Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Rays Affiliates Lagging Behind Schedule
By Jason Burke
The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bays Rays Double-A affiliates, the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Montgomery Biscuits, are lagging behind the Southern League playoff schedule due to a rain-out on Friday in Chattanooga, pushing the entire series back a day. With the Lookouts ahead 2-1 in the series after last night’s 7-3 victory, they will look to close out the Biscuits on Monday night in Montgomery.
Second baseman Jorge Polanco, the Twins #4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, and the #80 prospect in baseball, is 4-for-12 in the series with a home run and three RBI, while shortstop Daniel Robertson, the Rays #5 prospect and #84 in the game, is 4-for-13 with two RBI.
Awaiting the winner of this series will be the Brewers’ Double-A affiliate from Biloxi, who swept their series against Pensacola. The Shuckers are lead by the Brewers’ top two prospects in shortstop Orlando Arcia and center fielder Brett Phillips, who combined to go 10-for-19 in the previous series.
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Over in the Texas League, the Midland RockHounds (A’s) will take on Northwest Arkansas Naturals (Royals) in the League’s Championship Series. In the Eastern League it will be the Reading Fightin’ Phils (Phillies) taking on the Bowie Baysox (Orioles) for their League’s crown.
Midland outscored NW Arkansas by 101 runs during the regular season, while the Naturals held a slight advantage in ERA at 3.89 compared to 4.02. With the way Renato Nunez has been swinging the bat for Midland it will be hard to bet against them, even with Royals #1 prospect Raul Mondesi batting a cool .333 in the semis. Nunez hit .429 and drove in eight over four games against a better pitching staff in Corpus Christi, so if we’re going to make a prediction here, it’ll be the A’s affiliate beating the Royals’ in an entertaining series.
Bowie held about a half-run lower ERA on the season while Reading possessed the highest-scoring offense in the League, putting up 665 runs, 62 more than second-ranked Altoona. I’ll take the Fightin’ Phils if for no other reason than the Phillies need something to be hopeful about, even if it’s a Double-A Championship. The fact that the Phils have J.P. Crawford sure doesn’t hurt their chances any, either.