Baseball's stars shine brightest when the pressure is on and that is exactly what happened around the Minor Leagues on Thursday night. Hagen Smith (White Sox) kept his club's championship hopes alive with a dominant performance on the mound while fellow Top 100 prospects/teenagers Leo De Vries (Athletics) and Jesús Made (Brewers) did the job at the plate.
Hagen Smith, LHP, Birmingham (CWS No. 5/MLB No. 87)
With Smith's team facing elimination, he came up huge for Double-A Birmingham in the Southern League semifinals. The 22-year-old twirled five hitless innings and equaled a career high with 10 strikeouts in his first postseason start as a pro. Smith tossed 73 pitches (48 for strikes) and allowed just a pair of walks while fanning five of the last six batters of his outing. Despite missing six weeks with left elbow soreness, the Arkansas product posted a 3.57 ERA and limited opponents to a .166 average with 108 punchouts in 75 2/3 innings across 20 starts. Full story | Gameday
Leo De Vries, SS, Midland (ATH No. 1/MLB No. 3)
De Vries ended the regular season on a hot streak and carried that into the first postseason games of his pro career. Two days after homering in Double-A Midland's Texas League semifinal opener -- his sixth roundtripper in his past nine games going back to Sept. 6 -- the 18-year-old singled three times and drove in a run to help propel the RockHounds into the Finals. De Vries went 5-for-8 in the two-game sweep after slashing .383/.420/.851 with five long balls and 13 RBIs in September. Gameday
Jesús Made, SS, Biloxi (MIL No. 1/MLB No. 5)
Made wasn't able to push Double-A Biloxi into the Southern League Finals, but he still made his presence known. The 18-year-old went deep and picked up his first two postseason hits, capping an impressive full-season debut. Made spent the majority of his campaign with Single-A Carolina before moving up to High-A Wisconsin. The native of the Dominican Republic spent the last week of the regular season with Biloxi, finishing the year with a .285 average, a .792 OPS, 81 runs scored, 61 RBIs and 47 stolen bases in 115 games. Gameday
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Colt Emerson, SS/3B, Tacoma (SEA No. 1/MLB No. 11)
Emerson is adjusting to Triple-A life just fine. The 20-year-old hammered his second roundtripper in three days, capping a 10-run inning by Tacoma with a three-run jack, his 16th of the season. Emerson scored twice and also added a single, giving him hits in 13 of 14 games this month, including nine multihit performances. Gameday
Alex Freeland, SS/3B Oklahoma City (LAD No. 3/MLB No. 42)
Freeland fell a triple shy of the cycle en route to his fourth multihit performance in five games for Triple-A Oklahoma City. The Central Florida product hammered his 15th long ball for the Comets and drove in four runs, giving him 80 RBIs in the Minors this season. Freeland has hit safely in nine of 11 games and is batting .300 with three homers and nine RBIs since returning from his first Major League stint. Gameday
Jeferson Quero, C, Nashville (MIL No. 4/MLB No. 61)
Quero has quietly put together a strong season that began with him missing six weeks due to a hamstring strain. The 22-year-old backstop had his best game in weeks -- homering, reaching base three times and collecting three RBIs to power Triple-A Nashville's 15-run outburst. Although he has scuffled in September, Quero has amassed 21 extra-base hits and 43 RBIs in 57 games for the Sounds. Gameday
Tre' Morgan, 1B/OF, Durham (TB No. 7)
Morgan's hot-hitting ways continued with his third three-hit performance in his past seven games. The LSU product collected three extra-base hits -- two doubles and a triple -- in a game for the first time in his pro career and scored twice. Morgan has hit safely in 13 of 14 games this month, slashing .358/.444/.604 with 13 RBIs, and is batting .276 with an .808 OPS in 89 games for Triple-A Durham. Gameday
Jack Wenninger, RHP, Binghamton (NYM No. 13)
As well as Wenninger has pitched all season in what has been a breakout campaign, he turned it up a notch when it mattered most. The 23-year-old allowed a second-inning single, a walk in the fifth and nothing else across six scoreless frames to help lift Double-A Binghamton into the Eastern League Finals. Wenninger struck out nine, generated 17 whiffs and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced. The Illinois product went 12-6 with a 2.92 ERA and fanned 147 in 135 innings during the regular season. Gameday