. He has struck out 47 hitters, which is an impressive 35.0% strikeout rate and only walked eight.

Yilber Diaz turned in four hitless innings for Hillsboro, walking only one batter and striking out seven. A 6'0" right-hander that can touch triple digits with a big breaking ball, he has the stuff to be a solid backend arm in the bullpen. Consistently throwing strikes has been an issue this season, with an 11.8% walk rate, but the stuff has shown up with a 34.8% strikeout rate. It will be interesting to see when the D-backs elect to move him to the bullpen, or if they feel he needs starter reps to continue to develop.

Joe Elbis threw five shutout innings, allowing just one hit, walked two, and struck out seven. After bouncing back from a shoulder injury that wiped out his 2022 season, he looks healthy and effective with Visalia. He has a 2.32 ERA on the season with 27 strikeouts and 10 walks over eight starts. He was promoted to High-A Hillsboro over the weekend.

Conor Grammes has been promoted to Double-A Amarillo after pitching to a 3.38 ERA in 10 appearances with Hillsboro. The 25-year-old right-hander has struggled to throw strikes throughout much of his minor league career, despite possessing an upper-90s fastball and a big hammer curve. In his first two appearances with Amarillo, he has thrown two shutout innings with three strikeouts and one walk.

Jorge Barrosa is climbing out of a slow start with Reno, hitting .357 with a 1.167 OPS since May 12th. That hot streak has raised his season line to .254/..377/.462 While raw power may be his weakest tool, he smacked out three home runs in his last 10 days and is making better contact more consistently. Even though he is significantly behind the pecking order in the outfield, don't be surprised if he's brought up later in the year in an injury replacement situation.

Dominic Canzone is banging on the door for a big league opportunity. The slugging outfielder has 11 home runs on the season and more walks than strikeouts. Some of that is due to the Pacific Coast League featuring high elevation ballparks such as Reno and El Paso, but the overall batted ball data is encouraging. He'll need to hit fewer ground balls, but in the event Pavin Smith goes into another lengthy slump at the plate he could be ready to try add some left-handed thump to the lineup.

Prospect Updates

Outfielder Druw Jones has begun his rehab in Extended Spring Training. He played his first game on Saturday and is working himself back into game shape. The No. 2 overall pick got off to a slow start with Visalia, hitting .175 with a .483 OPS in 10 games before suffering a right quad strain on April 19th.