Minor League Recap: Games of April 14, 2014

Your daily look at the previous night's Minor League happenings.

By Brian Stevenson@Ashitaka1110 Apr 15, 2014, 9:00am CDT

Andrew Aplin, plate discipline superstar

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 14-8 loss to New Orleans (MIA)

-> George Springer: 2-for-3, solo HR
-> Andy Simunic: 1-for-2, R
-> Jonathan Singleton: 1-for-3, RBI, 2 BB, 2 R
-> Erik Castro: 1-for-3, 2 BB, 2 RBI
-> Max Stassi: 1-for-4, BB, 2B, RBI, R
-> Gregorio Petit: 1-for-4, BB, 2B, R
-> Domingo Santana: 1-for-4, BB, RBI
-> Jonathan Meyer: 1-for-5, R
-> Austin Wates: 0-for-4, BB, R
-> Ruben Sosa: 0-for-1, RBI (def. replacement)

SP David Martinez: 4.0 IP, 5 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 0 K (loss)
RP Bobby Doran: 3.1 IP, 6 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K
RP Darin Downs: 1.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 K

OKC was down 10-3 after five innings, so they made a decent run at coming back, but it wasn't quite enough, and the pitching wasn't done stinking up the joint either. Astoundingly the New Orleans hitters didn't hit a single homer for any of those 14 runs. Our pitchers were just getting beat to death with walks and hits.

Big silver linings though. Home run number two (and XBH number six) for King George. It was obviously a nice day for Springer, but for more than just the homer; no strikeouts! Singleton also didn't strike out yesterday. Singleton has five walks and just three strikeouts in his last five games, very nice.

So, Stassi has yet to not get a hit in a game. That's a ten game hitting streak. With the walks and extra-base hits and everything, he's posted a .293/.383/.512 line so far. One interesting note is that his OBP is virtually identical (just .003 lower) against right-handed pitchers and left-handers (Stassi is right-handed, FYI). Small sample when you're splitting numbers from just ten games, but it's nice to see him have held in so well against same-side pitching so far. Average and power are notably lower, but he still has a .865 OPS against righties.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 2-1 loss to Springfield (STL)

-> Andrew Aplin: 3-for-4, RBI
-> Nolan Fontana: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, 3B, R
-> Leonardo Heras: 1-for-3
-> M.P. Cokinos: 1-for-3
-> Delino DeShields: 0-for-3, BB

SP Luis Cruz: 5.0 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K (loss)
RP Ross Seaton: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K

Corpus had the opposite problem from OKC; the pitchers performed admirably but the offense looked like the Major League club's.

And thus, tough luck loss for Cruz. He's a guy I identified way back when he was in Lexington in 2009, but to be honest, even I didn't pay a great deal of heed to him. But after the Astros decided to protect him in the Rule 5 draft this off season, and not, say, Carlos Perez, I think we all had to take notice. His first three outings have certainly done justice to the Astros' confidence in him; he has a 2.08 ERA, 3.46 BB/9 and 8.31 K/9 through 13 innings so far. As you might expect from a lefty that this regime likes, he throws a change up, and so far it's worked; though all his walks have come against righties, his strikeouts have been split evenly between right and left-handed batters, and his ERA is lower against the righties. Again, small sample, but he's looking good.

Andrew Aplin, boy oh boy, I like this kid. I doubt the big publications will ever give him the love he deserves, but I think he'll be a legit MLB player some day. How's he doing so far? How about a .316/.472/.342 line in 11 games. No, the OBP is not a typo; he has thirteen walks and just four strikeouts so far. He drew ten of them in his first six games! Nolan Fontana eat your heart out.

Quickly on DeShields, with no hits and two whiffs it wasn't a great day, but he did walk, and he did so in his only other two hitless games as well, so his streak of reaching base is intact at 11 games.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 11-10 loss to High Desert (SEA)

-> Rio Ruiz: 4-for-5, HR, R, 2 2B, 5 RBI
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 3-for-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI
-> Jordan Scott: 2-for-3, 2B, 2 BB, 2 R
-> Carlos Correa: 2-for-6, 2 R
-> Danry Vasquez: 1-for-5, 2B
-> Roberto Pena: 1-for-5, R
-> Daniel Gulbransen: 0-for-3, R, 2 BB
-> Brandon Meredith: 0-for-4, BB
-> Anthony Kemp: 0-for-5, BB, R

SP Mark Appel: 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K
RP Juan Minaya: 1.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Mike Hauschild: 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 3 K
RP J.D. Osborne: 0.0 IP, 2 ER, 0 H, 2 BB, 0 K (loss)
RP Jamaine Cotton: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K (blown save)

Boy oh boy, you get two teams with good offenses together and put them in the most hitter-friendly park on the continent, and this is what you get. Here were the scoring changes as they went from half inning to half inning; 0-2, 4-2, 4-3, 5-3, 5-4, 6-4, 6-5, 6-9, 10-9, 10-11. Dang.

On the one hand, three earned in three innings isn't exactly stellar, but on the other hand, considering the war zone he was in, I guess I'm just happy Appel got out of there with his life. Nice peripherals too. His ERA in three outings is an ugly 5.06, but he has a 2.53 BB/9 and a 9.28 K/9 in 10.2 innings, so he's been better than that. And it's the California League, after all.

Ruiz's first long ball of the year was a three-run jack. Kid has ten hits in the last four days. Hitter's league be damned, that's an impressive run. Hernandez remains impressive as well; just eight strikeouts in 11 games is considerably better than last year, and a very nice sign. His walk rate has been a bit better so far as well.

The Captain made his return. Be afraid, CAL League pitchers. Be very afraid.

Dang, three losses tonight, I guess it's all up to Quad Cities to salvage the evening for the system!

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: Snowed Out

Yeeeep. Baseball gods were against us tonight.

Tomorrow's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Michael Foltynewicz vs. Dan Houston
AA: Thomas Shirley vs. Zach Petrick
A+: Kyle Westwood vs. Tyler Pike
A-: (GM1) Kent Emanuel vs. Jeff Thompson, (GM2) Jandel Gustave vs. Jeff Thompson

Yes, the website has Thompson scheduled to start both games. I'm guessing that might not end up happening, though.