Southern League Update: All Star Week

South Blanks North at All Star Game

The Southern League All-Star game took place this past Wednesday, and one teams display of pitching was quite impressive. The South Division Team’s pitching dominated en route to a commanding 6-0 victory. The Northern team could only manage to muster up one hit on the night, a double in the 5th inning by Mariners farmhand James Jones. Diamondbacks southpaw David Holmberg started the game for the South, and pitched a perfect inning while striking out one. Kyle Hendricks then took the hill for the North, but couldn’t match Holmberg. Hendricks surrendered two runs on three hits in his only inning. The South never looked back. Pitchers Bradin Hagen, Andrew Chafin, and Adam Conley worked the next three innings for the South, and all three didn’t allow a single hit. The South added a run in the bottom of the 4th on a RBI ground out by Braves prospect Jaime Pedroza. The North got their only hit in the following frame off Tim Crabbe, but couldn’t do anything to build momentum, and stranded James Jones at third. The South then had 6 pitchers finish out the final four innings with no hit baseball to seal the victory. As it turned out, the South didn’t need Diamondbacks top prospect Archie Bradley after all, as they more than managed without him. Justin Greene was named the MVP of the game, as his first inning RBI triple proved to be the game winning hit.

Rogers Hits Four Homers in Two Games

Relatively unknown Brewers prospect Jason Rogers has put his mark on the second half of the season so far for the Huntsville Stars, hitting three homers yesterday, and adding another for good measure today. Rogers was a 32nd round pick back in 2010, and has progressed his way up to Double A. He doesn’t have much of a shot to make the majors on any role besides possibly September depth, but has hit well enough in the Brewers system to keep a job in the upper minors. In the three games since the All-Star Break, Rogers is 6/12 with 4 HR’s and 7 RBI’s.