Minor League Recap: Games of May 11, 2014

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 3-2 loss to Colorado Springs (COL)

-> Robbie Grossman: 1-for-3, BB, solo HR
-> Jon Singleton: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI
-> Adron Chambers: 1-for-3, BB, R
-> Carlos Perez: 1-for-3, BB
-> Austin Wates: 1-for-3
-> Gregorio Petit: 1-for-4
-> Domingo Santana: 1-for-1 (pinch-hitter)

SP Michael Foltynewicz: 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 5 K (loss)
RP Raul Valdes: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Kevin Chapman: 1.0 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K
RP Josh Fields: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Folty has been doing much better during his last six starts, which date to April 15. Aside from a hiccup here or there (four walks in four innings on April 29), there's been steady improvement mostly across the board. The first three outings were really awful for his numbers, so I think splitting them would be the best way to show what I mean:

First three starts: 7.0 IP, 11.57 ERA, 6.43 BB/9, 7.71 K/9, 2.57 HR/9
Last six starts: 29.0 IP, 2.17 ERA, 4.04 BB/9, 9.31 K/9, 0.62 HR/9

The ERA is probably what jumps at you the most, but even more than that, I'd call out the HR rate. Now, three starts of seven innings is a microscopic sample size, but when you start giving up homers like that, you tend to get shelled. It was going to come down, but the rate at which it's come down is what's impressive. He hasn't been getting quite as many ground balls as he has in the past, but he is missing bats and keeping the ball in the park, and that's where the success is. We're just looking for continued refinements in command and control now.

And it was really nice to see Singleton come back and not strike out a day after pulling a hat trick, yeah? Despite the ugliness of that, he has just five strikeouts in his last ten games.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 7-5 loss to Frisco (TEX)

-> Preston Tucker: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI
-> Delino DeShields: 2-for-4, 2 R
-> Matthew Duffy: 2-for-4, RBI, R
-> Joe Sclafani: 2-for-4
-> Nolan Fontana: 1-for-3, BB, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-4, R
-> Chris Epps: 1-for-4, RBI
-> Telvin Nash: 0-for-3, BB, R

SP David Rollins: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
RP Brady Rodgers: 5.0 IP, 7 R (5 ER), 11 H, 1 BB, 1 K (loss)
RP Andrew Robinson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Oh Brady, no man...ouch. This outing blew his ERA all the way up to 3.48, so that'll tell you how good he'd been previously. Another positive note; he's walked either one or zero batters in each outing for far, and has just six in 41.1 innings (1.31 BB/9).

DeShields has three straight two-hit games since returning from his face smashy thing. That's pretty frickin' awesome. He's hitting .299/.405/.522 on the year, by the way. Four homers in 17 games. If he played 162 games and kept that pace up, he'd hit 38 homers. Thirty eight. Not that that's who he'll be or anything, but just let it be known and said that he's far from a slappy lead off hitter.

By the way, about David Rollins, this was his first appearance since April 13, coming off the DL, so I'm pretty sure they were just easing him back into things; I don't think he was injured and had to come out early or anything. Also, Thomas Shirley was just placed on the inactive list, which could be a family emergency or paternity or...whatever.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 10-1 loss to High Desert (SEA)

-> Anthony Kemp: 2-for-4
-> Jordan Scott: 1-for-3, 2B, R
-> Carlos Correa: 1-for-3, BB, RBI
-> Rio Ruiz: 1-for-4
-> Marc Wik: 0-for-3, BB

SP Chris Devenski: 4.1 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 5 H, 1 BB, 5 K (loss)
RP Richard Rodriguez: 0.1 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 0 K
RP Juan Minaya: 1.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K
RP Jamaine Cotton: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Mitchell Lambson: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

Buh, these games are no fun, why can't they happen on someone else's night to do the report...

At least I get to talk about Kemp and Correa! Kemp has, like, seventy hits in the last ten games he's played.

Alright, that's a slight exaggeration. Just 21 hits. In ten games. He's on a streak of six multi-hit games, with 17 hits during it. He's only hitting .512 during the last ten games. If he doesn't win the Cal League Hitter of the Week award or something, someone is going to get a really strongly-worded email from me with me whining a lot and accusing them of being sizeists. That's a word, right? It is now if it wasn't before.

Speaking of streaks, Correa's hit streak is nine games now. He's hitting .323/.379/.460 as the second-youngest player in the California League (the Dodgers have some guy named Julio Urias in Rancho Cucamonga who's listed as being 17 years old. WHAT.)

Random weird factoid because the team sucked tonight and I need to fill some space; Teoscar Hernandez is tied with two other guys for the lead in total extra-base hits with 21. The breakdown is 11 2B, 6 3B and 4 HR. The six triples is the best mark in the league (three guys with three, and then on down).

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: Off Day

Another Sunday off day, on a holiday you could market to fans. Oooookie dokie.

Tomorrow's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Brett Oberholtzer vs. Christian Bergman
AA: Mike Hauschild vs. Matt Branham
A+: TBD (should be Hader and...Holmes?) vs. TBD
A-: Michael Feliz vs. Preston Gainey