Ivan Melendez Sets the Hillsboro Home Run Record

In the Diamondbacks minor league system, Hillsboro is the one pitcher-friendly environment in their entire system. In fact, it's one of the more notorious pitch-friendly parks in the Northwest League. In Hillsboro, the D-backs have two of their best slugger prospects and a quartet of intriguing arms that may have legitimate futures in a starting rotation.

Hitters

Ivan Melendez, 3B/1B crushed the Hops' single-season home runs record over the weekend, which was set last year by A.J. Vukovich. The strikeouts continue to be a problem for Melendez, who has struck out in a third of his 243 plate appearances, but he's also hit 17 home runs . The concern is whether or not he'll make enough contact to utilize his one elite tool. Moving forward, cutting the strikeout rate without sacrificing the quality of contact will be the next important step in his development as a hitter.

Manuel Peña, 2B got promoted to Hillsboro after a solid month of June. Strikeouts have been an issue, with a 25% rate in Visalia and 24% in Hillsboro with relatively low walk rates and not much power to speak of. Add in that he's been moved off a premium defensive position, there is serious bust risk in his profile. It's also worth noting he's only in his Age 19 season, so it may be too early to give up on a young for the level prospect.

Wilderd Patino, CF recently set the Hillsboro franchise record for a hitting streak at 18. He has some loud tools, in terms of both raw power and speed, but a very poor hit tool threatens to sink his entire profile. The combination of a high strikeout rate and a heavy ground ball rate has limited the effectiveness of his raw power tool. As a right-handed outfield bat in the system with above-average raw power, he still should be a prospect to hold onto for another year. However it's unlikely he gets added to the 40-man roster in the winter.

J.J. D'Orazio, C has put up some intriguing numbers at the plate. The catcher prospect is hitting .299 with six home runs along with solid strikeout and walk rates of 19% and 11% respectively. For all the players with 200+ plate appearances in Hillsboro, his .299 average leads the team and according to FanGraphs' wRC+ metric he is second on the team behind Melendez with a 112 mark. That's a solid mark for a 21-year-old catching prospect in High-A, although he'll need to continue to hit when he gets to Double-A next season.

Pitchers

Yu-Min Lin flashes brilliance at times this season when he's able to locate all three of his main pitches. The 19-year-old lefty out of Taiwan has thrown quality starts his last three times out, including back-to-back games with 10 strikeouts. On the season he's striking out more than a third of the hitters he faces with a solid 8% walk rate. Given the profile of a short lefty with not a great fastball, he'll need to be able to locate and move the ball around the strike zone to be an effective starter.

Dylan Ray continues to have excellent strikeout and walk rates for the level, but his ERA continues to underperform his peripherals. In back-to-back starts, he's pitched six scoreless innings with a total of 14 strikeouts and three walks. In eight of his 14 starts on the season, Ray has completed five innings. He has the profile of a No. 4/5 starter in a big league rotation with 50-55 grades across the board.

Yilber Diaz continues to be inconsistent on the mound, although his strikeout to walk ratio has gone over 3.00. He leads the team with a 35% strikeout rate, but also allowed nine home runs in 49 2/3 innings. With the type of stuff he has on the mound, which is an upper 90s fastball and a big breaking curveball, he is a prime candidate to move to the bullpen when he reaches the upper minors and faces more disciplined hitters.

Joe Elbis has found High-A to be a bit of a struggle, with a 6.39 ERA in five starts. The walk rate has spiked up to over 13% compared to 19% strikeout rate. That has also coincided with a spike in home run rate, which has ballooned to 1.4 per nine innings pitched. After showing solid control numbers with Visalia earlier in the season, Elbis will need to do a better job of getting ahead in counts and not be forced to throw over the heart of the plate in hitter's counts.