Triple-A — Sacramento 7, Portland 6
Craig Stansberry: 1-for-4
Peter Ciofrone (3B): 0-for-4, E
Chase Headley: 0-for-4
Brian Myrow: 1-for-3, BB
Chip Ambres (RF): 2-for-4, E
Will Venable (CF): 2-for-4
Nick Hundley: 2-for-4
Vince Sinisi (DH): 0-for-3
Matt Antonelli: 0-for-4
Clay Hensley: 2 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 SO (45 pitches, 28 strikes)
Cesar Ramos: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO
Hensley’s line is terrible but at least he’s throwing. Got up to 45 pitches on Thursday.
Double-A — San Antonio 4, Frisco 0
Drew Macias: 1-for-4
Chad Huffman: 1-for-4
Kyle Blanks: 4-for-4
Craig Cooper: 2-for-4, 2B
Seth Johnston: 0-for-4
Jose Lobaton: 1-for-4, 2B
Matt Buschmann: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 5 BB, 2 SO
The Missions have won five straight… Huffman, Blanks, and Buschmann all have been selected to play in the Texas League All-Star game. Congrats to those young men… Great to see Blanks answering a lot of questions this year.
More coverage at the San Antonio Express-News.
High-A — Inland Empire 8, Lake Elsinore 5
Javis Diaz: 0-for-5
Cedric Hunter: 0-for-5
Eric Sogard: 2-for-5, 2B, SB, E
Mitch Canham (DH): 1-for-3, BB
Rayner Contreras: 1-for-4
Kellen Kulbacki: 0-for-2, 2 BB
Drew Miller: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 SO, HBP
After a lackluster May, Sogard has started June on fire. In three games so far, he’s 7-for-14 with a double and a homer.
Low-A — Fort Wayne 4, Lansing 2
Luis Durango (DH): 1-for-4, BB
Lance Zawadzki (SS): 1-for-5
Justin Baum: 1-for-5, 2B
Felix Carrasco: 1-for-5, HR
Yefri Carvajal: 0-for-3
Jeremy Hefner: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 5 SO
Robert Woodard: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 2 SO
Another day, another homer for Carrasco… Nice start from Hefner.
More coverage at OurSports Central.
It’s nice to see Blanks hitting for average and drawing his walks, but a guy that size has to start hitting for power eventually. Right?
I guess he is only 21… Patience…
I think one of the biggest questions he’s had to answer this year is power – and he hasn’t so far.
#2@John Conniff: Really? He showed plenty of power last year. I guess for me the biggest questions were plate discipline and defense. I don’t know how good he’s been at first base (although it’s nice that he’s getting more time there now than last year), but I’ve been impressed by his ability to control the strike zone, something he hadn’t demonstrated in the past.
Running late this morning, shooting for 8:20 a.m. PT.
#4@Geoff Young: Gosh, Geoff. It’s the day after the first round of the draft. I need analysis, NOW!
This month his slugging percentage was .363 and in April it was .438. Last year in Lake Elsinore it was .604 in the first half, but in the second it was .468 – and remember that is in the California League, by far the best place to hit in the system.
To realistically have an opportunity as an everyday first baseman in the major legues that number has to be in the mid-.500′s in the minors.
He’s always been able to control the strike zone. In FW his OBP was .382, LE .380 and this year in San Antonio its .409.
From what Gary Jones, the Padres roving infield instructor said in an interview with us is that Jones has the talent, but just has certain problems associated with a man his size, mainly getting down on balls, moving his feet and his arm angle on throws to second. He didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary for a young player and thought he would eventually be pretty good.
In short Blanks is a very good hitter but despite the natural assumptions that come along with his size he really is not the type of hitter that had him projected with an “80″ for power when he was signed. The knock on Blanks is that he has always been a little too selective on pitches instead of turning on them early in the count.