It's almost six months to Christmas and teams decided to give for this half way to Christmas season. The Bisons scored their first five runs with just one hit. Erik Swanson came on in relief and decided to return the favour. Buffalo lost. Michael Dominguez was also in a giving mood. New Hampshire lost. Same for Nolan Perry who walked six in three innings. Dunedin lost. Tri-City walked the first Vancouver hitter of the game and he scored the only run to get Vancouver the win.
Its not just halfway to Christmas it's halfway through the baseball season. If we look at the hitters and ignore the complex leagues, all the hitters playing well are in AAA. Just looking at OPS first, nine of the top eleven have played in, or are in, AAA. Its the names you know, the guys in the big leagues along with Leo Jimenez, Riley Tirotta, Nathan Lukes, Alan Roden and Damiano Palmegiani. The two non AAA players are Dasan Brown and Victor Arias. Josh Kasevich is twelfth. If we look at wRC+ we add a couple of players like Jace Bohrofen and Nick Goodwin. They both have a 115 wRC+ in Vancouver which does not scream major leaguer.
Ask yourself, who is the best hitting prospect between New Hampshire and Dunedin? There are some names in the previous paragraph but none of them are today projected to be above average major leaguers.
Buffalo 9 Scranton 18
Reading 5 New Hampshire 3
Vancouver 1 Tri-City 0
Daytona 8 Dunedin 10
Three Stars
Third Star - Will Robertson
Second Star - Yeuni Munoz
First Star - Rafael Sanchez
NOTES
Buffalo had an 8-2 lead before the wheels came off. The first inning started with a hit batter and a walk before Riley Tirotta singled in a run with another scoring on a ground ball. The second inning had three hit batters and three walks and the Bisons led 5-0 despite having just one hit. The sixth run scored with a wild pitch. Another hit batter in the fourth was mercifully followed by a Will Robertson home run.
Erik Swanson came on for the fifth inning and he gave up six runs. Nick Fraze relieved him and also gave up six for an even dozen in the inning. Alan Roden hit his first AAA home run for the last Buffalo run. Robertson and Phil Clarke had two hits each. Buffalo had seven total.
Buffalo used nine pitchers in a bullpen day.
To continue the spirit of giving, Michael Dominguez walked the first hitter of the game who later scored. In the third inning he hit two batters, both of whom scored. He went 4.2 innings and was charged with five runs. The umpiring might have been questionable, catcher Kekai Rios was ejected in the third inning while catching. Anders Tolhurst pitched two innings. He has a zero ERA after his first two AA appearances. He had a 1.79 ERA in Vancouver before his promotion.
The Fisher Cats had eight hits, Zach Britton had two.
Jamari Baylor walked to start the Vancouver game, stole second and scored on a single by Peyton Williams. That was the only run in a game where both teams had just three hits. Pitching was the star of the game. Vancouver's starter Rafael Sanchez struck out 12 over seven innings. He didn't walk anyone while giving uop the three hits.
Nolan Perry needed 73 pitches to get through three innings. He walked six and gave up three runs, two of them having walked and one reaching on Perry's own error. Dahian Santos also pitched, on rehab. He was rusty, a home run and two doubles led to three runs.
Outfielder Yeuni Munoz hit his first home run and added a single. Manuel Beltre and Edward Duran each had two singles.
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