Pitcher development does not move in a straight line. When a pitcher dominates start after start it could be time to think of a promotion but when a pitcher is new to a level, or trying to learn something new, progress is uneven. It was that way for several prospect pitchers over the weekend. Meanwhile, the hitters keep on hitting. For those of you who took a break from the minors over the weekend Vladimir Guerrero tweaked his knee in a run down on Friday. It is not thought to be serious but he has not played since.
Buffalo
Luis Santos pitched well on Sunday, he is doing well for an emergency starter as Latos and Lawrence were called up. Box favourite John Stilson pitched two good innings. Stilson has a WHIP of 1.05 and 12 K's in 12 innings.
Dwight Smith Jr was 2-8 over the weekend, his average is .338. Jason Leblebijain had been hitless over the weekend but got two hits with a double on Sunday to get back on track. Speaking of back on track Rowdy Tellez had a nice weekend, he had three hits on Saturday and another on Sunday to get his average back to just under .200.
New Hampshire
The Fisher Cats blew a lead on Sunday and are the worst performing affiliate at 8-14. Conner Greene pitched Ok, he did pitch into the sixth but six hits and three walks led to four earned runs. He did have seven strikeouts. Tim Lopes had three hits on Sunday and is hitting well at the top of the order with his .325 average. Reese McGuire had three hits and got his average over .200. McGuire is sharing the catching duties with Raffy Lopez, not sure if that is a short or long term arrangement. Anthony Alford has cooled down. He was 2-13 over the weekend and 3-22 over his last six days. Ryan McBroom hit his second home run, a three run shot.
Sean Reid-Foley had a tough start on Saturday. He only lasted three innings and 71 pitches. He threw 47 strikes and 24 balls, but he was just too hit-able. Eight hits in three innings was one bad part of the day. All of the hits off him were line drives, the worst kind of hit, the other bad news. On to the next start. Blake McFarland missed all of 2016 when it seemed he was on his way to the majors. He is back, just pitching 4.1 innings, but has looked very good so far. He is one to keep an eye on for the second half of the season.
Dunedin
The hitters keep on hitting. On Friday Max Pentecost had three hits including his sixth home run. He had just one hit on Saturday and sat out Sunday. Danny Jansen went 7-15 over the weekend and his OPS is .932. Andrew Guillotte had five hits over the weekend. Cavan Biggio hit his first home run of the season. Mike Green fave Lane Thomas had two hits yesterday and his average is up to .289. This could be his best pro season at age 21. Thomas has 10 walks and 21 K's in 79 at-bats. Lets not sleep on Kevin Vicuna who was an emergency call-up from extended. In 21 at-bats Vicuna is holding his own, hitting .360.
Dunedin Jordan Romano pitched well on Saturday. In 5.1 innings he gave up two runs but best of all, no walks and three strikeouts. Angel Perdomo, like SRF, was too much around the plate on Sunday. He did pitch five innings but he allowed nine hits and had just two K's.
Lansing
Yeltsin Gudino got off to a slow start but his bat is heating up. Gudino was hitting .132 on April 22nd but he has bumped that up to .224. Gudino had two hits in each of the last three games and in four of the last five. Over the last five games Gudino is 8-20, a .400 average, including his first home run.
Lansing were rained out on Sunday but took the first two games of the series. Patrick Murphy had a nice start on Saturday, one earned run allowed over 5.1 innings. His routine had been disturbed by a suspension and his last start wasn't great but this was a nice "back to form" start. Bo Bichette had three hits on Friday but none on Saturday. Brad Jones was 3-8 in the two games. JB Woodman also had three hits in those games.
Three Stars
Third Star - Tim Lopes
Second Star - Jason Leblebijian
First Star - Luis Santos
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