Luis Campusano. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Sugar Land Skeeters 7, Chihuahuas 3
Key Statistics: LF Taylor Kohlwey, 1-for-3, 2 BB; C Luis Campusano, 1-for-2, R, HR (15), RBI; DH Webster Rivas, 1-for-3, BB; LHP Daniel Camarena (L, 3-4) 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 K; LHP Nick Ramirez, 2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K
Prospect Watch: The Chihuahuas dropped their fourth straight game to Sugar Land. … Catcher Luis Campusano homered for the second straight game as his torrid August continues. Campusano’s blast was his 15th of the season, three behind team leader Patrick Kivlehan. For August, Campusano is hitting .373/.458/.765 with six homers. As a team, El Paso has just 20 home runs in August and 105 on the year, both of which rank dead-last in the league. … Daniel Camarena started and got knocked around by the Skeeters as he ended up with his fourth Triple-A loss of the year. The lefty allowed five runs and seven hits in his four innings of work. It was Camarena’s first outing of any kind since he took the loss in the Padres’ 16-inning marathon against the Dodgers last week. … LHP Nick Ramirez‘s five consecutive scoreless outing streak was snapped as he allowed a pair of earned runs in his two innings of work. The southpaw has a 5.27 ERA in August but one disastrous outing has greatly inflated that number. He has 17 strikeouts against just three walks in 13.2 innings for the month.
MacKenzie Gore has found his footing again in Arizona. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)
ACL Brewers Gold 9 ACL Padres 5
Key Statistics: 3B Nerwilian Cedeno, 2-for-3, R, 2B, RBI; SS Jackson Merrill, 1-for-3, R, 2 BB, RBI; RF Pierce Jones, 2-for-3, 2 R, HR (2), RBI; LHP MacKenzie Gore, 6 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 7 K; RHP Jose Luis Reyes (L, 2-1) 0.2 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB
Prospect Watch: The ACL Padres had a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the sixth before allowing nine unanswered runs to lose in Maryvale. … The story of the day was MacKenzie Gore‘s third outing in the desert. He worked six solid innings. Gore did allow seven hits – all singles but he didn’t allow a walk and struck out seven. Four of the hits and both runs came in his final inning of work. The 22-year-old has a 1.65 ERA in 16.1 innings in the complex league. Perhaps more importantly, Gore has walked just four batters. For context, Gore walked 12 batters in 20 Triple-A innings before being sent to Arizona to make some mechanical adjustments. It’s easy to dismiss Gore’s performance against ACL opponents, but reports on his fastball command have been encouraging. It seems likely that his next outing will be in full-season ball, with El Paso being the most likely destination. … Outfielder Pierce Jones had a pair of hits, including his second homer of the year. The 20-year-old Jones has vastly improved in his second go-around in the complex league. He is hitting an excellent .310/.447/.500, albeit with a K-rate north of 30%.
Eguy Rosario continues to contribute at the plate. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
San Antonio Missions Week in Review (split six-game series against the Midland RockHounds).
Top Prospects: The Missions split a six-game set against the Midland RockHounds. With three weeks left in the regular season, the Missions’ record sits at 48-53. … Infielder Eguy Rosario turned in an excellent week at the plate, hitting .364/.417/.545 with four doubles and just two strikeouts in 24 plate appearances. Rosario got off to a rough start in August, struggling with strikeout issues. Rosario also struggled a bit in May but has otherwise been a strong performer this season. Rosario has already set career-highs in homers (10) and stolen bases (27). His .362 on-base percentage so far this season would be the best he has posted outside of the complex league. … Outfielder Esteury Ruiz hit safely in five of the six games he played in but had just one hit in each of those games. He did connect for his eighth homer of the year on Saturday night and drove in three to lead the Missions to a victory. Ruiz has hit an excellent .284/.371/.520 this month with five homers and is third in the league with 29 stolen bases on the year. … Outfielder Agustin Ruiz had another rough series last week as he has cooled off considerably after a hot start. Ruiz went just 1-for-19 last week with nine strikeouts. Over the last two weeks, Ruiz is just 5-for-48 with a pair of homers with three walks and 17 strikeouts.
Keep an Eye on: 25-year-old Allen Cordoba isn’t considered a prospect due to his big league service time in 2017, but he has quietly been excellent this year. Last week Cordoba hit .333/.375/.476 , playing in all six games. After opening the season on the injured list, Cordoba is hitting .304/.389/.464 – good for a 134 wRC+. He has tied his career-high in homers with five. He will be eligible for free agency this winter if the Padres don’t add him to the 40-man roster.
Tirso Ornelas. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Fort Wayne TinCaps Week in Review (won four of seven against the Dayton Dragons).
Top Prospects: Outfielder Tirso Ornelas turned in a solid week, going 5-for-22 with four doubles, five runs scored, and three RBI. Ornelas has 30 doubles this season which leads all of High-A. Ornelas has scuffled through a brutal August, hitting just .143/.253/.310 as his strikeout rate has jumped significantly to 27 in 96 plate appearances. Overall, Ornelas’ production is about 12 percent below league-average in 2021. … Jonny Homza broke out in June and continued his offensive breakout into July but a shoulder issue has slowed him down considerably. He missed two weeks in the middle of the month and mostly started at designated hitter last week. Homza went 0-for-17 with eight strikeouts. In 51 plate appearances this month, Homza is hitting just .087/.211/.087. His last extra-base hit came on July 28.
Keep an Eye on: All the recently promoted prospects. On Sunday, Robert Hassell III, Euribiel Angeles, and Brandon Valenzuela made their TinCaps debut after all three excelled in Lake Elsinore throughout the 2021 campaign. All three players should receive significant playing time in the final three weeks, perhaps opening an opportunity for the trio to reach Double-A in 2022.
Robert Gasser emerged at the University of Houston this spring. (Photo: University of Houston Athletics)
Lake Elsinore Storm Week in Review (split six-game series against San Jose).
Top Prospects: After losing the first three games of the series against San Jose, Lake Elsinore bounced back to win the final three games to split the series. … With the trio of former Storm prospects now in Fort Wayne, Joshua Mears is now the top prospect on the Lake Elsinore roster. Mears hit two homers on the week – giving him 17 on the season. He is just one behind Giants top prospect Marco Luciano who leads the circuit with 18. Mears does lead the Low-A West in AB/HR at 13.53. While Mears’ power is loud and exciting, his strikeout rate has been a concern. Mears has struck out in almost half of his plate appearances this month. His 38% K-rate for the year is the third-highest in the league. … Robert Hassell III left Lake Elsinore with a bang, as he drove in six runs in his Riverside County swan song. Hassell hit .378/.448/.608 in his final month with the Storm and he should be in the conversation for MVP in the Low-A West League.
Keep an Eye on: LHP Robert Gasser fired three scoreless innings on Saturday night, striking out three batters. Gasser was the Padres’ Compensation Round B pick in July’s draft, out of Houston. The 22-year-old lefty should pitch at least three more times before the end of the season. The Storm pitching staff has struggled as a whole in 2021 but Gasser should be the best pitching prospect to suit up for the Storm in 2021.
