This Week in the Minors: Gavin Cross is locked in

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 (24-32, 13.5 games back)

The Storm Chasers won the opener against Lehigh Valley, but dropped the next four in a row before getting rained out on Sunday. Bobby Dalbec was 7-for-18 (.389) with three doubles and a home runs, his seventh in 17 games since joining the Storm Chasers. Dairon Blanco was 5-for-11 (.455) with three doubles and his 27th steal. Harold Castro cooled off a bit, but still hit 4-for-15 (.267) with four walks and his 18th home run of the year to tie for the team lead. Isan Díaz homered in back-to-back games. Carter Jensen hit 7-for-17 (.412) with three home runs and two doubles, earning his first promotion to the big leagues. Jac Caglianone hit 6-for-16 (.375) with a home run and four walks. He finished his rehab hitting .385 with five homers in 16 games in August.

The pitching staff had a rough time, giving up 52 runs in five games. John Gant gave up three earned runs in six innings with five strikeouts. Reliever Nick Robertson had a clean week, giving up just one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Ryan Hendrix struck out two in a scoreless inning on Tuesday, earning the only win of the week, but he had a rough outing his next time out, giving up five runs without recording an out. Eric Cerantola and Joey Krehbiel each tossed a scoreless inning of relief. Stephen Nogosek recorded a save, and gave up just one run in 1.2 innings over two games.

The Royals signed veteran pitcher Spencer Turnbull and added him to the Omaha roster, and placed pitcher Jacob Wallace on the Injured List.

Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (31-26, 5 games back)

The Naturals closed out the weekend winning three in a row to take four of six on the road in Amarillo. Spencer Nivens enjoyed his first multi-homer game of the season on Sunday and hit .520 (13-for-25) with three doubles and a triple. Javier Vaz homered and hit .353 (6-for-17). Carrson Roccaforte had back-to-back three-hit games and hit 10-for-26 (.385) with three home runs, four doubles, and four walks. Gavin Cross is locked in, extending his hitting streak to 11 and hitting 11-for-29 (.379) for the week with three doubles, two triples, and three home runs, earning Texas League Player of the Week honors. Since June 2, he’s hitting .299/.365/.525 with 11 home runs over his last 55 games.

Frank Mozzicato had a solid start, striking out eight in five innings with just three hits and two runs allowed. AJ Causey pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to bring his ERA down to 1.30. Caden Monke pitched two relief outings without giving up a run. Jonathan Heasley earned a win with 2.1 innings of scoreless relief. Oscar Rayo gave up just one run in 3.2 innings.

The Naturals placed pitcher Henry Williams on the Injured list and called up pitcher Mauricio Veliz.

High-A Quad Cities River Bandits (32-28, 1.5 games back)

The River Bandits enjoyed a great week, taking five of six on the road in Wisconsin to go over .500 in the second half. Nolan Sailors is adjusting well to the pro game, hitting .476 this week (10-for-21) with three doubles, a triple, and four steals. The 2025 fourth-round pick out of Creighton has 13 swipes in just 27 games. Sam Kulasingam hit .348 (8-for-23) with two doubles and 7 RBI. Carter Frederick hit .308 (4-for-13) with two doubles and four walks. Chris Brito hit 6-for-11 (.545) with his fourth home run of the year. Austin Charles went 5-for-17 (.294) with his first two home runs of the year.

Mason Miller continued to dominate the Midwest League, allowing just three runs in 9.2 innings with eight strikeouts, giving him a 1.00 ERA in 36 innings. Felix Arronde improved to 5-7 with seven shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 2.65, second-lowest in the league. Drew Beam picked up his seventh win with seven innings and just two runs allowed with five strikeouts. Logan Martin struck out four in three shutout innings. Zachary Cawyer picked up his eleventh save, striking out seven in four innings, allowing just one run in two outings.

Low-A Columbia Fireflies (25-33, 15.5 games back)

The Fireflies took four of six from Hickory, capped off by a 1-0 shutout win on Sunday. Hiro Wyatt tossed five shutout innings with five strikeouts and no walks to earn the win. David Shields continued to impress with five strikeouts in four innings, with no walks and two runs allowed. Kendry Chourio struck out four in four innings, giving up three runs, two of them earned. Blake Wolters returned from injury to fire four shutout innings with just one hit allowed and four strikeouts. Nova pitched four shutout innings of relief. Kamden Edge also fired goose eggs over 3.1 innings with four strikeouts. Dash Albus picked up a win in relief, striking out four of the eight batters he faced in 2.1 innings of scoreless ball.

Stone Russell had a huge game on Tuesday with three hits, his fourth home run of the year, and 6 RBI. He drove in 12 runs for the week, hitting .313 (5-for-16) with seven walks. Jose Cerice had three consecutive multi-hit games and hit .389 for the week (7-for-18) with two walks and two steals. Asbel Gonzalez drew five walks and stole six more bases to give him 76 for the year. Ramon Ramirez drove in seven runs for the week, drawing three walks. The Fireflies activated first baseman JC Vanek from the Injured List.