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Minor League Recap: Games of April 18, 2014

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

By Brian Stevenson
DeShields had the kind of "hit" you never want him to
DeShields had the kind of "hit" you never want him to
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 10-9 loss to Colorado Springs (COL)

-> Enrique Hernandez: 4-for-5, 2B, RBI
-> Jon Singleton: 3-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Max Stassi: 2-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Domingo Santana: 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R
-> Gregorio Petit: 2-for-5, 2B, RBI, R
-> Carlos Perez: 1-for-5, R
-> Ronald Torreyes: 1-for-5, R
-> Jonathan Meyer: 1-for-5, RBI

SP Bobby Doran: 3.2 IP, 6 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Rhiner Cruz: 1.1 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP David Martinez: 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 4 K (loss)
RP Chia-Jen Lo: 0.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K (blown save)

Oh my goodness. Colorado Springs had an 8-1 lead after five innings. Oklahoma City stormed back, scoring eight themselves in the next four innings to take a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the ninth...where they coughed up two runs for the walk-off loss. That hurts.

As much as it does though, what really matters are the individual performances, right? And boy, the three big boys in the offense got it done. Singleton couldn't be much hotter; in his last ten games, he's hitting .386/.449/.864 with five bombs, four doubles and a triple. Six of the ten games have been mutli-hit affairs. But you know what's really crazy? And I do mean really crazy? Here are his splits:

vs. RHP: .295/.404/.659
vs. LHP: .474/.524/1.000

Wow. The sample is admittedly still small, but considering his struggles in the past against LHP, that's an encouraging sign. He's only struck out three times against LHP, and has a strikeout rate under 15% against them. And it's not like he hasn't been getting it done against RHP as usual, either.

That homer for Stassi was number three on the year, along with six doubles. He has an .868 OPS in 14 games. Santana is hitting .310/.356/.500 during his last ten games, though he's struck out 15 times during that span.

And not to bring things down too much, but Grossman was the only man in the lineup to not do...something. 0-for-5.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 4-3 loss to Frisco (TEX)

-> Joe Sclafani: 2-for-4, 3B, R
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-3, BB
-> Delino DeShields: 1-for-3, SB
-> Andrew Aplin: 1-for-4, RBI, R
-> Preston Tucker: 1-for-4, R
-> Nolan Fontana: 0-for-2, BB, RBI
-> M.P. Cokinos: 0-for-2, BB

SP Aaron West: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K
RP Alex Sogard: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K
RP Jordan Jackson: 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K (blown save, loss)
RP Andrew Robinson: 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Travis Ballew: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Nothing else on this team matters much due to this:

Ballew's dad was at the game and tweeted out a photo of the aftermath. They took him to a local hospital, but fortunately it doesn't look too serious.

Okay, strike that, it does look serious:

Sweet, merciful crap. I thought it was Photoshopped at first. The good news is that it didn't his head, as in an area where it's only a layer of bone and CSF protecting his brain. That's the most important thing. And based on the swelling, it looks more like a cheek and jaw issue than an eye/socket issue, so that's a plus as well. I'm no doctor, of course, but it seems he escaped without something that will be (physically) lasting.

Nice outing for West though, there is that, at least.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 9-0 loss to High Desert (SEA)

-> Daniel Gulbransen: 1-for-3, BB
-> Ruben Sosa: 1-for-3
-> Teoscar Hernandez: 1-for-4
-> Brandon Meredith: 1-for-4
-> Roberto Pena: 1-for-4
-> Rio Ruiz: 0-for-2, BB
-> Anthony Kemp: 0-for-3, BB
-> Danry Vasquez: 0-for-3, BB

SP Mike Hauschild: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K (loss)
RP Tyson Perez: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K
RP Daniel Minor: 0.1 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 2 H, 3 BB, 0 K
RP J.D. Osborne: 2.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K

You may not see the JetHawks shutout again in their own park this year. Craziness.

Too bad for Hauschild too; bounced back really nicely from two straight clunkers but picks up the loss. ERA isn't great (Lancaster, right?) but the 2.12 BB/9 and 9.53 K/9 are positive indicators. I have to say, he's interesting to me; he's been a ground ball beast so far (like around 60% GB rate on his career) but hasn't really missed bats much outside of Rookie ball right after being drafted. Control has always been pretty nice like this as well. Who knows? Diamond in the rough maybe. Keep an eye on him.

On the other side of things is Vasquez; .226/.293/.302 so far in 14 games. Now he's almost as young as Correa and Ruiz, so it's certainly not time to be hitting the panic button, but he might nee some more time in a lower level if this keeps up.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 4-3 loss to South Bend (ARZ)

-> Brett Phillips: 1-for-2, BB, solo HR
-> Chan Moon: 1-for-3, BB, SB, R
-> Jobduan Morales: 1-for-3, BB
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Jon Kemmer: 1-for-4, solo HR
-> James Ramsay: 1-for-4, BB
-> Tanner Mathis: 0-for-3, BB

SP Andrew Thurman: 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K
RP Patrick Christensen: 0.2 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Chris Lee: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 4 K (blown save)
RP Andrew Walter: 2.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K (blown save, loss)

Another heart breaker; two runs in the ninth give South Bend the win. Boy oh boy, throw in the debacle for the big boys in Oakland, and it was a rough night for the whole dang franchise.

This team is definitely challenged a bit offensively, at least compared to what we're used to in the upper levels (the upper levels have the best talent, my gosh, I've been waiting like five years to say that). They have four total homers as a team after Phillips went yard tonight (shockingly enough, two other teams in the league have fewer). The interesting thing, though, is that they've actually hit fairly well; their team .726 OPS is the third-best mark in the league, but their 63 runs are only ninth best (16 teams total). So maybe they'll click and string some timely hits together and things will improve. We can hope.

On Andrew Thurman...

First two outings: 17.36 ERA, 5.79 BB/9, 9.64 K/9
Last two outings: 0.96 ERA, 0.96 BB/9, 12.54

So...yeah, that'll work. Even if he keeps doing this well, polished pitchers against hitters of this level tend to dominate and post drool-worthy strikeout rates (Nitro, Lyles, etc. and etc. aaaaand etc.), so we should keep our expectations in check until we see something at a higher/tougher level. If he and Appel both do well, I could see a scenario where Appel moves up to Corpus and Thurman takes his spot in Lancaster in a month or two, yes?

Brett Phillips is currently doing well, hitting .314/.375/.412 on the season, though he's started striking out, not a week after I praised him for looking good in that department. He's whiffed ten times in the last six games. Still only a hair older than Ruiz and Correa though, and we're seeing just the starting flashes of some power and speed.

Morales has continued to hit solidly, though not for any amount of power (.308/.419/.346 in eight games).

Tomorrow's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Rudy Owens vs. Angel Castro
AA: Ross Seaton vs. Matt Harrison
A+: Vincent Velasquez vs. Tyler Olson
A-: Jandel Gustave vs. Ben Eckels

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