Normally, this article takes a look at the action on the field for the past week by looking at what each affiliate does and then selecting the players of the week. There are also other occasional awards thrown in but this week I wanted to do something different, just to keep it fresh.
What I decided to do was to steal an idea from MLB Pipeline and have our very own prospect team of the week.
Let’s get to it!
Team of the Week
C – Pablo Aliendo has been on fire this season. He hit .333 on the week along with another dinger.
1B – After a rough start, BJ Murray has begun to adjust to AAA and this week he took off. He hit .471 with 1 HR and 6 RBI, second in the system.
2B – James Triantos cranked his first HR of the year while hitting .278 with a .777 OPS.
SS – Getting to see Jefferson Rojas most of the week was a lot of fun. The bat is definitely advanced for 18 years old. He hit .348 with an .847 OPS while driving in 3.
3B – Chris Paciolla had a nice week hitting .263 with a .391 OBP. The power will come, it will.
OF – The Jaguar had himself quite the week after an abysmal start to the year. He hit almost .500 with two home runs this week and is our “Hitter of the Week.”
OF – Yohendrick Pinango hit .250 and hit a laser HR in Beloit while driving in 7. What is really nice is Pinango is also walking a lot as he posted an OBP of .478 this week.
OF – Andy Garriola is hitting a ton this year. He hit .276 this week 2 HRs and 6 RBI and he leads the system with 17 on the year.
The hardest thing about picking starting pictures is most of them are not going five innings yet. We’re still seeing a lot of 3 and 4 inning outings along with several 2.2s.
SP – Myrtle Beach’s Juan Bello could be the breakout Pitcher of the Year. This week, he took the “Pitcher of the Week” honors for his 4 inning hitless and scoreless outing where he struck out 5.
SP – Ty Johnson only got in 2.2 innings worth of work. He gave up just 1 hit and struck out 4.
SP – Tyler Schlaffer looked pretty good yesterday for South Bend. He allowed 1 run, struck out 5 and flashed some nasty off speed stuff. He is still coming back from TJS and he was limited to 4 frames.
SP – Luis Devers 2024 is looking a lot like Luis Devers 2022. I saw him Saturday afternoon and he dominated the Sky Carp for 4 innings and he did not give up a hit until there were two out in the third. He struck out 4 along the way as he went 4 innings.
SP – Riley Thompson got the spot start and struck out 3 in 4 scoreless innings.
SP – Chris Clarke has slowly been getting stretched out. And, he’s quietly gone about his job without much fanfare this year. He’s beginning to look like he could be an option as he’s been pretty consistent this year with a 1.29 ERA so far. This week, he gave up 1 run in 4 innings and struck out 2.
RP – Converted shortstop (this is getting to be a thing) Francis Reynoso had two good outings as he went 4 innings and struck out 6.
And there are so many Smokies who made this week’s list.
SP – Cade Horton, Matthew Thompson,
RP – Reindl, Arias, Nunez, Scalzo, Leigh, Espinoza
As for the Affiliates…
Iowa – They went 4-2 on the week and are sitting pretty in first place.
Tennessee – The Smokies also went 4-2 and are at 8-6 on the year, just 1.5 games back of first in their division.
South Bend is still struggling as they went 1-5 in Beloit. They are now 4-11 on the year. Issues in the bullen continued this week. The bats are working, they just need to hold leads,
The Pelicans looked much improved this week as they went 2-3 and lowered their team ERA by four points from the previous week. For this series, it was under 5.00. Walks were a bad thing but the Birds are missing bats as their opponent’s batting average against this week was under .200.
