Even by Lancasters lofty standards the numbers being put up this year are mind boggling. So far 12 guys have 90 PA, all but one of them have an OPS of over .850, most of them close to or over .900. DD jr is the only guy that doesn't, but even his numbers are good considering power isn't really expected from him, his OBP is up to .382. You can never count on Lancaster numbers translating but it's impressive nonetheless.
Ruiz starting to adjust to Midwest league pitching? 5 for 14 in his last 3 games with 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 SB. Despite his early stats he seems to have a good approach at the plate. 22 BB vs 33 Ks on the year. I'm still on the Ruiz bandwagon.. Or maybe it's a river boat. Get it?!??
Saturday Stories Happy Dominican Summer League Opening Day to all! More fireworks in Lancaster. Meltdown in Albuquerque. Recap Oklahoma City 13, Albuquerque 10 After falling behind 9-7 through 6, the Redhawks stormed back for 6 in the 9th to take the lead. The Isotopes pulled one back in the bottom half of the frame, but Jose Valdez shut the door for his 12th save of the season. Carlos Perez started it off with a 2-run double in the 2nd and would score on a single by Robbie Grossman. Brandon Laird (4) and Fernando Martinez (3) hit back-to-back solo shots in the 2nd. Laird then added an RBI groundout in the 5th, and later in the inning, Jonathan Villar drew a bases-loaded walk. Those 7 runs would be the last time they'd score, until.... Che-Hsuan Lin tied the game with a 2-run blast (2) with 1 out in the 9th. Grossman then hit into an RBI fielder's choice. Next up, Jake Elmore lashed a 2-run triple, and finally, Brett Wallace reached on a fielder's choice that scored Elmore. Elmore was 3-6 with 2 runs scored, finishing a homer shy of the cycle. Wallace was also 3-6; he doubled twice. The back-to-back shots were the only hits for Laird and Martinez. Grossman's RBI single was his only hit. Lin was 2-3, while Villar finished 2-4. Perez wound up going 3-5. Marc Krauss was left out of the RBI parade, but he went 2-5 with 2 runs scored. Yep. Everyone had a hit, scored, and drove in a run except for Krauss. Brett Oberholtzer went 3 2/3 innings and allowed 7 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits (3-run homer), walked 1, and struck out 2. Science Guy retired all 4 he faced, striking out 1. Philip Humber allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in the 6th. C.J. Fick worked around a hit to retire the side in the 7th. Alex Sogard got the win, pitching a 1-2-3 8th. He came out for the 9th, but couldn't retire the 2 hitters he faced, giving up a run (inherited) on a hit and walking 1. Rhiner Cruz came on and got 2 outs, but not before allowing one of Sogard's runners to score. He allowed a hit and walked 2. Jose Valdez cleaned that up by striking out J.R. Towles to end it. Game 2 of this series will be at 6:05 Mountain. Ross Seaton will face Matt Palmer. Corpus Christi and Arkansas was rained out They'll wrap up the series with a doubleheader starting at 2:10. Mike Foltynewicz will start game 1 against Michael Roth, and David Martinez will start game 2 against Manny Correa. Lancaster 12, Visalia 3 The Jethawks had their 9-game win streak snapped, but their offense doesn't seem to be having much of a problem. They fell behind 3-2, but finished up on a 10-0 run. Lancaster used 3 2-run homers to batter the Rawhide. Everyone had at least 1 hit except for Andrew Aplin, who went 0-5. Brandon Meredith had a pretty good night. He started it off with a 2-run double in the 1st to tie the game at 2. He finished 3-5 with 2 runs scored. After he led off the 4th with a single, Preston Tucker took Robert Coe for a ride, his 11th blast of the season. He extended his hit streak to 16 and put the Jethawks up... pretty much for good at that point. Later in the 4th, Joe Sclafani drew a bases-loaded walk. Meredith led off the 5th with another single, and Tucker brought him home with a double. Yep, both of Tucker's hits drove in Meredith. The 3 RBI gives him 55, which leads the minors. He would come around to score on an RBI double from Telvin Nash, who would score on a Tyler Heineman single, who would come home on a Chris Epps 2-run homer (4). Sclafani provided the cherry with a 2-run shot (2) in the 8th. He finished 2-3 with 2 walks and 2 runs scored. Delino DeShields finished 2-5 with 2 runs scored. Nash was also 2-5 with 2 runs scored. No hat trick for him. Matt Duffy hit a single. Heineman's single and Epps' homer were their only hits. Chris Devenski went 3 2/3 and allowed 3 runs on 9 hits and walked 4. Michael Dimock's Mustache retired all 4 Rawhide hitters he faced, striking out 2. Brady Rodgers finished it out in spectacular fashion, allowing 2 hits and striking out 3 over 4 scoreless. The finale pits David Rollins and Tyson Perez against Cody Wheeler. First pitch is at 2 Pacific. Beloit 10, Quad Cities 3 Woof. The River Bandits were just swamped. They were down 5-3, but the Snappers buried them with 5 in the 7th. All the River Bandits' runs came courtesy of Rio Ruiz. He hit a 2-run homer (3) in the 4th and an RBI double in the 6th. Carlos Correa was 1-5 with a double. Jordan Scott was 2-4. Sike. The tandem system's still in effect. Jamaine Cotton only lasted 2 2/3 innings, and he allowed 4 runs on 7 hits (solo homer), walked 2, and struck out 2. Richard Rodriguez went 2 1/3, and he allowed 1 hit: a solo homer to Ryan Mathews in the 4th. He walked 2 and struck out 2. Vince Velasquez bore the brunt of the Beloit assault in the 7th, as he allowed all 5 runs on 7 hits (2-run homer), walked 1, and struck out 1 in 1 1/3. John Neely finished it out, allowing a hit in 1 2/3. Well, the River Bandits will be hoping that this afternoon's game will turn out better. Lance McCullers and Dan Minor will take on Seth Streich at 2:00 PM. DSL Mariners 6, DSL Astros 0 What I don't like... it's basically a 9:30 AM start, and yet the scores don't get to MiLB.com until the evening. Well, it is the lowest level of minor league baseball, so... yeah. Elieser Hernandez had a nice outing, as he allowed 4 hits, walked 1, and struck out 5 over 5 shutout innings. Problem was... he didn't get any run support. Rayderson Chevalier started off his career with a loss last season, and he opens this season with... a loss. He went 2 1/3 and allowed 3 runs (2 earned, 2 inherited) on 2 hits, walked 2, and struck out 1. Javier Saucedo the final 2 outs of the 8th, but not before allowing a 2-run single that scored 2 of Chevalier's runs. Harold Arauz allowed 3 in the 9th, on 4 hits, walking 1 and fanning 1. 4 guys made their professional debuts for The Academy. Luis Payano was the leadoff man and was in center. He went 0-4 with a strikeout. Victor Tavarez served as the DH and hit 6th, going 1-3. Kristian Trompiz started at short; batting 8th, he went 0-3. Jean Estrella grounded out as a pinch-hitter to end the game. They'll be at the Mariners' complex first thing in the morning. First pitch is at 10:30 AM Eastern.
Hope the DSL isn't a trend. The offense was terrible last year. Not surprising, none of our top prospects are international players (that we signed).
Keeping up with the DSL team is like keeping up with the local high school team; the players are the same age and are almost as likely to ever see a big league team. I guess its worth keeping tabs on tellitlikeitis but you spend so much time on the other coverage that I wouldn't sweat doing DSL writeups. Thanks either way man. This thread is a daily read for me. It's my preferred minor league wrapup over Crawfishboxes or AstrosCounty' PreStros Report
Domingo Santana led off the 2nd with his 9th homer of the season. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Jose Martinez joins @<a href="https://twitter.com/cchooks">cchooks</a> after being activated from DL. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23MLB">#MLB</a></p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/341275634137448449">June 2, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tim Bogar is Arkansas' manager, and his pitching coach is Mike Hampton. Pretty good coaching staff. Their hitting coach, Ernie Young, also played briefly in the majors.
Lance McCullers vs. Beloit: 5 IP, 2 H, BB, 6 K, and a balk. Quad Cities leads 2-0 heading into the 6th.
Luhnow has his work cut out from him, Astros have so many deserving promotions. With the draft coming at what point to Astros weed out some of the older "organizational" prospects who won't make the cut?
Mike Foltynewicz in game 1 vs Arkansas: 4.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 5 K on 81 pitches (47 strikes) He also threw a wild pitch and was called for a balk. After Arkansas scored twice in the 6th to tie the game at 3, the Hooks put up 2 in the 8th to win 5-3. Game 2 of today's doubleheader will begin shortly.
Check out this pic that Aaron West snapped of the wildfires in California last night. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>That's not a cloud...... Wildfire in the hills. <a href="http://t.co/XDkOUkaUXr" title="http://twitter.com/WestAaron14/status/340984513293320192/photo/1">twitter.com/WestAaron14/st…</a></p>— Aaron West (@WestAaron14) <a href="https://twitter.com/WestAaron14/status/340984513293320192">June 2, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Is there any end in sight for the tandem system at AA and below? Not that I think it's been bad or anything but the cream rising to the top should at some point start to get stretched out and used to a 5 day schedule, right?
What's happening right now? In Lancaster, Preston Tucker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 1st, and Chris Epps delivered a grand slam to put the Jethawks up 5-0 on 1 hit. Tucker would then extend his hit streak to 17 games with a double. M.P. Cokinos has added a 2-run shot in the 3rd to put them up by a touchdown. Delino DeShields is currently 0-1 with a walk and a strikeout, but he's stolen 2 bases (14). Corpus has opened up game 2 in Arkansas in spectacular fashion. George Springer hit a 2-run double and would score on a Domingo Santana homer, his 2nd of the day.
George Springer with a 3-run homer (17). He's got 5 RBI..... in the 1st. Corpus has put up a perfect 10 in the inning.
