Two years ago we had a huge surprise come from the minor leagues with a 20th round draft pick from the previous year tear up Lexington. For the life of us, nobody could figure out why this man was still in Lexington at mid-season. Eventually, this man earned his promotion to Corpus Christi where he still posted a great average and OBP. This man is none other than J.D. Martinez.
Fast-forward two years, and we have another 20th round draft pick from the previous season hitting very well in Lexington. This time around it's Matt Duffy. Let me get this out in the open, I am not saying the Duff-man will be the next JD. Just pointing out similarities in their profile. He's not hitting as good as JD was in Lexington, but his numbers in every category are creeping up.
As of right now, his triple slash is .294/.351/.471 for an OPS of .822. Not bad at all for the Sally League, but he is currently 22 and that doesn't bode well for his Age-Relative to League. Although, JD was just six months younger in his time at Lexington. Duffy has been hitting more doubles recently and is a result of a 24.1% LD% and that isn't much higher than his his career average of 23% (still a small sample size). He is physically close to his potential, so adding strength is not necessarily going to have much affect on his power. But, he's hitting doubles and focusing on line drives, it won't be long til he starts turning on some pitches. He does have five home runs, which is at a nice rate, but will need to do that a little more often to get noticed.
At this point he is showing he's advanced for the level at the plate and draws walks 6.8% of the time and strikes out just 17.7% of the time. The issue is will he turn on more pitches and be a legitimate power threat. When he starts really showing a lot of power, the discussion for promotion will start to heat up. But, where do you send him? Currently you have Jonathan Meyer hitting well in Lancaster and is definitely better defensively. But, he's still being batted low in the line up and could benefit by a full season in Lancaster. CC has nobody, but can he make the jump? Only showing legitimate power and maintaining his batting average and plate discipline can tell. His progress is one to watch at this point.
Oklahoma City RedHawks won 4-3
- Dallas Keuchel-7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 13/3 GO/AO
- Adalberto Flores-1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
- Jimmy Paredes 2B-2-4, HR, SB
- Brett Wallace 1B-1-4, 3 SO
- Brad Snyder CF-2-3, 2B, HR, BB, CS-Walk-off!
Corpus Christi Hooks 1-1 (Suspended)
- Ross Seaton-6 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO, 7/5 GO/AO, 93 pitches
- Kevin Chapman-1/3 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB
- Josh Zeid-1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
- Jonathan Singleton LF-0-2, 2 BB, SO, SB
- Andrew Simunic 3B-2-3, CS
- Jonathan Villar SS-1-3, SO, 2 SB
Lancaster JetHawks lost 5-1
- Ruben Alaniz-6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR, 8/5 GO/AO
- Domingo Santana RF-2-4, 2B, HR
- Erik Castro DH-1-4, 3 SO
- Telvin Nash LF-0-4, 2 SO
Lexington Legends lost 3-2
- Michael Foltynewicz-5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO, 3/4 GO/AO
- Murilo Gouvea-1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2/0 GO/AO
- Zachary Johnson 1B-1-3, 2B, SO
- Matt Duffy 3B-1-4, HR
- John Hinson DH-0-4, 3 SO