This Week in the Minors is our weekly look at notable performances from all over the system, from big-name prospects and less-heralded guys alike. The mission is to answer this simple question: “Who had a good week?”
Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers (29-39, 15.5 games back)
It has been a rough year for the Storm Chasers, but they enjoyed a good week, taking five of six from Charlotte,
Bobby Dalbec had three consecutive two-hit games. Luca Tresh had three hits and his ninth home run on Tuesday. Diego Castillo went 4-for-5, falling a triple short of the cycle
on Thursday. John Rave homered twice with back-to-back three-hit games. Dairon Blanco hit .357 (5-for-14) with two home runs, four walks, and four steals. Harold Castro continued his hot pace, hitting .316 (6-for-19) with two doubles and three walks. MJ Melendez homered in three consecutive games and hit for the cycle on Thursday. For the week, he hit .435 (10-for-23) with four doubles, and was named International League Player of the Week.
Omaha had some uncharacteristically good pitching his week. Shane Panzini earned his first Triple-A win, giving up just one run in six innings on Tuesday, and while he gave up no earned runs in 3.2 innings on Sunday, he allowed five walks and seven unearned runs. Veteran Spencer Turnbull gave up two runs in six innings in his start on Wednesday. John Gant earned a win, striking out six in five innings, allowing just two hits and one run. Eric Cerantola struck out four in two scoreless innings, earning a save. Cole Ragans struck out seven of the 14 batters he faced, allowing just one hit and no runs in 3.2 innings in his last rehab start. Steven Cruz had three one-inning scoreless relief outings.
Double-A Northwest Arkansas Naturals (33-36, 12 games back)
The Naturals ended their season losing five of six to Frisco to fall under .500 for the second half. Brett Squires was 7-for-24 (.292) with three doubles, a triple, and his tenth home run of the year. Catcher Omar Hernandez could not get out, going 7-for-10 (.700) with a double and his tenth steal. Javier Vaz was 4-for-15 (.267) with three walks, a steal, and 4 RBI. Gavin Cross ended the season strong, hitting 9-for-27 (.333) this week with two doubles and three steals. After June 1, he hit .296/.350/.504 with 12 home runs in 67 games. Shortstop Daniel Vazquez was promoted for the final week of games, and drove in two.
Frank Mozzicato struck out five while allowing just two hits and one run, but walked five in four innings of work the next night. Ryan Ramsey struck out seven in six innings, allowing two runs. A.J. Causey earned his fourth save of the year. Ethan Bosacker struck out four in four innings of relief, allowing just two hits and two runs.
High-A Quad Cities River Bandits (35-31, 3.5 games back)
The River Bandits have completed their season. They went 39-27 in the first half, finishing just a game out of a playoff spot, and were the only Royals minor league affiliate to post a winning record in the second half. Overall, they finished 74-58, tied for the second-best record in the Midwest League.
Low-A Columbia Fireflies (28-35, 14.5 games back)
The Fireflies swept the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the best-of-three divisional series, allowing just two runs. David Shields was dominant, allowing just one run with eight strikeouts and no walks in the Game 1 win. Kamdyn Edge struck out five of the nine hitters he faced in three perfect innings, and Augusto Mendieta picked up a 1-2-3 save. Luke Nowak has dominated A-ball since joining the Fireflies, and he scored the first run after a triple. Stone Russell added an RBI double, and Jose Cerice had two ground-out RBI.
Kendry Chourio won Game 2 with five innings and one run allowed with no walks. Dash Albus and Bryson Dudley each pitched two shutout innings in relief. Nowak had two hits and two RBI in the 2-1 victory.
The Fireflies overcame a 5-2 eighth-inning deficit to eventually send the game to extra innings, but fell in the tenth in a 6-5 loss to open the Carolina League championship series against Lynchburg. Hyungchan Um had the big hit in the eighth with a two-run single to pull the Fireflies within a run. They scored in the ninth when Asbel Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, stole second and third, then scored on a wild pitch.
But in the tenth, extra-inning runner Ramon Ramirez was caught stealing in the third. That turned out to hurt when Henry Ramos followed up with a double. Then Ramos failed to score on a single by Stone Russell and the Fireflies could not manage a single run in the tenth. Dudley gave up a double in the tenth to score the extra-inning runner and win the game for Lynchburg. The Fireflies will take on Lynchburg tonight in Game 2 with a potential deciding Game 3 on Wednesday.
