Walker Powell – Picture by Todd Johnson

Debut of the Day

Congrats go out to Delvin Zinn and his family as Delvin became the father of a little girl today! She is just a cutie!

As rough as last night was for selecting starting pitchers and relievers, tonight was the opposite. There were zeroes everywhere to start the night.

Starting Pitcher of the Day. 

Caleb Kilian began today’s festivities by throwing 6 innings for Iowa while striking out 6 and allowing just 2 runs. Riley THompson of Tennessee kept up his nic run as he threw 3.1 scoreless innings (65 count pitch limit) as the Cubs continue to slowly build him back up. He struck out 4 for the evening and allowed just 2 hits and walked two. Luis Devers made things difficult with his 1-run 5 inning performance that resulted in 3 Ks. And then there was Didier Vargas who threw six scoreless innings for Myrtle Beach tonight. He scattered four hits and a walk while striking out 2. 

Is that a tough choice? For me it was. Do I reward Thompson’s 3.1 scoreless IP with 4 Ks or go with Vargas’ 6 scoreless with just 2 Ks?

Today’s Starting Pitcher of the Day is….Riley Thompson. He had some nasty looking curves going today. Very impressive in a short span.

Web Gem of the Day

Another amazing PCA catch…this is like every day if I let it. He just gets to balls that no one else can. He just sees the ball really well off the bat and is blessed with quickness.

Reliever of the Day

Today’s reliever of the day was Walker Powell of Tennessee. He was handed a 1-0 lead with one out in the fourth inning. He went 5 scoreless frames for Tennessee and struck out 7 to get the win. That lowered his ERA as a Smokie to 2.40. That’s a pretty impressive run at Double-A.

Hitter of the Day

Only three players had two hits today. Matt Mervis went 2-for-4 with one RBI for Iowa. Fabian Pertuz went 2-for-4 for South Bend and Nelson Maldonado went 2-for-3 with an RBI and that was the only run for Tennessee today. As a result, Mr. Maldonado is going to get today’s hitter of the day. It’s good to see him back AND hitting, just like the tweet says!

I will be back in the morning with a look at the last three outings of Chris Clarke and on Saturday morning you will get a draft pick profile of 7th round pick Nick Hull.