Minor League Baseball weekly roundup: First Full Week
AA Eastern League
While New Hampshire (7-2) and Richmond (8-3) are both playing excellent baseball, what is unique about the Eastern League is that there are four teams under a .400 winning percentage – Binghamton (3-5), Portland (3-5), Reading (4-7), and Hartford (2-7).
Former Mexican League infielder Esteban Quiroz has hit in every game for Portland so far, and he had a solid week, going .438/.591/.813 with a pair of home runs and a stolen base with a 4/3 BB/K on the week over 5 games and 22 plate appearances. Altoona shortstop Cole Tucker had his 3rd and 4th multi-hit games of the season on the week, going .429/.529/.714 on the week with a pair of doubles, a triple, and a 3/1 BB/K.
No one may have been hotter than Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. on the week, with a multi-hit game in every game but one on the week, where he still collected a hit, totaling a week at .476/.480/.714 with 2 doubles, a home run, and a 2/3 BB/K over 5 games and 25 plate appearances while driving in 10 runs. Bo Bichette set the table for Guerrero, continuing his streak of getting on base every game this season, with a week line of .364/.462/.500 with a double, triple, and a steal along with a 4/5 BB/K ratio. Richmond infielder led the Flying Squirrels to their first place spot with a week of .455/.520/.682 with a pair of doubles, a home run, 2 stolen bases, and a 2/3 BB/K.
While their home park has led to ERAs that are not-so-stellar, top arms Ranger Suarez, Harold Arauz, and Franklyn Kilome have combined for 45 strikeouts over 37 1/3 innings so far on the season for Reading. Shane Bieber kept up his excellent work, following up his stellar opening week start with 7 shutout innings, allowing 4 walks and still not walking a hitter, striking out 8.
While teammate Mitch Keller is the top prospect, Brandon Waddell had his own impressive start this week, going 6 scoreless innings, allowing just 2 hits and no walks, striking out 6. Also overshadowed by teammates, but by hitters, Jordan Romano tossed 7 shutout innings this week for New Hampshire, allowing 3 hits and no walks, striking out 7.
AA Southern League
With six of the ten teams in the league at or within a game of .500, Jackson (8-2) and Biloxi (9-2) have started to separate from the pack, though only Montgomery is the only one separating from the pack the other direction at 3-8.
Jackson has four hitters hitting over .400 on the young season still, led by infielder Juniel Querecuto, who hit .526/.550/.684 on the week with a double, triple, and a stolen base. Jacksonville’s Austin Dean had a big week, hitting .632/.667/.737 over 5 games with a pair of doubles. Taylor Ward had a hot week for Mobile, hitting .412/.545/.647 with a double, home run, and a pair of steals.
Arguably no minor leaguer has had a better start to his season, however, than Mobile’s Hutton Moyer. The 2015 7th round selection from Pepperdine has filled up the stat sheet all season and continued to do so this week, going .316/.364/.789 with a double, a triple, 2 home runs, and 3 stolen bases on the week, giving him 4 home runs and 7 stolen bases on the season thus far.
I don’t often lead off with a reliever here, but Jackson’s Colin Poche has put together an incredible open to the season, and his last week was impressive. He made two appearances, going 4 perfect innings, striking out 9. He ended the week with 6 innings tossed on the year and 15 strikeouts.
Kohl Stewart has struggled with generating strikeouts previously, but in his second turn in Chattanooga, Stewart is doing just that, making two starts on the week, striking out 14 over 10 1/3 innings while walking just one. Veteran Jeff Brigham had a second brilliant start for Jacksonville, going 5 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk, striking out 10.
AA Texas League
Tulsa, Midland, and San Antonio are all leading the Texas League with a 7-4 record. On the opposite side, Frisco rode a 5-game losing streak to a 3-8 record at the end of the week.
While the team struggled, Frisco’s Hunter Cole put together three multi-hit games, hitting .500/.619/.563 with a double and a 5/5 BB/K ratio. San Antonio’s Josh Naylor continued his big season with a .400/.538/.850 line, hitting 3 more home runs and even adding a stolen base for good measure with an impressive 6/1 BB/K ratio. Myles Straw continues to make a case for his future in Houston’s outfield with Corpus Christi, leading the TL in stolen bases with 8 now on the season after a 3-steal week, hitting .382/.533/.441 on the season so far.
Tulsa teammates DJ Peters and Connor Joe demolished baseballs throughout the week. Peters showed impressive bat-to-ball skills in hitting .409/.480/.636 with two doubles and a home run, and more impressive for the big swinger, he put up a 3/3 BB/K ratio. Joe only had three hits on the week, but he made all of them count, hitting all three out for home runs.
Cal Quantrill had a pair of excellent starts for San Antonio, tallying 11 innings with 7 hits and 4 walks, allowing just one run, striking out 11 total. His teammate Jesse Scholtens tossed two starts, allowing two runs over 12 innings, allowing 7 hits and and a walk, striking out 14.
Dennis Santana continued to establish himself as one of the top pitching prospects in minor league baseball, making two starts, throwing 9 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 15 batters.
Week ahead
Top prospects Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Bo Bichette along with the loaded New Hampshire team will spend the early week hosting Tim Tebow and Binghamton. Kyle Funkhouser with pitch the opener of a weekend series with Erie and Binghamton on Friday. Mitch Keller will take on first-place Richmond on Saturday as part of their weekend series.
Stephen Gonsalves takes the hill on Wednesday in the first game of a double-header between Chattanooga and Jacksonville. First place Biloxi and last place Montgomery square off in a weekend series.
Top teams Midland and Tulsa are squaring off in a early week series between two of the top teams in the league. On Thursday, the other team currently tied for the top record in the Texas League, San Antonio, squares off against Midland for a weekend series.
Next: high-A