Bus Leagues Express: June 26

Top stories

MiLB recognizes Player of the Week recipients: Every Monday, MiLB announces each league’s Player of the Week honoree. This week included Mason Williams of Charleston, the Yankees center field prospect who’s quickly developing into one of the best position players in minor league baseball. 2012 draft pick Ryan Garvey took home the prize in the Pioneer League. The son of the former Dodger, Garvey hit his first two pro home runs and couldn’t be stopped. Other recipients include Cody Puckett (IL), Andrew Brown (PCL), Evan Bigley (EL), Alfredo Marte (SL), Kiel Rolling (TL), Casey McElroy (Cal), Aaron Baker (Car), Kirk Singer (FSL), Anthony Garcia (MWL), David Chester (NYPL), Balbino Fuenmayor (NWL), and Rory Rhodes (APP).

MiLB recognizes Pitcher of the Week recipients: Every Monday, MiLB announces each league’s Player of the Week honoree. This week included Doug Davis trying to work his way back to the majors with Omaha. Aaron Northcraft was also honored in the Carolina League for his no-hitter over the weekend. Other recipients include Jim Paduch (IL), Jonathan Pettibone (EL), Jose Alvarez (SL), Jarred Cosart (TL), Matt Jackson (Cal), Frank Del Valle (FSL), Kyle Smith (MWL), Adalberto Mejia (SAL), Raynel Velette (NYPL), Javier Avendano (NWL), Blake Snell (APP), and Kyle Smith (PIO).

Rizzo promoted to Chicago: Cubs fans have been clamoring for it for almost the entire season, and now they get their wish. Anthony Rizzo will be starting at first base for them starting today, and Bryan LaHair will move to the outfield. Although he’s cooled off lately, LaHair still deserves to be playing every day. Rizzo made some adjustments to his swing over the offseason, and the Cubs hope those changes will mean his eye-popping minor league stats aren’t just a PCL mirage like last year with Tucson.

Richmond loses a wall: Yesterday, we talked about the storms Florida had to withstand Sunday. Poor weather moved up the coast to Virginia’s capital, and Richmond’s game against New Britain ended early Monday due to heavy winds that blew away part of the stadium’s left field wall. The weather seemed great prior to that, but things obviously took a turn for the worst quickly. The photo circulating of the wall missing would be the perfect endorsement for a new stadium there, wouldn’t it? New Britain won the game to complete a series sweep.

Massaro triples in first three at-bats: Sunday, Mike Massaro on Gary’s American Association team had the unusual feat of hitting for three triples in one game, all of which came in his first three at-bats. This is a very rare occurrence in baseball, and it’s only happened in the majors 29 times with Denard Span being the most recent in 2010. Massaro spent four seasons in the Oakland organization and even got some AAA time before moving to indy ball. Among others, two players that have played for Gary in the past include Tim Byrdak and Randall Simon.

NCAA crowns new champion: Arizona completed one of the most dominant College World Series runs ever when they beat South Carolina 4-1 to sweep the three game series. They were undefeated and didn’t trail for a moment at Omaha, and they finish the season on an 11 game winning streak. The popular axiom “to be the best, you have to beat the best” certainly applies after knocking off the two time defending champs. Not only that, they scored a run against Mike Roth, Matt Price and Tyler Webb, the first two being some of the best that have ever pitched in college ball. Yankees 5th rounder Robert Refsnyder won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

On tap today

MiLB.TV schedule

Chase Utley rehabs at Lehigh Valley

Martin Perez hopes to build on momentum of complete game

Texas League reaches All-Star break

Luis Heredia makes second start of the season

If you know of a player performance or article that should be shared, please let me know on Twitter at @5runrally!