Bus Leagues Express: July 27

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Longoria hitless in rehab appearance: A month after shutting down his rehab assignment because of hamstring soreness, Evan Longoria was back on the field for Durham in Gwinnett on Thursday. Batting third as their DH, Longoria was 0/3 with a walk in his first game since June 16th at Rochester. The star third baseman has missed all but 23 games for the Rays this year with hamstring troubles, and they’ve hung in the playoff race despite missing their best player at the plate and in the field. They hope he can come back in a week as their DH at first to ease him back in. Durham fell 8-1 in Randall Delgado‘s second start for Gwinnett this season.

Peralta strikes out career high: It’s been a rough season for Wily Peralta in Nashville, and after a bizarre early season promotion to Milwaukee to make one relief appearance, his performance was especially poor. Thursday night, he struck out a career high 11 in Nashville’s 7-3 win over Memphis. It was the 4th time in his career that he’s struck out double digits and the continuation of a hot stretch that’s seen him pitch the way he was expected coming into the year. On June 27th, he pitched the first of three straight starts with no earned runs. In his last six starts including that stretch, Peralta has allowed seven earned runs on 35 hits and 11 walks in 34.1 innings with 37 strikeouts, good for a 1.83 ERA and 1.34 WHIP.

Walker dominates in Jackson win: Taijuan Walker has more than held his own in AA as a 19 year old, but for a couple months he went into a lull where he struggled. In his last two starts, he’s shown signs of coming out of it. That was especially true Thursday when he struck out eight in six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and walking none. It was his second straight quality start but only the 3rd of the season. His eight strikeouts tied a season high that happened in the first game of the season. In 88 innings this year, Walker has a 4.09 ERA and 1.33 WHIP with nearly one strikeout per inning. He’ll turn 20 in a couple weeks, and he’s certainly making his case to be the second best pitching prospect in baseball.

Zimmer tough luck loser in low-A debut: After a few appearances in the Arizona League to get his feet wet and back in game action, Kyle Zimmer was assigned to Kane County for some more appropriate competition. He had a solid showing, striking out five and allowing one run on five hits in four innings. Unfortunately for Kane County, one run was all Wisconsin needed in their 4-0 shutout contest. In 14 pro innings so far, Zimmer has still not walked a batter and has 18 strikeouts. Among the 2012 draft’s big three college starters, he’s the only one to have seen action so far. Of course Mark Appel did not sign, and Kevin Gausman hasn’t made in appearance for Baltimore.

Dean hits first homer: Matt Dean was once considered a first round talent, but he dropped to the 13th after a rough senior season, causing teams to believe his commitment to Texas strengthened. Of course the Blue Jays signed him for a signing bonus north of $700,000, believing he could turn it around. So far in his brief career, he hasn’t. In 26 Appy League games, the third baseman is batting .244 with a .723 OPS. Thursday in Bluefield’s 9-2 win, Dean hit his first professional home run, part of a four hit game, also a career first. In his last 10 games, he’s batting .345 with a .939 OPS, and the Blue Jays hope that’s a sign of things to come.

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