Nick Castellanos is hardly a sleeper within the Detroit Tigers' organization. Still, few people could have predicted that the 20-year-old third baseman would be hitting .400 two months into the season.

The Tigers had planned to keep MLB.com's No. 45 prospect in Class A Advanced Lakeland for the whole year, but the first-rounder repeatedly forced the club's hand by delivering one dominating performance after another. On Monday, they decided a promotion to Double-A Erie would be best for his development.

In 55 Class A Advanced contests, Castellanos hit a Minor League-leading .405 with three homers and 32 RBIs with the Flying Tigers.

Detroit's No. 2 prospect recorded 27 multi-hit games, including a pair of four-hit performances and six other outings with three hits. He has been held hitless in just five games this season, and he has reached base safely in all but three contests.

He has 16 more hits than other other player in the league, with his batting average 58 points ahead of Palm Beach's Mike O'Neill. He leads the league in slugging percentage (.553) and total bases (119) and he ranks third with 37 runs scored, six behind Dunedin's Kevin Nolan and Daytona's Matt Szczur.

Selected 44th overall in the 2010 Draft out of Archbishop McCarthy High School in Davie, Fla., the 6-foot-4 right-hander has impressed in each of his first two years in full-season ball.

He batted .312 with 76 RBIs and 65 runs scored with Class A West Michigan in 2011, leading the league with 158 hits and ranking second with 36 doubles.

With a 27-28 record, the SeaWolves are currently one game below .500 in the Eastern League's Western Division, seven games behind the first-place Akron Aeros. Brian Pounds has seen the majority of time at third base this year for Erie, but he is batting just .206 with two homers and nine RBIs in 44 games. He has five hits, one RBI and no runs scored in his last 10 appearances.