Bus Leagues Express: July 21

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Blue Jays send prospects to Houston in large deal: In what will eventually become a 10 player deal, Toronto acquired three pitchers, J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon and David Carpenter for a half dozen players and one to be named later. Toronto remains in the playoff hunt despite a plethora of injuries to their pitching staff, and they hope this trio adds enough depth to hang on for the final two months. In addition to sending Houston major leaguers Ben Francisco and Francisco Cordero, the Astros will be receiving three prospects, pitchers Asher Wojciechowski and Joe Musgrove and catcher Carlos Perez. While none of these players are Toronto’s top prospects, they do have major league potential, and it’s questionable whether or not they should be dealing minor leaguers for players who don’t greatly improve their chances. They do have the depth to withstand these losses though.

Miller fires six scoreless: For the second straight start, Shelby Miller exited without allowing a run. In Friday’s 8-1 win over Oklahoma City, Miller used 98 pitches (66 strikes) to shut down one of the league’s toughest offenses. OKC is second in the league in homers, and of course allowing home runs has been a sore spot for Miller all season. This is now three straight starts without allowing a home run. Although that small stint doesn’t erase a season’s worth of struggles, the Cardinals will take any positive sign they can get after the first three months of the season.

Goodwin hitless in AA debut: The Nationals finally promoted Brian Goodwin, and he skipped right over high-A to Harrisburg. Replacing Eury Perez in the resumption of a suspended game, Goodwin went 0/4 with three strikeouts as Harrisburg’s center fielder. He was having one of the best seasons in all of baseball considering all of his secondary skills, and a bump up was long overdue. As was the case with Bryce Harper last year, there’s speculation that Potomac’s poor field conditions factored into the aggressive double jump. In game two of the doubleheader, Goodwin went 0/3 but did reach base via walk.

Meyer dominates in Potomac debut: Goodwin was just one of a handful of Nats minor leaguers to receive promotions recently. Another one was pitcher Alex Meyer, another big signing from the same draft class as Goodwin. He’s another player that was probably in Hagerstown too long, and his first start in high-A showed just that. In six scoreless innings, he struck out seven and only allowed three hits and one walk. He now has 114 strikeouts in 96 innings and showing improved control from his college days. His great start propelled the P-Nats to an 8-3 win over division leading Myrtle Beach.

Hernandez falls just short of no-hitter: With a 2-2 count, Jesse Hernandez was a pitch away from a no-hitter. However, it wasn’t meant to be as Alonzo Harris dropped a single into left field to break up the no-no. Hernandez finished with 12 strikeouts and an unearned run allowed after Evan Engelbrook allowed Harris to come around to score. After a rough start in high-A, Hernandez has only allowed one earned run 14.2 innings over his last two starts. Just one week ago, St. Lucie was no-hit by Tampa. Promotions have hit the first half champ hard, and they find themselves in last place in the FSL South’s second half.

Mejia hits for cycle: A day after the GCL saw a perfect game, the Arizona League got in on the fun with a batter hitting for the cycle. The Brewers’ Deivi Mejia entered as a replacement in the suspended game for Tyrone Taylor who’s not even on the team anymore. He proceeded to go 5/5 with three runs scored and eight RBI. The excess hit was a single, and he’s now batting .750 in very limited action for the Arizona Brewers. His home run was his first hit in the U.S. after spending three seasons in the Dominican Summer League between two organizations. He was originally signed by the Rockies but released after just one season before Milwaukee scooped him up. The Brewers beat the Arizona Indians 18-3.

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