April has come to an end. We’re now several weeks into the minor-league season, the weather is warming and prospects are beginning to collect enough plate appearances to draw a few conclusions. And who better to draw conclusions than professional scouts!

Welcome to This Week in Minor League Baseball.

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Three prospects scouts liked this week

Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds, LHP 

Team: Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts/Triple-A Louisville Bats
Age: 23
Stats: 4 starts, 20 2/3 IP, 1.74 ERA, 43 K, 6 BB

Scout says: He’s leading the minors in strikeout rate and has been the most impressive pitcher I’ve seen this year who is not Eury Pérez. He’s uber-competitive and even though his fastball sits in the low 90s and touches the mid-90s, he locates it in several parts of the zone. The carry and life on it misses bats, and he can throw it right down the middle and get swings and misses. His slider is a plus slider with late and big power finish to it that he can throw for strikes and chases as well. He also has a changeup, but it’s below average and he doesn’t throw it very often. He doesn’t need it either. His ability to locate the other two pitches in all parts of the zone makes hitters very off-balance. They don’t know which pitch they’ll get, if it’ll be a strike or ball and where it will be located. It’s like he’s got eight pitches because of where he can locate them. He can throw high-and-inside fastball then go high and away, down and in with the fastball and then back down and in with the slider. He throws a ton of strikes, gets ahead in the count frequently and then toys with hitters. He sat 92-93 mph when I saw him, but this guy is way too good to be ranked as low as he is. There’s the conversation that he’s a bullpen guy, but his command and competitiveness will allow him to be a No. 4 starter. Are you going to be jumping up in the air that you’ve got a fourth starter? You should be. They’re hard to find.

Andrew Abbott, welcome to Triple-A 🫡

One inning, three K’s. #MadeInLou

— Louisville Bats (@LouisvilleBats) April 26, 2023

Carson Whisenhunt, San Francisco Giants, LHP 

Team: Low-A San Jose Giants/High-A Eugene Emeralds
Age: 22
Stats: 5 starts, 17 2/3 IP, 2.55 ERA, 26 K, 4 BB

Scout says: He’s a lefty with some feel to pitch, a good breaking ball and a good changeup. He’s got a chance to be a starter with a pretty good middle-of-the-rotation ceiling. He does it pretty easily. Granted, he’s facing worse competition than he faced in college, but I liked what I saw. He was a second-rounder from East Carolina who fell in the draft due to a PED test in college that cost him the season, but he’s got pretty polished stuff. He throws 93-94 mph with a four-seamer. The downer curve that he throws at 80-81 mph is pretty sharp. It’s an average major-league curve, maybe better. The changeup has depth and would be an average change in the big leagues. He has a nice, long, loose body, with long arms and an easy arm stroke. He’s better than some first-rounders I’ve seen in the past. He was in the wrong league when I saw him with San Jose, and they must have agreed because they just promoted him.

2022 second-rounder Carson Whisenhunt was dominant in his High-A debut with four scoreless innings of one-hit ball with no walks and six strikeouts.

The fastball was at 94-97 mph while his patented changeup is at 82-84 mph. Arrow is definitely pointing up.

— Giant Prospective (@giantprospectiv) May 1, 2023

Lazaro Montes, Seattle Mariners, DH

Team: Extended spring training
Age: 18
Stats: .284/.422/.585, 10 HR, 0.47  BB/K (2022 in the Dominican Summer League)

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Scout says: He’s a baby T-rex-looking kid, a big ol’ energetic kid who signed for $2.2 million out of Cuba. He tore up the DSL last year, where he showed serious pop from the left side. He still has the feel to hit despite how sloppy his body looks. He has big, big power right now. In the field, he’s all high knees and screaming toward the ball like a kid chasing it, so he might be DH-only like Yordan Alvarez. But at the plate, he’s not fooled by pitchers. Every time I see him, he’s good. He’s actually got some bat-to-ball skills and some hitter actions to him. His hands work, he stays on lefties and goes up and down. It’s a short stroke and a really fast bat. There’s a hitter in there. He’s a legit 35-to-40-homer threat who could probably hit for average too. There’s at least an average hit tool in there. You see him in person and he shocks you. You don’t expect it out of a dude that big. He’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, but he’s closer to 6-5 and 250. He’ll have to stay on his weight. But if he puts up numbers in the Arizona Complex League, he’ll be on the map real quick.

Lazaro Montes draws a walk in his first ever spring training AB at 18 years old.

— Gravel (@Gravel_sense) March 18, 2023

Hear from our staff

• Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales is on the injured list at Triple-A Indianapolis with what Pirates sports medical director Todd Tomczyk calls a “left shoulder strain” suffered on an awkward swing. The team feels it’s minor at this point, but they wanted to nip some minor inflammation in the bud and not let it become a long-term thing. The Pirates also got good news from team doctors on catcher Endy Rodriguez, who is on the Triple-A IL with a forearm strain. He could be able to DH in a few days, although catching will take a bit longer. — Rob Biertempfel

• After an elbow injury limited him to nine games in his first professional season, Astros 2022 first-round pick Drew Gilbert is gaining traction at High-A Asheville. He slashed .352/.417/.648 with nine extra-base hits in his first 60 plate appearances, inviting questions about how long the Astros will allow him to continue crushing that level of pitching. General manager Dana Brown gushed over Gilbert in spring training and challenged the energetic 22-year-old to put himself on the major-league radar this season. That timeline may be a tad unrealistic, but a promotion to Double A may soon be in Gilbert’s future. — Chandler Rome

• A’s outfielder Denzel Clarke began the season on the 7-day injured list with a left shoulder strain, but he was activated last week and made quite the first impression on the Texas League. The 23-year-old homered twice in his season debut and finished the week 8 for 16 with four home runs, three doubles and nine runs scored over four games. He also walked three times and stole a base for good measure. He was named the Texas League’s Player of the Week for his efforts. Clarke did strike out five times and concerns about his contact rate continue to linger, but he is arguably the best athlete in the A’s system, so if he can cut that strikeout rate even marginally, he could be a force in the big leagues. — Melissa Lockard

Notable transactions

• Triple A, here they come! Several notable prospects earned the bump to the doorstep of the majors this past week. Former Guardians first-rounder Gavin Williams jumped to Triple-A Columbus, where the right-hander struck out six in 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his debut. Right-hander Bryce Jarvis, the Diamondbacks’ top pick in 2020, rebounded nicely from a rough 2022 to earn a promotion to Triple-A Reno last week. He’s made two starts, allowing two runs over 10 innings and striking out 10. And Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, a first-rounder in that same 2020 draft, is now with Triple-A Sacramento after batting .333 with an .881 OPS to start the Double-A season.

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• Also making his Triple-A debut: Dodgers fireballing righty Bobby Miller, who was slowed to start the year by shoulder soreness. Miller went only 3 1/3 in his first start with Oklahoma City, but allowed only one run and hit triple digits with his fastball.

• A few injuries to track. Pirates right-hander Mike Burrows had Tommy John surgery and is done for the year, while Brewers outfielder Sal Frelick is down for six to eight weeks after thumb surgery. Rockies outfield prospect Zac Veen also landed on the injured list last week with wrist inflammation, but he should be back in a matter of a few weeks, if not sooner.

• Twins lefty Connor Prielipp, who fell to the second round after missing all of 2022 following Tommy John surgery, had an elbow scare that appears to be only that. Per reports, scans came back clean and he is now gearing up to return to High-A Cedar Rapids.

Plays of the week

It’s not four homers in one game, as it was a doubleheader, but four homers in one day is still pretty impressive for Royals prospect David Hollie.

Local kid David Hollie is right at home in this doubleheader at Augusta.

After going yard in Game 1, the @Royals prospect drills three homers in the nightcap for the @ColaFireflies:

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 30, 2023

This throw from Red Sox prospect Cedanne Rafaela drew the attention of NORAD.

Our advice? Don't try and score on Ceddanne Rafaela with two outs in the ninth inning 🤔

— Portland Sea Dogs ⚾️ (@PortlandSeaDogs) April 28, 2023

Another edition of Plays of the Week, another highlight from Cubs prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, who fell behind 0-2, worked a 16-pitch at-bat and then smacked a grand slam.

From down 0-2 in the count to a grand slam!

An epic 16-pitch AB from @Cubs No. 1 prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong.

— MLB (@MLB) April 26, 2023

Forty-two hits in a game — ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

42 HITS IN ONE GAME 😱

The @LouisvilleBats and @IowaCubs had themselves a day:

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) April 28, 2023

Forget sticky stuff. Mariners prospect Curtis Washington Jr. must be using slippery stuff.

Wow what a move by Curtis Washington Jr! That was fun.

— Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) April 30, 2023

Lastly, this isn’t a highlight, but it is worth your mouth-agape attention.

You might think this is fake but it's not.

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) April 26, 2023

What the heck, here’s more stuff

Keep reading, don’t stop! Here are some looks at the systems of the Giants and Brewers. Like pitching prospects? Fabian Ardaya takes a look at Dodgers starter Gavin Stone, while Zack Meisel has what you need to know about Tanner Bibee. Are you a mad scientist and/or mad at baseball’s scientists? Read Sam Blum on the experimentation going on at the Double-A level. Finally, please read this big feature I did on Reds prospect Cam Collier, who is only the second player after Bryce Harper to leave high school two years early in order to enter the draft as a 17-year-old.

(Top photo of Andrew Abbott at last year’s MLB All-Star Futures Game: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)