Your humble correspondent has been scarce lately (out-of-town convention, no home computer, blackouts) and will be scarcer still this week (moving), so here's a quick update on the minors from this past weekend. The minor-league season ends on Labour Day, so look for an end-of-year review of the farm system later next month, as well as more bonus material come October. But for now, check out some amazing performances on the farm the last few days.
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre 5 Syracuse 0
Not much to report from this whitewashing at the hands of Phillies' pitching prospect Josh Hancock (you may remember him as the loot in the Jeremy Giambi trade). Mike Smith walked just one and struck out 7 in 5 IP, but allowed 3 HRs and that was the difference. Two hits for Jimmy Alvarez and a double for Gabe Gross, but that's pretty much about it. Gabe has cooled off slightly, but is still at .273/.388/.487 with 27 BB in just 154 AB. On Saturday, Jason Arnold got roughed up again, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 IP. Only 3 of them were earned, though, and he walked just 1 while whiffing 5, so there's a silver lining.
New Haven 15 Norwich 3
Gotta be likin' this. The big bat belonged to first baseman Matt Logan, who's been getting more playing time with John-Ford Griffin's injury; he drove in 6 runs with a single, double and homer. Russ Adams and Dominic Rich each had 2 hits and scored twice, while Tyrell Godwin had 3 hits to raise his average to .319. But the offensive story in New Haven recently has been Alexis Rios: he homered for the 3rd straight game, walked twice, drove in 3 runs and scored 3 more; he's hitting .400 in August and has pushed his season's totals to .346/.398/.518 with 31 doubles, 10 triples, 11 homers and 9 steals in 12 tries. If his walk rate is still below 1 in 10, well, I think the Blue Jay management will take that at the moment. Chris Baker got the win with 5 decent innings, but the real story, I think, was a brilliant performance from Jordan DeJong, who allowed just 1 hit and 0 walks in 2 scoreless innings, striking out 5. The weekend brought even better pitching performances from the Ravens' Big Two: on Friday, Dustin McGowan threw 8 shutout innings, giving up 5 hits and 1 walk against 8 Ks, while on Saturday, David Bush did him one better, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in 8 innings, walking nobody and striking out 12. In his last 7 starts, Bush has struck out 38 batters and walked only 4. Look out, Triple-A. BTW, New Haven clinched a playoff spot with Sunday's victory.
Rain in Dunedin. But on Saturday, Vince Perkins threw 6 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits, striking out 4 and (best of all) walking nobody. Aaron Hill is up to .299/.357/.379 with an 8/8 BB/K rate in 81 AB.
Charleston 6 Greensboro 0
Sandy Nin fired 7 no-hit innings for the Alley-Cats, walking 2 and striking out 3; his K/IP rate may not be all that hot (87/124), but it's hard to argue with only 19 walks in 131 innings. Rodney Medina tripled and David Smith homered, and that's about as interesting as it got offensively. But on Saturday, the resurgence of DJ Hanson continued with another dominating effort, 6 2/3 shutout innings on 4 hits, 1 walk and 9 Ks. In August, DJ has gone 4-0 in 4 starts, with these numbers: 27 IP, 16 H, 0 BB, 34 K, dropping his ERA from 3.27 to 2.67; his KBF% has risen from 16.7% to 20.2%. In short, he's on fire.
Auburn 6 Batavia 1
The monsters of the NY-Penn League won't slack off. Tom Mastny gave up 6 hits but just 1 run in 4 IP, walking 1 while striking out 7; the rapidly improving Jeremy Harper got the win by striking out 4 batters in 3 perfect relief innings. Shawn Marcum got the save with 2 one-hit innings to close it out. The first 8 batters in the lineup all had at least one hit, paced by Juan Peralta and Mike Galloway. On Saturday, Josh Banks threw 5 shutout innings (2 H, 0 BB, 6 K), and now sports this excellent line: 6-2, 2.76, 58 IP, 56 H, 9 BB, 68 K, 1 HR, 28.6% KBF.
Pulaski 4 Bluefield 2
Some more light at the end of the tunnel for Brian Grant, a high-schooler picked 8th in the 2002 draft who's had understandable trouble adjusting to the pro game; he got his 2nd win with 5 shutout innings (5 H, 1 BB, 5 K). Jayce Tingler had 3 hits and an RBI for the winners, while outfielder Luke Heatherington singled, doubled, homered and drove in 2.
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre 5 Syracuse 0
Not much to report from this whitewashing at the hands of Phillies' pitching prospect Josh Hancock (you may remember him as the loot in the Jeremy Giambi trade). Mike Smith walked just one and struck out 7 in 5 IP, but allowed 3 HRs and that was the difference. Two hits for Jimmy Alvarez and a double for Gabe Gross, but that's pretty much about it. Gabe has cooled off slightly, but is still at .273/.388/.487 with 27 BB in just 154 AB. On Saturday, Jason Arnold got roughed up again, allowing 5 runs on 9 hits in 5 IP. Only 3 of them were earned, though, and he walked just 1 while whiffing 5, so there's a silver lining.
New Haven 15 Norwich 3
Gotta be likin' this. The big bat belonged to first baseman Matt Logan, who's been getting more playing time with John-Ford Griffin's injury; he drove in 6 runs with a single, double and homer. Russ Adams and Dominic Rich each had 2 hits and scored twice, while Tyrell Godwin had 3 hits to raise his average to .319. But the offensive story in New Haven recently has been Alexis Rios: he homered for the 3rd straight game, walked twice, drove in 3 runs and scored 3 more; he's hitting .400 in August and has pushed his season's totals to .346/.398/.518 with 31 doubles, 10 triples, 11 homers and 9 steals in 12 tries. If his walk rate is still below 1 in 10, well, I think the Blue Jay management will take that at the moment. Chris Baker got the win with 5 decent innings, but the real story, I think, was a brilliant performance from Jordan DeJong, who allowed just 1 hit and 0 walks in 2 scoreless innings, striking out 5. The weekend brought even better pitching performances from the Ravens' Big Two: on Friday, Dustin McGowan threw 8 shutout innings, giving up 5 hits and 1 walk against 8 Ks, while on Saturday, David Bush did him one better, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in 8 innings, walking nobody and striking out 12. In his last 7 starts, Bush has struck out 38 batters and walked only 4. Look out, Triple-A. BTW, New Haven clinched a playoff spot with Sunday's victory.
Rain in Dunedin. But on Saturday, Vince Perkins threw 6 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits, striking out 4 and (best of all) walking nobody. Aaron Hill is up to .299/.357/.379 with an 8/8 BB/K rate in 81 AB.
Charleston 6 Greensboro 0
Sandy Nin fired 7 no-hit innings for the Alley-Cats, walking 2 and striking out 3; his K/IP rate may not be all that hot (87/124), but it's hard to argue with only 19 walks in 131 innings. Rodney Medina tripled and David Smith homered, and that's about as interesting as it got offensively. But on Saturday, the resurgence of DJ Hanson continued with another dominating effort, 6 2/3 shutout innings on 4 hits, 1 walk and 9 Ks. In August, DJ has gone 4-0 in 4 starts, with these numbers: 27 IP, 16 H, 0 BB, 34 K, dropping his ERA from 3.27 to 2.67; his KBF% has risen from 16.7% to 20.2%. In short, he's on fire.
Auburn 6 Batavia 1
The monsters of the NY-Penn League won't slack off. Tom Mastny gave up 6 hits but just 1 run in 4 IP, walking 1 while striking out 7; the rapidly improving Jeremy Harper got the win by striking out 4 batters in 3 perfect relief innings. Shawn Marcum got the save with 2 one-hit innings to close it out. The first 8 batters in the lineup all had at least one hit, paced by Juan Peralta and Mike Galloway. On Saturday, Josh Banks threw 5 shutout innings (2 H, 0 BB, 6 K), and now sports this excellent line: 6-2, 2.76, 58 IP, 56 H, 9 BB, 68 K, 1 HR, 28.6% KBF.
Pulaski 4 Bluefield 2
Some more light at the end of the tunnel for Brian Grant, a high-schooler picked 8th in the 2002 draft who's had understandable trouble adjusting to the pro game; he got his 2nd win with 5 shutout innings (5 H, 1 BB, 5 K). Jayce Tingler had 3 hits and an RBI for the winners, while outfielder Luke Heatherington singled, doubled, homered and drove in 2.
