Minor League Recap

Quite a bit of time has went by since our last minor league recap so I decided to touch base on who has been performing well at each level over the past week and a half. First up is the Oklahoma City RedHawks.

RedHawks (Pitching)

In case you haven’t heard by now top pitching prospect Jordan Lyles finally had his breakout game in triple-A this past Friday. Lyles allowed five hits and one walk to go along with eight strikeouts in six scoreless innings. This performance is coming on the heels of his April 23^rd performance in which he threw seven shutout innings while striking out three. It’s nice to see Lyles start to pile up the strikeouts, and hopefully this is a sign of things to come. His recipe for success this past Friday was good command of his fastball, and his curveball in the dirt was his strikeout pitch.

In other news Douglas Arguello made his return from the disabled list and has had two decent starts. In his most recent outing tonight against Nashville Arguello threw six innings while giving up one earned run and striking out five. His ERA is now 2.87 on the season. Arguello takes Fernando Nieve’s spot in the rotation who has been released by the Astros to play ball overseas in Korea.

RedHawks (Hitting)

Jose Vallejo has performed well since returning from the disabled list. He is currently hitting .306 on the season. Koby Clemens has also performed will, and is hitting .278 with five homeruns and 18 RBIs. J.B. Shuck’s average is at .305, but only has three stolen bases in nine attempts.

Corpus Christi (Pitching)

Ross Seaton has really performed well this season recording a quality start in three out of his four outings this year and is also young for the league at age 21. In his most recent outing Seaton went 6.2 innings while allowing 2 earned runs with 3 strikeouts. The trouble with Seaton seems to be that he still relies almost exclusively on his fastball, and his offspeed offerings need a lot of work. How his offspeed offerings develop will go a long way in determining what the future holds for Ross Seaton.

Dallas Keuchel has also recorded three quality starts in four outings this year. The soft tossing lefty does not overwhelm and strikeout a lot of hitters, but he has put together a solid groundout to flyout ratio. He left tonight’s start in the 3^rd inning of a blowout after a collision with third baseman David Flores. No word yet on if the injury is serious, but I will keep you updated.

Corpus Christi (Hitting)

The Hooks offense can absolutely rake. They have several hitters that are batting above .300 for the season still. Here is a look at the top performers for the Hooks:

Wladimir Sutil (SS) – .410 avg., and 7 stolen bases in 9 attempts

Brandon Wikoff (Infield) – .468 avg., 1 homerun and 2 doubles in 47 at-bats.

Jimmy Paredes (2B) – .311 avg., 2 homeruns, 10 stolen bases in 10 attempts

J.D. Martinez (LF) – .348 avg., 3 homeruns and 27 RBIs

Lancaster JetHawks (Pitching)

There has really only been two pitchers to note for the JetHawks so far this year. One of them is Jake Buchanan who threw a complete game shutout this past Sunday. On the year Buchanan has a 1.45 ERA in 37 innings pitched with an excellent groundout to flyout ratio. He does not have a high strikeout rate, but as long as he continues to get groundouts at the rate he does he will have success, especially in Lancaster. The other pitcher worth mentioning is Kirk Clark who has recorded eight saves to go along with a 0.93 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched.

Lancaster JetHawks (Hitting)

The top two hitters to note for the JetHawks are Jose Altuve and Kody Hinze. Altuve is hitting .423 with fourteen stolen bases in seventeen attempts. Kody Hinze is hitting .307 with eight homeruns and 23 RBIs on the year.

Lexington (Pitching)

The only pitcher that has been consistently good to start the season for the Legends has been Tanner Bushue. Bushue is 4-0 with a 3.13 ERA in 31.2 innings pitched. His strikeout rate is still not where many hoped it would be, but he is finally starting to get more groundballs than flyballs which has been the key to why he has been more successful than last year thus far.

Lexington (Hitting)

The Legends have also put on quite a show on offense. Top performers are as follows:

Chris Wallace (C) – .384 avg., 7 homeruns and 24 RBIs

Daniel Adamson (OF) – .346 avg., 28 hits in 81 at-bats

Adam Bailey (OF) – .337 avg., 6 homeruns, 14 RBIs

Telvin Nash (OF) – .310 avg., 5 homeruns, 11 RBIs

Michael Kvasnicka (3B) – .308 avg., 1 homerun, 18 RBIs