Bus Leagues Express: July 4

I tried getting some extra sleep, so the top player charts won’t include most west coast games. Sorry.

Top stories

Howard blasts rehab dinger: Although progress has at times seemed slow, Ryan Howard has been effective in his rehab assignment in low-A and now AAA. Tuesday night, he hit his first home run of his rehab against former Major Leaguer John Maine. In 27 ML plate appearances against Maine, Howard has hit two homers, so there is familiarity there. Perhaps more importantly, he played seven innings in the field, up from five in his previous games. While it’s looking more and more like he’ll be back too late to turn the Phillies’ season around, his power bat is still very much needed in the middle of the lineup.

Paxton effective in return from DL: Making his first start since May 25th due to knee problems, James Paxton looked more like his old self in Jackson’s 6-1 loss to Montgomery. Using 53 pitches to get through four innings, Paxton didn’t allow any runs, walked no batters and struck out two. 64% of his pitches were strikes. Control for Paxton has been an issue in the past, and that probably wasn’t more evident than that May 25th start when he walked five in just 2.2 innings.

Austin hit in head in Tampa debut: The Yankees made three well-deserved promotions this week, sending leadoff man Mason Williams, slugger Tyler Austin and catcher Gary Austin to Tampa. However, Austin’s Tampa debut ended sooner than expected when he was hit in the head during his 5th inning plate appearance. He was immediately taken out of the game, but there are no further details available at this time. As for the other two, Williams was 1/5 with an RBI, and Sanchez was 1/5 with a double, RBI and three strikeouts. Tampa fell to division rival Dunedin 10-6.

ValleyCats cruise to 11th straight: Houston’s composite organizational record has improved leaps and bounds this year due to the influx of talent the organization has seen in the last calendar year. Tri-City has done great work for them in the New York-Penn League in the early going this season, improving to 13-3 with their 7-2 win over Lowell. Although the team only includes one top 30 prospect (RHP Vincent Velasquez), four of the team’s draft picks from the first 10 rounds are also assigned to the roster, including Andrew Aplin and Tyler Heineman who are both making great contributions in the everyday lineup. In this particular game, Tri-City erased a 2-0 deficit with a seven run explosion in the 9th. Although he didn’t get the win, starter Juri Perez was impressive, striking out six in seven scoreless innings.

GCL Blue Jays hand GCL Yankees their second loss: Since their season started two weeks ago, the GCL Yankees have been a force, and Tuesday was just their second loss of the season, snapping an 11 game winning streak. The Blue Jays used three 6th inning runs to take a 4-3 decision that dropped the Yankees to 12-2. The Yankees are at the top of the league in runs and 2nd in ERA just one year after winning the GCL North division last season. Players like Ericson Leonora and Jordan Cote have led the team so far as the Yankees hope to continue to build depth in the lower minors.

Jays sign Stroman: The 2012 draft’s most electric pitcher has signed. The Blue Jays signed 22nd overall pick Marcus Stroman for $1.8 million, the recommended value for the pick. If he becomes a reliever, many believe he could be the first pick from this draft to reach the majors, although the injuries their pitching staff has suffered lately seem to diminish the urgency of racing him to the majors for postseason hope. It seems likely that he’ll be assigned to Vancouver to start his pro career since he hasn’t pitched in a month and a half.

On tap today

MiLB.TV schedule

Cody Buckel looks for successful AA start

Mississippi tries to slow down Anthony Fernandez

Garrett Gould makes first start since trade rumors began

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