Top stories
Drew begins rehab: Stephen Drew last played in a professional game on July 20th when he broke his ankle sliding into home. Although one member of the team’s ownership has criticized him for not rehabbing quickly enough, Drew was on the field Thursday as the Reno Aces traveled to Tucson. Playing shortstop, he went 1/4 in nine innings before being taken out of the game in Reno’s 12 inning win. It’s a positive sign for a team that’s below expectations at 27-30 needing a spark to try to erase the deficit in the NL West. Although they’ve received solid production from shortstop this year, the Diamondbacks will still love to have an all-around talent such at Drew back on the field.
Southern League finishes naming All-Stars: A day after the Southern League named its North division All-Stars, they wrapped up naming the participants with the South division players Thursday. Three Bus Leagues Top 100 prospects are on the team: Matt Davidson, Tyler Skaggs and Andrelton Simmons who’s obviously now in the majors. A handful of interesting prospects will also participate, such as Christian Bethancourt (Atlanta), Marc Krauss (Arizona), Daniel Corcino (Cincinnati), and Atlanta first rounder Sean Gilmartin. Minor league veteran and former top prospect Joel Guzman will represent Pensacola.
Loux moves to 11-0 in Frisco shutout: After getting hit with his first no-decision of the year in his last time out with three runs, one earned in six innings, Barret Loux got back in the win column Thursday with another solid performance. Despite walking four in six innings, Loux only allowed two hits in his six scoreless innings of work. He struck out four to move to 62 in 67.1 innings on the year. The RoughRidgers got all four of their runs in the second inning thanks to some shaky command by San Antonio starter Keyvius Sampson and a steady parade of singles by the potent Frisco lineup. It’s their eighth shutout of the year, and no other team in the Texas League has more than five.
Looks like Goodnight… *puts on sunglasses* put Wilmington’s offense to sleep: Yes, I have been sitting on that one all year. Backed by a 12 run outburst by the Carolina offense, Michael Goodnight earned his second win of the year in the Mudcats’ 12-1 win over Wilmington. Carolina scored four in the second, and after failing to record a shutdown inning in the bottom half, Goodnight settled in and played frontrunner, finishing with six one-run innings. Goodnight’s had a pretty rough second pro season to date, but he’s been very good in two June starts with four runs allowed on 10 hits and three walks in 12 innings with 10 strikeouts.
Lansing clinches playoff berth: It only took one inning of baseball Thursday, but Lansing became the second team in the minors to clinch a playoff berth with their 5-4 win over Bowling Green. The game was suspended before the 11th inning the previous night, and Kevin Patterson, a former Rays draft pick, ended it quickly in the bottom half of the inning with a walkoff double. Bowling Green split the doubleheader with a win in the second game, but the Lugnuts surely sent fans home happy. With their outstanding .695 winning percentage, Lansing cruised to the East division’s first half title with the league’s best pitching staff.
Draft signings coming in quickly: One positive to come out of the new CBA’s changes to the draft is that a lot of players will sign more quickly. Carlos Correa officially signed his deal, and first rounders Kyle Zimmer and Victor Roache were among the other players to sign Thursday. This isn’t limited to players signing roughly for slot; it’s been reported that Matt Smoral signed with Toronto for $2 million, twice as much as the recommended value for his pick. Fans should expect the deals to keep rolling in through the weekend with the amount of pre-draft deals that are reported to have been arranged.
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Top Hitters | Aff. | H/AB | R | XBH | HR | RBI | BB | K | SB |
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C.J. Cron | IE | 3/4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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C.J. Retherford | RC | 2/4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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Cedric Hunter | MEM | 2/4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Curt Casali | WM | 4/5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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Eddy Rodriguez | LE | 3/4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
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Erik Castro | LAN | 3/4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Eugenio Velez | MEM | 3/5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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Josh Kroeger | PAW | 2/4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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Kody Hinze | CC | 2/4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Ricardo Nanita | LV | 2/5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Scott Moore | OKC | 4/4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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T.J. Mittelstaedt | BC | 3/6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
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Tommy Medica | LE | 2/4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
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Travis Witherspoon | IE | 3/5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Tyler Cannon | CAR | 3/4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Top Pitchers | Aff. | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
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A.J. Cole | STO | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
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Aaron Miller | CHT | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
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Austin Hyatt | REA | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
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Greg Smith | SL | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
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J.R. Graham | LYN | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
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Jake Odorizzi | OMA | 6.2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
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Kris Medlen | GWI | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
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Kyle Crick | AUG | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
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Kyle Lobstein | MON | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
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Michael Goodnight | CAR | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
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Michael Jensen | PEO | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
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Nelson Figueroa | ES | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
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Nicholas Tropeano | LEX | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
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Robinson Yambati | KC | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
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Terry Doyle | CHA | 8.1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
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Will West | WIS | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
On tap today
Super Regionals begin
Nashville, Iowa meet in doubleheader
Chris Schwinden debuts for his third organization this year
Trevor Bauer tested in Tucson
Andrew Brackman makes second start for Bakersfield
If you know of a player performance or article that should be shared, please let me know on Twitter at @5runrally!
