It was a tough weekend on the farm. Buffalo went 0-4, New Hampshire 1-3, Lansing 0-2 and Vancouver 1-2. Dunedin were off.
Buffalo
Buffalo took it on the chin over the weekend, four losses. They were one hit in a seven inning game and three hit. They scored three runs in the four games. On Sunday Ian Parmley bunted and reached on a single to start the game. The Bisons added two walks but there were no more hits before the game was called in the eighth. Parmley singled in three of the four games. In their best hitting game Jake Elmore and Jason Leblebijian picked up two hits each. And thus concludes the hitting highlights.
Lucas Harrell had the best starting performance, five shutout innings on three hits. Glenn Sparkman did OK until rain stopped him, he pitched four innings, three hits, two runs, one eanred. He just had one K though. Mike Bolsinger and Luis Santos did not pitch well.
In case you missed it over the weekend Jarrett Grube was traded to the Indians. Also it emerged that Dalton Pompey tweaked a knee but is expected back soon. Roenon Fields is back and played on Saturday and Sunday.
The bullpen did not help out. Murphy Smith, Chad Girodo and Wil Browning each gave up multiple runs.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire's hitters were hitting, 35 hits in three games. Unfortunately their pitchers gave up 38 hits and the Fisher Cats won one game of three. Ryan McBroom had three two hits games raising his average from .235 to .247. McBroom's OPS is .739, down from 891 in Dunedin last year. McBroom needs to hit for a better average or more power. We are approx. half way through the season and McBroom has eight home runs.
Gunnar Heidt went 3-4, with a home run, and 2-4 in the first two games hitting out of the seventh spot in the lineup. Heidt was elevated to the third spot in the order for Sundays game and we went 0-5.
Many hitters had one really good game. Richard Urena had three hits on Friday but just one over the next two games. Tim Lopes had three hits on Friday. Jonathan Davis was 4-5 on Sunday, his only hits of the weekend. Andrew Guillotte had three hits on Sunday. Guillotte now has 80 at-bats in AA, he is hitting .338 with an OPS of .860. If he can maintain that he will have made good progress this year.
The starting pitching wasn't good. Jon Harris couldn't get out of the first inning, he was charged with seven runs. Shane Dawson had an odd start. He went five innings, four runs allowed. But he didn't issue a walk nor did he record a strikeout. It was see ball, hit ball, except that he needed 91 pitches to get through five innings. Sean Reid-Foley was average. He was taken deep for a two run home run, and he did allow a third run on two singles. But that was it, three runs in 5.2 innings. He walked just one hitter and picked up four strikeouts but he needed 97 pitches to get through 5.2 innings. Andrew Case is a lone bright spot with two shutout innings on Sunday. Case has an ERA in AA of 2.74 and a WHIP under one. His strikeouts don't look great, just six in 17.2 innings.
Dunedin
All-Star Break
Lansing
Lansing had a rain out and played just two games. These two games ended the first half and with the Lugnuts missing the playoffs they were somewhat meaningless. Vlad Guerrero Sr., who is on his way to St. Marys for the Canadian HOF induction stopped by Lansing to surprise Jr. and throw out the first pitch for Fathers Day. Jr. responded to the pressure with an 0-4. He was 2-4 on Friday and ends the first half with a .321 average. Bo Bichette also had two hits on Friday and was 0-2 on Sunday before being pulled. He finishes the half with a .396 average. The two of them are headed to the all-star game this week. The Lugnuts had only three hits on Sunday, all at the bottom of the order. Many hitters had good games on Friday, Rodrigo Orozco had three hits, his average is .296. Mitch Nay had a couple of hits on Friday but is still trying to get the rust off. Yeltsin Gudino had three hits over the weekend and his average is .247. Gudino is having a good June so far. Its only half a month but hopefully it will lead to better things in the second half. Gudino is just 20 years old.
Neither of the starts distinguished themselves. Mike Ellenbest was terrible, while Osman Gutierrez gave up five runs in five innings.
Vancouver
Vancouver have just played four games so its hard to draw conclusions so far. The Canadians had seven hits on Friday but just three in each of the other weekend games. Most of the hitters have very low batting averages. Owen Spiwak is one of the best at the moment hitting .364 through four games.
The starters were a mixed bag. On Friday Dalton Rodriguez pitched five shutout innings, four hits allowed. Of note, Juliandry Higuera pitched two innings in relief and struck out five hitters. Kyle Weatherly also pitched five innings with four hits allowed but he was charged with three runs, just one earned as the C's made three errors. Wilfri Aleton was hit around on Sunday to the tune of 11 hits in 4.2 innings. For game reports check out our own #2JBrumfield's site, C's plus baseball.
Three Stars
Third Star - Andrew Case
Second Star - Jonathan Davis
First Star - Andrew Guillotte
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