Buffalo
The Bisons are slumping, losers of seven straight coming into Wednesday including three shutouts. In this game, their first hit came in the seventh inning and it was an infield hit. They ended the game with three hits. Many people are on the Jason Leblebijian bandwagon. Before we over commit to him lets check out his OPS by month. It is 1027, 829, and 691. Either Leb got off to a hot start that allowed him to ride his luck but one that was unsustainable or the league is figuring him out. Either way he is not the lock for the major leagues that he seemed to be on May 8th. Roemon Fields is another who was touted for a promotion. His .135 batting average in 38 June at-bats has lowered the volume on that call. The batting averages for the Bisons lineup yesterday was grim reading. Only three hitters ended the game with averages over .250. Leblebijian, Fields and Christian Lopes. Leblebijian had a great April, Fields had a great May and now Lopes is having a great June. They are taking turns.
Luis Santos made the start and had three mistakes leading to three solo home runs. Santos has been a decent starter for Buffalo and is conceding less than a hit per inning. His weakness is command, he is walking around 4.5 per nine innings. That generosity, combined with the solo home runs, suggests a pitcher who could be a major leaguer if he improves his command. John Stilson made a brief move down to AA but with all the major league injuries he is back in AAA and pitched an inning allowing a hit and a walk. And that is a decent summary of how his season has gone. Matt Dermody gave up two hits in his inning of relief and like Stilson it was a microcosm of his season. His 1.50 WHIP is disappointing after a strong 2016.
New Hampshire
There are two hitters dominating the stats in AA. Danny Jansen was 1-2 with a walk and he was hit by a pitch, he has shown no signs of slowing down. Jansen has just passed his career high in at-bats. Its a career high because Jansen has picked up a range of injuries over his career. At 22 years old, Jansen is still young for AA and given his low number of at-bats he is likely to remain in AA all season. The Jays can take it slow with him given Martin's entrenched position in the major leagues. The other hitter leading the way is Andrew Guillotte. We have highlighted Guillotte several times but he keeps hitting with a 2-4 on this night. That bumped his average in AA to 356 and his OPS to 888. Guillotte does not strike out much, just 12 in 87 AA at-bats. He has slowed down some from May to June but at long as he hits .300 he has to be considered a prospect. With less than 100 at-bats in AA the sample size is still small but he bears watching.
Francisco Rios started and took the loss despite a good start. Rios is still working his way back from a stint on the DL but he pitched a three hitter over five innings with five K's. It was one of his best starts of the year.
Dunedin
The story of this game was Lourdes Gurriel. Gurriel made three errors, all on throws, leading to five unearned runs. He was playing shortstop. On the offensive side he was 2-4 with an RBI. In this game he gave away more than he produced. One of Gurriel's errors was on a routine play, one was on the back end of a 1-6-3 double play and one was on a fielders choice with runners at second and third. Ryan Borucki gave up five runs, three of them earned. Borucki was hittable in this game, seven hits off him with five strikeouts.
Other than Gurriel, Jon Berti also had two hits. Half of the Jays hits came from Gurriel and Berti. Like Buffalo good hitters are hard to find. Other than Gurriel and his handful of at-bats no-one is hitting over .250 in that lineup. Anthony Gose pitched two perfect innings to lower his ERA to 12.79. It was the best of his seven appearances so far.
Lansing
The all-star break continues. Per Jesse Goldberg-Strassler the rotation after the break will include: Yennsy Diaz, Denis, Diaz, Osman Gutierrez, Andy Ravel and Mike Ellenbest. Justin Maese and Patrick Murphy remain on the DL.
Vancouver
Our own #2 JBrumfield was at the game last night and filed his game report at C's Plus Baseball. Here are some excerpts. Javier Hernandez reminded Vancouver Canadians fans why he was the people’s choice last season. The Venezuelan catcher—who won the 2016 Ossie Chavarria Award winner as the Fan’s Favourite Player—delivered two key triples to drive in three runs to help the C’s double up the Everett AquaSox 8-4 at Nat Bailey Stadium Tuesday night.
Lizardo and Barreto were one hit back of the clubhouse leaders Hernandez and Jones with two apiece. Romanin was aboard three times with a single and two free passes while Vicuna head ball four twice. Jones and Barreto had stolen bases but Spiwak was caught trying to swipe second. The C’s pitchers had nine strikeouts and two walks on the night. Nunez whiffed five, Huffman had two while Pascual and Carkuff each had one.
Thanks for that #2. The post-draft roster shuffling has begun. Six new players arrived in Vancouver yesterday including Riley Adams, 3rd round, Cullen Large, 5th round, Brock Lundquist, 6th round, and Kacy Clemens, 8th round. Expect to see them today.
3 Stars
3rd star: Francisco Rios
2nd star: Lance Jones
1st star: Javier Hernandez
