Minor League Recap: Games of August 18, 2014

AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks: 7-0 win over Sacramento (OAK)

-> Domingo Santana: 3-for-4, HR, R, 3 RBI
-> Preston Tucker: 2-for-3, BB, 2B, R, 3 RBI
-> Carlos Perez: 2-for-4
-> L.J. Hoes: 1-for-4, 2 R
-> Joe Sclafani: 1-for-4, R
-> Andrew Aplin: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB
-> Ronald Torreyes: 0-for-2, BB, RBI
-> Jonathan Villar: 0-for-4, BB, SB, R

SP Nick Tropeano: 6.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 8 K (win)
RP Patrick Urckfitz: 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
RP Paul Clemens: 1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K

Tucker initially hit .270/.352/.317 in 16 June games once he was promoted to AAA, and then saw a slight improvement in July, when he hit .260/.325/.394 in 28 games. It seems he's finally breaking out, as in 17 August games, he has hit .308/.356/.600. The big SLG is thanks to seven doubles and four long balls; with twenty total hits, this means that more than 50% of his hits this month have been XBH. Once again, this is similar to what we saw with him in AA; he initially posted decent-but-not-great numbers, and after a while, seemed to figure things out and the power emerged. He looks to be well on-track to see the Majors at some point in 2015. Don't be surprised if he heads out to the AFL this October/November, too.

Santana being called up to meaninglessly ride the bench for a while doesn't seem to have affected him too much; he has four hits in three games since being demoted again. During his last ten games, he's hit .389/.488/.583 with a double and two dingers.

After a trio of mediocre starts (which were not unexpected, considering his BAbip and some other factors for most of the season), Nitro has bounced back with two straight good ones; just one earned run allowed in his last 13.2 innings, not to mention no walks and 15 strike outs. While I wish he got more grounders (under 40%), it's hard to argue with his walks and strike outs; 2.50 BB/9 and 8.90 K/9 on the season. He has 3.56 strike outs for every one walk.

AA Corpus Christi Hooks: Off Night

A+ Lancaster JetHawks: 5-4 loss to Bakersfield (CIN)

-> Rio Ruiz: 2-for-4, RBI, 2 2B
-> Brett Phillips: 2-for-4, 2 2B, 2 R
-> Chan Moon: 2-for-4, 2B, RBI
-> Jack Mayfield: 1-for-3, 2B
-> Danry Vasquez: 1-for-3, R
-> Tyler White: 1-for-4, solo HR

SP Lance McCullers: 5.1 IP, 4 R (3 ER), 4 H, 5 BB, 2 K
RP Daniel Minor: 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K (blown save)
RP Jamaine Cotton: 0.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 K (loss)

Granted that he's dealt with injuries, but McCullers' season has been very rough; after coming out of the gate with a 2.51 ERA back in April, it's been downhill since. July was rock-bottom, but August hasn't been a great deal better. May to the present, he's posted a 6.79 ERA. Some of that is the California League, sure, but he's still been hittable and walks way, way too many (5.16 BB/9 on the year).

July 21 to the present, Ruiz has hit .323, but with just 11 XBH, the SLG has been lacking. Nice to see the double doubles tonight (it was 9 XBH prior to this, that is).

.339/.403/.589 with eight XBH in 14 games. Eight. What more could you ask for? What a break out season for Phillips this has been.

A- Quad Cities River Bandits: 4-2 loss to Cedar Rapids (MIN)

-> James Ramsay: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Brett Booth: 2-for-4
-> Chase McDonald: 1-for-4, 2B
-> A.J. Reed: 1-for-4
-> J.D. Davis: 0-for-3, SB, R
-> Marc Wik: 0-for-4, R

SP Andrew Thurman: 6.0 IP, 3 R (1 ER), 6 H, 0 BB, 7 K (loss)
RP Keegan Yuhl: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K

That's more like it, Thurman. He's been alternating good and bad starts for roughly a month now, and this is the best of them, heck, possibly the best of the season. On the season, he owns a 3.19 BB/9 and 8.45 K/9 in 104.1 innings, and a ground ball rate better than 40%, but for his draft position and expectation level, nothing about him has really stood out, so far. His ERA of 5.61 is still much higher than it should be, but it's masking mere mediocrity, rather than actual good performance.

McDonald continues on a good roll; he has a four-game hitting streak working, and he's hitting .342/.438/.585 over his last 12 games, though he's also struck out 18 times during that streak.

SS Tri-City ValleyCats: Off Night

RK Greeneville Astros: 12-3 win over Kingsport (NYM)

-> Bryan Muniz: 2-for-3, R, 2 BB
-> Cesar Carrasco: 2-for-5, RBI, 2 R
-> Edwin Medina: 1-for-3, R, 3 BB
-> Ydarqui Marte: 1-for-4, BB, HR, RBI, 3 R
-> Jeffry Santos: 1-for-4, BB, R
-> Hector Roa: 1-for-5, BB, solo HR
-> Sean McMullen: 0-for-2, BB, RBI, R
-> Brett Clements: 0-for-4, BB, RBI, 2 R
-> Kristian Trompiz: 0-for-5, BB, 2 RBI
-> Alexander Melendez: 0-for-0, 2 BB

SP Juan Santos: 2.1 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K
RP Harold Arauz: 3.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 K (win)
RP Aaron Greenwood: 2.0 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 1 H, 0 BB, 5 K
RP Juan Delis: 1.0 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 0 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Arauz was signed back in July of 2011 and had considerable upside at the time. Now, we're starting to see that develop into something tangible. This was his first game since being promoted from the GCL, where he struck out 11.73 batters per nine innings. If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure at least one or two of our writers have seen him in action and regret that they're not women so they are unable to have his children. Greeneville has 10 games left on the schedule, so he'll probably make a couple more appearances.

DSL Astros Blue: 3-0 win over DSL Athletics

-> Carlos Canelon: 2-for-3, 2B, R
-> Marcos Almonte: 1-for-3, RBI
-> Wander Franco: 1-for-3, R
-> Andy Pineda: 1-for-3
-> Jonathan Matute: 0-for-2, R

SP Albert Abreu: 4.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K
RP Lachlan Madden: 2.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 4 K (win)

DSL Astros Orange: 3-0 win over DSL Marlins

-> Orlando Marquez: 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
-> Wilson Amador: 2-for-4
-> Felix Lucas: 1-for-3, BB, R
-> Juan Fuentes: 1-for-3, R
-> Anardo Peralta: 1-for-3, RBI, SB
-> Reiny Beltre: 1-for-4
-> Edgar Lorenzo: 0-for-3, R, 2 SB

SP Edgardo Sandoval: 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K (win)
RP Diogenes Almengo: 4.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K (save)

Today's Scheduled Starters

AAA: Luis Cruz vs. TBD
AA: Josh Hader vs. Drew Granier
A+: TBD vs. TBD
A-: Blaine Sims vs. Kohl Stewart
SS: TBD vs. TBD
RK: Austin Nicely vs. Andrew Church