This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?”
Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers (15-24, 14 games back)
The Storm Chasers finally had a great week, taking five out of six from Indianapolis. Bobby Dalbec homered in his first game with Omaha, driving in two. Harold Castro was 6-for-21 (.286) with a triple and his tenth home run of the year. Drew Waters hit .360 (9-5for-25) with a double and triple. Dairon Blanco hit .444 (4-for-9) with two steals to give him 25 in 63 games. Isan Diaz was 5-for-18 (.278) with a home run and five walks. Michael Massey went 3-for-5 in a rehab start on Sunday. Carter Jensen continues to rake, batting 6-for-22 (.273) with three doubles, a triple, four walks, and his 15th home run. Across all levels, he is hitting .281/.361/.466 with an 11 percent walk rate this year.
John Gant picked up a win on Wednesday with two runs allowed in five innings with Michael Fulmer picking up a two-inning save. Chandler Champlain struck out eight in six innings, allowing three runs. Stephen Kolek gave up two runs – one earned – in 6.1 innings for his first win in a Storm Chasers uniform. Brandon Johnson picked up a win and a save, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings with six strikeouts.
Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (19-20, 7 games back)
The Naturals split their six games with Wichita to stay one game under .500. Mark Canha hit a grand slam in his rehab start on Friday. Colton Becker was 6-for-11 (.545) with two doubles, two walks, and his 51st stolen base of the season. Rudy Martin had a three-hit day, including a home run, on Sunday. Brett Squires smacked his seventh home run of the year, batting 8-for-28 (.286) with three doubles and two steals. Javier Vaz hit .368 (7-for-19) with three walks and four steals. Carson Roccaforte continued his hot streak, hitting .393 (11-for-28) with three doubles, three walks, two steals, and his 14th home run of the year. He’s hitting .319/.420/.493 in 17 games since his promotion to Double-A.
Ben Kudrna fell to 1-7, but he gave the Naturals 6.1 innings with just three hits and three runs allowed. Shane Panzini picked up the Naturals with five innings of relief and just two runs allowed with seven strikeouts. Hunter Owen gave up two unearned runs with seven strikeouts in 3.1 innings of relief on Tuesday. Oscar Rayo gave up just one run in 3.2 innings in relief on Saturday. Henry Williams picked up a save with three shutout innings and three strikeouts on Sunday.
High-A Quad Cities River Bandits (22-19, 2 games back)
The River Bandits dropped four of six to Beloit to fall out of first place. Emmanuel Reyes had five shutout innings with no walks and just two hits allowed, and he has not given up a run in nine innings of work since joining the River Bandits. Juan Martinez threw three shutout innings on Friday to preserve a win.Denis Colleran threw 3.1 innings of scoreless, hitless relief with five strikeouts. Tommy Molsky struck out eight in 4.2 innings of scoreless relief, and has given up just two earned runs in his last 19.2 innings pitched. Felix Arronde picked up a win with 5.2 innings of shutout ball and five strikeouts on Wednesday to lower his ERA to 2.50.
Nolan Sailors, a fourth-round pick out of Creighton this summer, hit .400 (6-forr-15) with five walks and three steals. Hunter Ensley, an undrafted free agent this summer, went 3-for-8 with a walk in his first three games. Trevor Werner hit .348 (8-for-23) with a double, four steals, and his seventh home run of the season. Daniel Vazquez had five hits, four walks, and three steals.
Low-A Columbia Fireflies (13-27, 16 games back)
The Fireflies continued a rough second half by dropping four of six to Hickory, although both wins were shutouts. They won 9-0 on Thursday, but managed just 18 hits over the other five games combined.
David Shields gave them five shutout innings with eight strikeouts, one hit, and no walks to lower his ERA to 1.68. Henson Leal threw three scoreless innings with four strikeouts to start the shutout on Sunday. Sosa picked up a save with two shutout innings, striking out two on Sunday. Augusto Mendieta had two scoreless innings wotj two strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.08. Tyler Davis gave the Fireflies 2.2 innings of scoreless relief with four strikeouts. Kamden Edge, a 20th-round pick this summer, tossed 1.2 scorreless innings, earning his first professional win.
JC Vanek, a 14th-round pick out of Chipola College, was 4-for-17 (.235) with a double, two walks, and 3 RBI. Yandel Ricardo was 4-for-14 (.286) with a triple, three walks, and two steals. Angel Acosta was 2-forr-8 with a walk.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.royalsreview.com ’
