Padres infield prospect Luis Urías bats for El Paso.

Luis Urías launched a big home run to right-center on Saturday night in El Paso. (Photo: Jorge Salgado.)

Las Vegas Aviators 12, Chihuahuas 5

Key Statistics: SS Luis Urías 1-5, HR (1), RBI; 3B Ty France 1-4, 2B; RHP Cal Quantrill (L, 0-1) 3.0 IP 9 H 8 R 6 ER 2 K.

Padres prospect Cal Quantrill delivers for El Paso Chihuahuas.

Cal Quantrill struggled in his 2019 debut. (Photo: Jorge Delgado)

Prospect Watch: The Chihuahuas fell to an 0-and-3 start as a top Padres pitching prospect got hit hard for the second straight night. Friday, Las Vegas jumped Logan Allen. Saturday, it was Cal Quantrill’s turn.  Quantrill’s ERA dropped from 5.15 in San Antonio to 3.48 ERA when he arrived in El Paso last year, but tonight things looked rough for the righty, who wasn’t helped by a pair of errors behind him. Quantrill gave up five straight hits to open the fourth inning and was pulled before he could record an out. Four of the eight hits he surrendered came with two strikes on the hitter. … Luis Urías cracked a mammoth home run to right-center to lead off the game for the Chihuahuas but did no more damage on the night. Urias is off to a 5-for-15 start with three strikeouts in his first three games. … Ty France had a rough night at third base, committing a pair of errors. 

Corpus Christi Hooks 2, Sod Poodles 1 (10 innings)

Key Statistics:  SS Owen Miller 1-4, BB; 3B Hudson Potts 1-5, SB, RBI; RHP Pedro Avila 6.0 IP 2 H R ER 2 BB 5 K; RHP Kazuhisa Makita 2.0 IP 3 K; RHP David Bednar (L, 0-1) 1.1 IP H R BB 3 K.

Pedro Avila pitched great in his Texas League debut. Photo: Olivia Rook

Prospect Watch:  A nearly non-existent offense spoiled great Amarillo pitching as the Sod Poodles could manage only three hits on the night. Pedro Avila, a somewhat under-the-radar prospect, did what Pedro Avila does – pound the zone.  Avila threw 86 pitches, 53 for strikes as he gave up only a pair of hits on the night. As we noted in our Sod Poodles preview, Avila sometimes can be a little too hittable, but he is not going to beat himself. … Buddy Reed is off to a rough start with five strikeouts in his first 13 plate appearances. … Hudson Potts broke an 0-for-9 start to the season with an RBI single to right field to tie the game in the eighth inning.

Inland Empire 66ers 8, Storm 2

Key Statistics: CF Jeisson Rossario 2-5, 2B, SB; 1B Luis Campusano 2-3, 2B, BB; RHP Mason Thompson 4. 0 IP 3 H 2 R ER 2 BB 7 K; RHP Dylan Coleman (L, 0-1) 1.1 IP 3 H 6 R 4 ER 2 BB K; RHP J.C. Cosme 1.0 IP 2 K.

Prospect Watch: The Storm had an ugly night in the Inland Empire, making four errors – one by each outfielder and one by the second baseman Esteury Ruiz – to spoil a solid 2019 debut by Mason Thompson. Thompson was the talk of spring training, lifting expectations of a big year for the six-foot-seven Texan. He opened the year striking out the first two batters and had seven on the night. Of the 79 pitches he threw, 46 were for strikes. … The Padres plan to expose their catchers at both Lake Elsinore and Fort Wayne to first base. Saturday, Luis Campusano got his first taste of the year. Despite the time out from behind the plate, the organization sees him as a catcher going forward. … J.C. Cosme worked an impressive two-strikeout inning in his first appearance with Elsinore since his Tommy John surgery in 2017. The Puerto Rican righty, who came over from the Baltimore Orioles for Odrisamer Despaigne in 2016, logged only 19.2 short-season innings as he worked back last summer. His velocity should play much better in shorter stints as a reliever than he was in his earlier incarnation as a starter. 

TinCaps 8 Lansing Lugnuts 4

Key Statistics: DH Augustin Ruiz 2-4, RBI, C Blake Hunt 2-5, 2 RBI, 2 2 2B; 3B Luis Almanzar 1-4, HR (1), 3 RBI; RF Dwanya Williams-Sutton 1-4, BB, HR (1), RBI;  LHP Joey Cantillo 4.1 IP 3 H 2 R 2 ER BB 8 K; RHP Henry Henry (W, 1-0) 2.0 IP BB K.

Prospect Watch:  Dominican native Luis Almanzar secured one of the largest bonuses in team history during A.J. Preller’s 2016 international signing splurge.  While his first two years disappointed, Almanzar is still only 19.  Saturday in Lansing jumped a hanging curve for a three-run home run to left to break the game open. He looked to be slightly thinned out from last year and more assertive on the field when we saw him this spring. Dwanya Williams-Sutton, a fifth-round selection out of East Carolina last year, cracked a home run in the second inning to left-center.  Williams-Sutton showed flashes of the power that got him drafted with Tri-City last summer and could a key power source for the TinCaps’ offense in 2019. … Joey Cantillo kicked off 2019 in style by striking out the side in the first inning and getting two more in the second. He got seven of the first nine batters on strikes before Lansing hitters got to him the second time through. The 19-year-old needed 80 pitches to get through 4.1 innings, but had a few mid-90s readings on the stadium gun after sitting several ticks below that in the AZL last summer.

For the box scores of all the games please go to the MiLB.com scoreboards.

Posted by John Conniff

John grew up in Poway and has written for MadFriars since 2004. He has written articles for Baseball America, FoxSports San Diego, the El Paso Times, San Antonio Express-News, Amarillo Globe-News, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette and Pacific Daily News in addition to appearing on numerous radio programs and podcasts. He can also break down the best places to eat for all five of the affiliates. There is no best place to eat in Peoria, Arizona.

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