Bus Leagues Express: July 29

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Turner wins New Orleans debut: Jacob Turner is certainly one of the biggest prospect names to be moved this month, and rather than keep him in the majors where he was at the time of the trade, they assigned him to AAA to get more seasoning. There, he’ll face one of the toughest tests of his career: pitching in the Pacific Coast League. He got off to a nice start Saturday even though he only struck out two compared to three walks. He allowed just a run in five innings in New Orleans’ 2-1 win over Iowa. The lone run came off the bat of Brett Jackson in the 2nd inning, a solo home run for the Bus Leagues Top 100 Cubs prospect. Turner’s strikeout rate has been down this year, and the Marlins hope that it’ll come back up as more time passes since his shoulder soreness in the spring.

Benches clear in Mississippi: For the second time this season, Mobile was involved in a benches clearing incident. In Mississippi’s 7-3 win over Mobile, seven batters were hit. With two outs in the 9th, Cory Rasmus hit Rossmel Perez. Mike Tarsi relieved the ejected Rasmus and hit David Nick as Perez advanced to third on defensive indifference. When Tarsi threw a wild pitch to the next batter, Perez came across to score and knocked over Tarsi covering the plate in the process. In addition to Rasmus, Perez, Christian Bethancourt, Alden Carrithers and Mobile manager Turner Ward were ejected. Tarsi remained in the game and retired the next batter to end the game.

McGuire delivers seven shutout innings: Coming into the season, if it was known that the Blue Jays would use 10 different starting pitchers before August because of injuries, one would’ve expected that Deck McGuire would’ve been one of them. The former first rounder has been one of the biggest disappointments in the minors this year with a 5.78 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 113.2 innings for AA New Hampshire. Saturday night, he pitched one of his better outings of the year, firing seven scoreless innings in New Hampshire’s 5-1 win over Altoona. He walked as many batters as he struck out, and his high walk rate has to be one of the most disappointing aspects of his season.

Cole continues dominating in second tour of low-A: When the A’s acquired four prospects for Gio Gonzalez over the winter, if A.J. Cole wasn’t the centerpiece of the deal, he was probably the player with the highest ceiling. After eight rough starts with high-A Stockton that saw him post an 0-7 record and ERA just shy of 8.00, Oakland assigned him to low-A where he had succeeded the year before to get confidence back. He has done just that with 13 strong starts, posting a 2.06 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 65.2 innings with Burlington. Saturday was his 5th quality start in Burlington’s 5-1 win over Cedar Rapids. Cole struck out six in six one-run innings.

Osuna strikes out franchise record 13 in Vancouver debut: After a great start in the Appalachian League, the Blue Jays promoted Roberto Osuna, just 17 years old, to the Northwest League, and he debuted with a flourish. He struck out 13 in just five innings of work, allowing no runs with just one hit and one walk. Osuna was considered to be one of the top two pitchers available in last year’s international signing period, and he opposed the other, Victor Sanchez. Sanchez has been impressive in his own right so far in the Northwest League, and on this night he struck out eight in six innings while allowing three earned runs.

Cecchini hits first home run: Even though he was a first rounder, to some prospect watchers, Gavin Cecchini may be known as the “other” Cecchini due to the success his brother Garin is having in the Boston organization this year. Gavin offers plenty of potential on his own even though his career has gotten off to a bit of a rough start so far in the Appalachian League. Saturday, he hit his first pro home run and only his 9th extra base hit in Kingsport’s 9-5 win over Bristol. He’s shown a bit of a nice approach at the plate, but he’s struggling to make contact with a .243 average in 31 games. He’s more known for his defensive chops, but the bat should develop down the road.

On tap today

MiLB.TV schedule

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