The Daytona Tortugas had a lot of quality prospects come through this season. And after the season ended three of them were named to the Postseason All-Star team. There are no longer minor league All-Star games during the season. Infielders Carlos Jorge and Sal Stewart were named to the All-Star team along with outfielder Hector Rodriguez.
All three players saw promotions up to High-A Dayton at some point in the season. Sal Stewart played in 88 games with the Tortugas before he moved up. While in the Single-A Florida State League, Stewart hit .269/.395/.424 with 19 doubles, 10 home runs, 10 steals, and 66 walks to go with 59 strikeouts in 387 plate appearances. His time in Daytona, though, felt like two different seasons. In 39 games from the start of the year through the end of May he hit .216/.358/.266 with more walks than strikeouts. The power just wasn’t showing up as he was hitting far too many grounders. In June his changes at the plate began to see him lift the ball more and in his final 50 games with the Tortugas he hit .307/.421/.542 with more walks than strikeouts.
Carlos Jorge played in 86 games with Daytona before he was moved up. In his time with the Tortugas he hit .295/.400/.483 with 11 doubles, 9 triples, 9 home runs, and 31 stolen bases. He walked 47 times to go with his 70 strikeouts in 356 plate appearances. Most of his time came at second base, but towards the end of his time in the Florida State League he began to see some action in center and that continued after his promotion to Dayton.
Hector Rodriguez saw a very short amount of time in Daytona at the end of 2022, playing in 13 games for the Tortugas. The 19-year-old returned to the league in 2023 and played 101 games there before he was promoted. During his time with the Tortugas he hit .293/.347/.510 with 23 doubles, 9 triples, 16 home runs, and 18 steals. He also had 27 walks and 84 strikeouts in 444 plate appearances.
When the season was over Carlos Jorge was second in the league with a .295 average, Hector Rodriguez was third with his .293 average, and Sal Stewart was 10th at .269. Jorge was also second in on-base percentage (.400) and Stewart was third (.395). Rodriguez led the league with his .510 slugging percentage, while Jorge finished second at .483, and Stewart was eighth at .424. Jorge led the league in OPS at .883, while Rodriguez was second with an .857 mark, and Stewart was fifth at .819. Jorge also finished tied for seventh in the league with 31 steals.
My first though — Imagine if Balcazar hadn’t been injured.
my goats right there
The key phrase in the Stewart summary – “more walks than strikeouts”. With his other skills, this is what will get him to MLB.
This was exactly his scouting report from the draft and why selecting him (much to the dismay of many here) was very astute.
Lookouts just dropped their lineup for the playoffs and both Blake Dunn and Rece Hinds are in the lineup. Seems the club got some real good news on both of them over the weekend.
Just saw that on X, that’s great news!
Now drop Hurtubise back down — it’d be a great opportunity for him to learn how his skill set can impact a playoff game.
@dave
Now move Hurbutise up – it’s be a great opportunity for him to learn how his skill set can impact a playoff race
Fixed it
Not until he starts hitting with more power. Below average power doesn’t help in the ML’s.
Ohhhh – excellent.
5of the 10 in the Lookouts lineup were Dragons when the team qualified for the payoffs.
The photo of H-Rod above reminds me a great deal of Joe Morgan.