Nick Pratto Hits Three Home Runs For Northwest Arkansas Friday
The Kansas City Royals' No. 9 prospect Nick Pratto belted three home runs for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in a 15-5 victory over the Springfield Cardinals on Friday.
Pratto went 3-for-4, driving in five runs against the Cardinals. He hit a solo home run in the first inning, a three-run homer in the fourth and another solo shot in the ninth. Pratto's blast in the ninth followed Bobby Witt Jr.'s two-run home run.
NICK PRATTO
— Northwest Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) May 22, 2021
THRICE AS NICE
15-4 #NWANATURALS @RoyalsPD pic.twitter.com/3xvoJwdRCH
The 22-year-old first baseman has started the Double-A season slow as he was hitting .200 on the young season before Friday's offensive outpouring. Pratto is slashing .260/.415/.640 on the year with a 1.055 on-base plus slugging percentage. With his three home runs on Friday, Pratto leads the team in that category with five on the year.
Pratto wasn't the only Royals prospect in Double-A to have a solid game. Witt went to 2-for-5 with his aforementioned two-run home run. Catcher MJ Melendez went 3-for-6 with a home run and two RBIs. Outfielder Brewer Hicklen had three RBIs on the day as well.
Bobby Witt Jr. wasn’t going to be left out of the home run party tonight!
— Northwest Arkansas Naturals (@nwanaturals) May 22, 2021
A two-run shot to left-center is @BwittJr’s second long ball of the season, now a 14-4 lead for the #NWANaturals in the 9th!
Now FIVE homers tonight for the Naturals! @RoyalsPD pic.twitter.com/faWDQFj3Mh
Before Friday's contest, Witt was hitting below .200 but his performance moved his slash line to .207/.303/.310. The home run was the No. 7 overall prospect's second with the Naturals.
In 12 games this season, Melendez has driven in 12 runs on 10 hits, good enough for the team lead.
Northwest Arkansas will have two more games in Springfield against the Cardinals before heading back to Springdale, Arkansas to host the San Antonio Missions May 25-30.
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Tucker D. Franklin is an alumnus of Northwest Missouri State University, majoring in sports media and graduating in 2019. Tucker was previously the sports editor for The Maryville Forum and is now the editor-in-chief of Inside the Royals as well as the deputy editor for Arrowhead Report on SI.com and the host of the Roughing the Kicker Chiefs podcast. Follow Tucker on Twitter @tuckerdfranklin.