Minor League Recap: Games of May 14, 2014

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: Off Night

Aw...

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: 7-6 win over San Antonio

-> Joe Sclafani: 3-for-6, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
-> Andrew Aplin: 3-for-6, 2B, R
-> Preston Tucker: 2-for-5, BB, 2B, RBI
-> M.P. Cokinos: 1-for-3, R
-> Matthew Duffy: 1-for-5, BB, RBI
-> Tyler Heineman: 1-for-5, R
-> Delino DeShields: 1-for-7, R
-> Jiovanni Mier: 0-for-4, BB, R
-> Telvin Nash: 0-for-5, RBI
-> Leonardo Heras: 1-for-2, BB (pinch-hitter)

SP Colton Cain: 3.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 K
RP Jordan Jankowski: 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K
RP Jorge De Leon: 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 3 K
RP Travis Ballew: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 2 K (win)
RP Patrick Urckfitz: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K (save)

Wow, the Major League club wasn't the only team with some heroics up their sleeves tonight. After some back and forth, the game was tied after seven innings, and remained so to send it into extras. After trading one-run-apiece frames in the 10th and 12th innings, Corpus put a run on the board in the top of the 13th and finally managed to hang on to the lead. Whew. This win puts the Hooks back over .500 at 20-19.

Five of Tucker's last ten games have been two-hitters, but he's still not walking much, and he really hasn't hit for much power recently either. In fact, he hasn't hit a homer yet this month. Much as I like him, I'd definitely say he still has some work to do.

Aplin's last ten games have been eerily similar to Tucker's; both are hitting .279, Aplin has four multi-hit games himself, and his OPS is only .016 lower. His overall line is still strong at .299/.412/.403. He has 29 walks and 21 strikeouts in 38 games.

Another one of those guys who I'm not really sure what to think of is Joe Sclafani. He did do some hitting in the lower levels and he's patient (and he's from Dartmouth, so he must be some kind of fancy-pants genius, I guess), but he hasn't hit much in AA yet. He now has hits in four straight games, eight to be precise, and has only fanned nine times in 24 games. He strikes me as a bench guy at best, but I'll keep an eye out, I guess you never know.

Travis Ballew update: 1.50 ERA, 4.00 BB/9, 7.50 K/9. He had some severe command issue games earlier, but he's walked just one in his last four outings, totaling 6.2 innings, and he's struck out nine during that time.

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 10-0 loss to Bakersfield

-> Anthony Kemp: 1-for-4
-> Bobby Borchering: 1-for-4
-> Rio Ruiz: 0-for-2, 2 BB
-> Ruben Sosa: 0-for-2, BB
-> Jake Rodriguez: 0-for-2, BB
-> Danry Vasquez: 0-for-3, BB

SP Brian Holmes: 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K (loss)
RP Richard Rodriguez: 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K
RP Tyson Perez: 2.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 0 K
RP Juan Minaya: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K

Dang. I guess they took that no-hitter personal or something.

Two hits and five walks. Well. Okay. Gotta fill space so...uh...

Well, Ruiz! You know, those two walks make six in his last ten games, during which time he's hitting .270/.372/.405. Has hasn't had an XBH since May 5, so his in-game power definitely hasn't materialized fully yet.

And uh...well, Kyle Westwood is coming off the inactive list tomorrow...and uh, Tony Kemp had- bah, forget it, they sucked tonight. Moving on.

Actually, one more thing; anyone think Westwood here looks like Lance Berkman's long lost brother? I mean really, they could be related based on that photo.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 5-1 loss to Wisconsin

-> Chan Moon: 2-for-3, SB
-> Brett Phillips: 2-for-4, 2B, R
-> Ronnie Mitchell: 1-for-2, BB
-> Conrad Gregor: 1-for-4, 2B
-> Brian Holberton: 1-for-4
-> Jack Mayfield: 0-for-4, RBI

SP Evan Grills: 7.0 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 7 H, 3 BB, 2 K (loss)
RP Chris Cotton: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K

QC scored a run in the top of the first. Then they forgot out to hit. Alas.

Mr. Breakout (Brett Phillips, for those who haven't been following along regularly) continues to look like a real prospect. He's hitting .297/.357/.432 over his last ten games, with a triple and three doubles, though he's also whiffed ten times and walked just twice. He has, during that stretch, nabbed four bases without being caught, which is a nice sign because he was 2-for-8 prior to that. Which...doesn't really work out too well. All twelve attempts this year have come against right-handed pitchers, by the way.

Chan Moon is still hitting too. Boy is he. How about .324/.477/.500 with, get this, ten walks and five strikeouts in his last ten games. He's 6-for-7 in SB attempts during those games as well, and is up to 13-for-16 on the season. His splits are a little interesting as well; he's been much, much better as a left-handed hitter (he's a switch hitter, FYI), with an .881 OPS against righties, compared to .688 against lefties. He's only struck out 15 times in 85 AB against right-handed pitching. If he fields shortstop well, steals bases, walks, doesn't strike out and can hit left-handed decently...hey, that's a package to keep watching. He's already 23 though, and Correa is, obviously, ahead of him at Lancaster, so unless they jump Correa up, or Moon all the way up to AA, I'm worried he'll continue to age in Low-A ball.

Conrad Gregor, dude, you just...just feel free to hit a homer sometime. I mean, just...any time, bro. You're a first baseman, you know? You know that, right? And a 4th round pick? The whole .372 slugging percentage from a college first baseman thing isn't really working for me.

Tomorrow's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Nick Tropeano vs. Ariel Pena
AA: Kyle Smith vs. TBD
A+: Kyle Westwood vs. James Allen
A-: Adrian Houser vs. Duane Underwood