Bus Leagues Express: August 10

Top stories

Wilson does it again: With all of the no-hitters being thrown this season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one pitcher got on the board for a second time. That pitcher is Indianapolis’ Justin Wilson who threw a no-hit, no-run eight inning game for the second time this season. On April 29th, Wilson combined with a pair of relievers to no-hit Durham, and this comes just two days after three Padres arms threw a no-hitter in the Arizona League. Wilson struck out five and walked only one as he faced the minimum 24 batters through eight innings. For the season, he has a 3.88 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with 126 strikeouts in 125.1 innings.

Bogaerts homers in AA debut: Among the sudden high-profile promotions, Xander Bogaerts moving from Salem to Portland may be one of the most interesting. He’s only 19 years old and has had a roller coaster of a season: great one month, major struggles the next. Still, the Red Sox think enough of the power hitting shortstop to get aggressive with him, and at least for one game, it paid off. Bogaerts was 2/5 with a home run in his AA debut as Portland topped Akron 5-3. Bogaerts has some of the best power in the minors, and even though he showed plenty of it in the Carolina League, he could show more in more hitter friendly environments. He could end up at third base down the road.

Miller hits first pro homer: Like the recently departed Ethan Martin, Dodgers pitching prospect Aaron Miller was an accomplished amateur hitter. In three years at Baylor before becoming a 1st round pick, Miller hit 28 home runs and owned a career OPS over .900 on days he wasn’t pitching. Thursday, he hit his first professional homer in Chattanooga’s 3-2 loss at Pensacola. Miller could probably make a case for best hitting pitcher in the minors right now. Prior to Thursday’s game, he owned a .267 average and .757 OPS in 30 at-bats with the Lookouts.

Springer pinch hits in AA debut: The second of three big minor league promotions Thursday was George Springer getting the bump up to Corpus Christi from Lancaster. Houston’s first rounder pretty much came as advertised with the JetHawks; he showed speed, power and struck out a lot. He had a .955 OPS in 106 games with Lancaster, and it’s important to keep in mind that he was hitting in perhaps the best hitters’ park in pro baseball. Still, the accomplished NCAA star is probably ready for some tougher pitching. He wasn’t in the Hooks’ starting lineup, but he did pinch hit and play right field Thursday, popping out in his only at-bat. His great tools at a position up the middle of the diamond make him one of the top Astros prospects to watch as the organization tries to climb back to respectability.

Sanchez, Austin homer in Tampa blowout: The next core of great Yankees are slowly progressing through the minors. Around mid-season, wholesale promotions were made from Charleston to Tampa with Gary Sanchez, Mason Williams and Tyler Austin moving up. At the very least, they’re all going to be Bus Leagues Top 100 prospects going into next year and could be valuable prospects moving forward. In Thursday’s 12-0 drubbing of Clearwater, Austin hit his 1st home run since the promotion, and Sanchez hit his 3rd. Austin missed several weeks with a head injury but has been very good with Tampa when on the field. Sanchez really rejuvenated his stock with improved defense in 2012 and still displaying plenty of power.

Soler promoted: The notable promotions continued rolling in Thursday with Jorge Soler being moved from the Arizona League to the Cubs’ low-A affiliate Peoria. He was in Burlington for the game but not in Peoria’s starting lineup yesterday. His stats weren’t impressive in the Arizona League (.241/.328/.389 in 14 games), but that’s understandable with the amount of rust he had after being out of action from defecting and not playing competitively for so long. The 20 year old still hit plenty of balls hard in Arizona, and he’s certain to be a Bus Leagues Top 100 Prospect for 2013.

On tap today

MiLB.TV schedule

Hernandez, Matsuzaka making rehab starts in IL

Martin Perez looks to pitch way back to majors

Barnes, Adam meet in top Carolina League matchup

Anderson, Matthews meet in SAL battle of 2011 first rounders

Kyle Zimmer looks for MWL success